Exhibition overview

SECTION 1

INCREASED CAPABILITIES – What superpower would you like to have?


 
The development of new forms of human empowerment is dictated by need but also by desire. Taking into consideration both historical and purely theoretical examples, the section on "Increased Capabilities" presents a series of phyiscal, chemical and biological ways of empowering both the mind and the body.
 



SECTION 2

MEETING OTHERS – Is virtual reality going to become the new reality?


 

Emerging technologies are changing the way we relate to others, be they our relatives, our colleagues at work or even our household pets. This section explores the changes taking place in human, technological and social relations, seeking to understand the ways in which they reflect the needs and desires of such an intrinsically social being as man.
 



SECTION 3
 

MASTERS OF OUR OWN ENVIRONMENT – In changing the environment, are we too going to have to change in order to adapt to it?


 
In imagining our species' future we cannot avoid thinking of our habitat, a habitat that we ourselves have built. Can we shape the environment we live in with greater care? The future of our species depends on protecting the complex (natural and built) ecosystems that support human life on earth.
 



SECTION 4

THE BOUNDARIES OF LIFE – Who is going to own genetic material in the future?


 
Increasingly long life expectancy and demographic change are forcing us to reassess social norms and rituals that were devised in an age in which life was short and families were large. This section is devoted to the new definitions of birth and death and to their constantly changing boundaries – themes that have fascinated man since time immemorial.
 



SECTION 5

HUMAN, SUPERHUMAN? "I myself, exist, because I think" says Asimov's robot QT1 in Reason

curated by Valentino Catricalà, Fondazione Mondo Digitale


 
Four artists and two collectives selected for the "Human, Superhuman?" section devised specifically for the exhibition's Rome version, want us to reflect and to ask ourselves a crucial question akin to the question asked in Chabot's tale "The Philosopher Robot" when the robot asks human philosopher Barnabooth: "What is the point in being human?"