Performative Thinking in Humanities

Abstract

1.

Giambattista Vico by Giulio Genoino

Alessia Scognamiglio

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

Istituto per la Storia del Pensiero Filosofico e Scientifico Moderno (CNR-ISPF)

The comedy Giambattista Vico by Giulio Genoino (Frattamaggiore, 1773 – Naples, 1856) was performed in Naples in 1820 and published in 1824. For Genoino, the biographical story of the Neapolitan philosopher serves as a pedagogical model and is recounted as an ethical example of future hope: Vico is an exemplum of a certain type of moral existence, a useful model for instructing new generations, as well as an ideal to be followed in order to convey a message of ethical behaviour valid for all, although the story is told through a sketchy structure that leaves little room for his thoughts in favour of the recounting of domestic anecdotes and episodes from his biography,

Giambattista Vico – Giulio Genoino – Drama – Biography – Theatre

2.

The Angel with Violin in Apulian Iconography

Sabrina Santoro

Conservatorio di Musica di Fermo “G.B. Pergolesi”

The theme of musical angels constitutes one of the most significant elements of musical iconography in Apulia, offering a privileged perspective on the interaction between visual arts, spirituality, and sound culture in southern Italy. From the medieval period to the Baroque age, angelic figures engaged in music-making appear in pictorial cycles, sculptural programs, and decorative ensembles within churches, cathedrals, and monastic complexes, where they fulfill symbolic, theological, and didactic functions of great importance. In the Apulian context, musical angels emerge at the crossroads of multiple cultural influences. Byzantine traditions, deeply rooted in the region between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, coexist with Romanesque and Gothic models imported from northern Europe, as well as with Renaissance and Baroque visual languages mediated by major Italian artistic centers. This layered cultural background is reflected both in stylistic features and in the wide range of musical instruments depicted, including aerophones (trumpets, flutes, portative organs), chordophones (lutes, harps, viols), and, more rarely, idiophones and membranophones, often rendered with remarkable attention to structural detail. The iconography of musical angels in Apulia should not be understood merely as ornamental. Rather, it expresses a cosmological and theological conception of music rooted in Christian thought. Angels, as mediators between the divine and earthly realms, embody the celestial harmony described by patristic and medieval traditions, in which music is regarded as a reflection of divine order and a means of spiritual elevation. Within this framework, Apulian representations engage with the concept of musica coelestis and with the idea of an eternal liturgy, symbolically inviting the faithful to participate in heavenly praise. A particularly relevant aspect concerns the relationship between iconography and musical practice. Images of musical angels constitute an invaluable visual source for reconstructing historical instruments and performance practices, especially in a geographical area where written musical sources are often scarce or fragmented. At the same time, these representations highlight the performative dimension of sacred music and the central role of sound in shaping liturgical and devotional experience. Musical iconography from Apulia between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries reveals the presence of a Baroque violin with a long neck, characterized by constructional features that differ from the models increasingly established in the rest of Italy. These instruments are particularly distinguished by structural setups that appear to reflect a Napolitan lutherie tradition, either autonomous or only partially influenced by the main Italian Baroque lutherie schools. Through a comparative analysis the article aims to emphasize the local specificity of musical angel iconography, while also identifying continuities and transformations across time.

Angel – Choir – Violin – Iconography – Music

3.

Art and Thought in the Age of AI

About a Recent Book Edited by Franco Alberto Cappelletti and Luisa Simonutti

Giulia Rizzo

Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

The essay examines the anthology Mirabili artefatti. Arte e pensiero nell’epoca dell’AI [Marvelous Artefacts: Art and Thought in the Age of AI] – edited by Franco Alberto Cappelletti and Luisa Simonutti (Mimesis, Milan, 2025) – and then goes on to propose, in the artistic sphere, a relationship of mutual creation between human performers and AI.

Aesthetics – Arts – Performativity – Human performer – AI agent

monographic section

The Intermedia Installation An Ecological Neapolitan Fairy Tale. The Life and Death of Nicola Pesce by Nera Prota and Rebecca Carlizzi

Devices of the Sensible: Theoretical and Artistic Materials

curated by Nera Prota

4.

Levels of Reality – The Installation for the Napoli Fringe Festival An Ecological Neapolitan Tale. Life and Death of Nicola Pesce

Nera Prota

Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli

The installation A Ecological Neapolitan Tale. Life and Death of Nicola Pesce, presented at the 2025 Napoli Fringe Festival, reinterprets the myth of Colapesce through an ecological lens in a collaboration between artists, philosophers, and scientists from the Naples Academy of Fine Arts, the Cnr-Ispf and the Cnr-Ismar. Integrating narrative, visual, acoustic, and scenographic modules, the work creates an immersive environment that challenges traditional categories such as exhibition, story, and scenography. Inspired by Basarab Nicolescu’s principles of transdisciplinarity, the installation proposes a plurality of levels of reality and invites visitors to construct their own experience through multiple points of view and listening. The participatory role of the audience becomes an essential component of the artistic device, highlighting the need for new forms of knowledge attuned to complexity and contemporary ecological concerns.

Art – Research – Transdisciplinarity – Installation – Scenography

5.

The Wave as a Narrative Language

Design Methodology for an Intermedial Installation for the Naples Fringe Festival

Rebecca Carlizzi

Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli

This paper analyses An Ecological Neapolitan Tale. Life and Death of Nicola Pesce, an intermedial and immersive installation presented within the framework of the Naples Fringe Festival 2025, as a case study on literary transposition within installation space. Developed as part of the doctoral programme in Performing, Staging Arts, Music Composition and Creativity, the project investigates the narrative potential of scenographic space through the integration of art, science, and literature. Starting from a rewriting of the legend of Colapesce, the work constructs a walk-through environment in which text, image, sound, and scientific data coexist within a complex semiotic structure, activating a sensory and participatory mode of reception. The paper is divided into two sections: the first addresses the concept of intermediality as applied to the relationship between narration and space, drawing on the theories of Clüver, as well as studies on installation art; the second outlines the methodological process of design and experimentation, from scientific research on wave motion to the formal and technological definition of the installation.

Intermediality – Immersive Installation Art – Literary Transposition – Spatial Narrative – Marine Ecology

6.

Nico and his King

A Philosophical Fairy Tale for Adults and Children

Rosario Diana

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

Istituto per la Storia del Pensiero Filosofico e Scientifico Moderno (ISPF-CNR)

This Philosophical Fairy Tale for Adults and Children – written for the installation designed by Nera Prota and Rebecca Carlizzi – is loosely based on the legend of Nicola Pesce, known as Colapesce. The legend is recounted by Benedetto Croce (Storie e leggende napoletane (1919), edited by G. Galasso, Adelphi, Milan, 2013⁹, pp. 298-305). In the myth, Colapesce is a boy who is very skilled at swimming on the surface and underwater, whom his king asks to carry out rather demanding and difficult tasks, one of which – truly risky – will cause his death by drowning. As we shall see, Nico’s story resembles that of Colapesce but differs in many ways. One of these is the non-tragic ending. Furthermore, Nico is a dolphin boy who rebels against his king’s demands to plunder the seabed, convincing him to respect the sea and abandon any predatory intentions towards it. It is a happy ending not only because the protagonist does not die, but also because he manages to persuade his king to adopt a protective attitude towards the marine world: a difficult task, of course, which we all hope will succeed not only in a fantasy story, but also in reality, with the powerful of the earth... 

Colapesce – Sea – Ecology – Power – Sustainability

7.

Some Drawings for the Illustration of the Fairy tale Nico and his King by Rosario Diana

Gennaro Vallifuoco

Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli

In this work, the author publishes several drawings created specifically for the installation An Ecological Neapolitan Fairy Tale. The Life and Death of Nicola Pesce, designed and created by Nera Prota and Rebecca Carlizzi.

Drawing – Collage – Computer Graphics – Folk Painting – Fairytale Style

8.

The sonic unpredictability of the tides and the discovery of their voice.

Field recording, sound design, and experimental musical composition

for the soundscape of the installation for the Napoli Fringe Festival

Gabriele D'Italia

Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli

This article analyzes the artistic research processes developed for the intermedia installation Nico e il suo re. Una fiaba ecologica napoletana, presented at the Napoli Fringe Festival 2025 as part of a doctoral program at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. The study explores methodologies for capturing and reworking the acoustic unpredictability of tides, combining field recording practices with the use of an original electroacoustic instrument called Cariddi. Through the use of hydrophones and extemporaneous improvisation techniques involving wave motion, the investigation defines a protocol for the creation of immersive environments. The feedback collected confirms the validity of a multidisciplinary approach capable of integrating narrative, scientific, and sonic dimensions, demonstrating the ability of water to engage an intergenerational audience, and opening up new perspectives in hydroacoustic research applied to the arts.

Water – Hydrophones – DIY – Improvisation – Immersive

9.

The science-based artworks within the installation

Marina Iorio

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

Istituto di Scienze Marine (ISMAR-CNR)

The intermedial installation by Nera Prota and Rebecca Carlizzi, An Ecological Neapolitan Fairy Tale: Life and Death of Nicola Pesce, explores the complex bond between humanity and the sea, addressing themes of environmental exploitation and ecological crisis. The project merges multiple artistic languages into an immersive experience. The aesthetic core of the three science art pieces within the installation is based on the artistic reworking of scientific data obtained through Multibeam Echo Sounder (MBES) technology, sonar systems that transform acoustic wave reflections into morpho-bathymetric maps of the seabed. Through the use of color and traditional techniques such as watercolor, the data is transfigured into abstract and poetic visions that celebrate the sea as the ancestral cradle of life. The integration of virtual reality and art thus allows the public to sensorially perceive the complexity of scientific research.

Intermedial Installation – Science-Art – Multibeam Echo Sounder (MBES) – Morpho-bathymetric mapping – Ecological fairy tale