On October 31st and November 1st 2008, within the events of Torino World Design Capital 2008, the first edition of Brillo | Pensiero d’artista. Festival Internazionale d’Arte contemporanea (Brillo | Artist’s Thought. International Festival of Philosophy of Contemporary Art) will take place. The Festival is organized by “Labont” of the Philosophy Department – University of Torino, and by the Merz Foundation, in collaboration with curator Olga Gambari.
The aim of Brillo is meeting the natural request of explanation that is felt before most of contemporary artworks. World-renowned philosophers, exhibitions curators, art historians, designers and cognitive scientists will discuss about the elusive nature of contemporary art. Among others Arthur C. Danto, Semir Zeki, Roberto Casati, Maurizio Ferraris, Francesca Rigotti, Matteo Pericoli, Adriano Design.
The first edition of Brillo will be featuring the world famous American Artist Matthew Barney, who is presenting at the Merz Foundation a site specific exhibition, and will be – for the first time in Italy – the protagonist in a public debate with Arthur C. Danto, philosopher and art critic of The Nation, and Richard Flood, Chief Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York.