Fondazione MAST and Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, in partnership with Coesia, present: The New Capital. Artificial and Human, Between Work and Rights.

Four talks curated by Stefano Quintarelli, where international experts discuss artificial intelligence, the future of work, and our ability to adapt to change.

The events are moderated by Marco Motta and Roberta Fulci (Radio 3 Scienza), Riccardo Staglianò (La Repubblica), and Sara Urbani (science communicator).

With media partnership from Rai Radio3 and La Repubblica.

All events are also live-streamed on the Fondazione Feltrinelli website and Facebook page.

Download the event program.

FREE ADMISSION BY RESERVATION

September 23, 6.30 PM – AI AND RIGHTS

Speakers:
Stefano Quintarelli, Italian entrepreneur and computer scientist, Member of Parliament from 2013 to 2018, internet pioneer and venture capitalist. Former Chair of the UN CEFACT Advisory Group on Advanced Technologies for Trade and E-Business, member of the EU High-Level Expert Group on AI, and Chair of the Steering Committee of Italy’s Digital Agency. Creator of SPID (Italy’s public digital identity system).

Bettina Berendt, Professor of Internet and Society at the Technical University of Berlin, Director of the Weizenbaum Institute, and guest professor at KU Leuven in Belgium since 2019. Her current research focuses on data science and critical data studies, especially regarding privacy, discrimination, fairness, and AI ethics.

Moderator: Sara Urbani, Science Communicator

September 30, 6.30 PM – AI AND WORK

Introductory video message from Stefano Quintarelli

Speakers:
Cecilia Rikap, Head of Research at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London (IIPP-UCL). Former Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy, City University of London.

Vincent Puig, Executive Director of the Institut Recherche et Innovation (IRI), founded by Bernard Stiegler at the Centre Pompidou. Member of the Advisory Board of Digital Strategies for Heritage (DISH).

Moderator: Marco Motta, RaiRadio3

October 7, 6.30 PM – AI AND HUMAN

Introductory video message from Stefano Quintarelli

Speakers:
Juan Carlos De Martin, is a professor at the Department of Control and Computer Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Turin, where he co-directs the Nexa Center for Internet and Society. In 2019, he conceived Biennale Tecnologia, curating its first four editions together with Luca De Biase. He is the author of the books "Università futura: tra democrazia e bit" (Codice, 2017) and "Contro lo smartphone: per una tecnologia più democratica" (ADD, 2023).

Veronica Barassi, Anthropologist focusing on the social and political implications of data technologies and artificial intelligence. Professor at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Author of three books and numerous peer-reviewed articles. Her latest book is The Children of the Algorithm: Watched, Tracked and Profiled from Birth (Luiss University Press, 2021). In 2018, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office used her research to inform the Age-Appropriate Design Code. Her 2022 TED Talk has surpassed 2 million views.

Moderator: Roberta Fulci, RaiRadio3

October 14, 6.30 PM – AI AND TRAINING

Introductory video message from Stefano Quintarelli

Speakers:
Elena Bougleux, Anthropologist and lecturer at the University of Bergamo. Trained in physics at the Max Planck Institute, she has worked on general relativity and the epistemology of complexity. Member of the European network The Globalization of Knowledge and its Consequences.

Philip Di Salvo, Researcher and journalist. Lecturer at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Focuses on media, technology’s social impact, and AI. Contributor to Wired and DIG Festival.

Moderator: Riccardo Staglianò, La Repubblica

Max Pinckers will give an improvised talk in which he speculates about his own practice in relation to documentary photography. He approaches documentary as both a critical reflection on photography itself and a way of dealing with reality in an attempt to understand it and communicate about it. How can documentary express social concern while at the same time recognize its own
shortcomings and blind spots? How can we define a shared sense of realism in a hyper-individual and confusing era of post-truth and fake news in which there is no longer a consensus about what is real half-truth fiction or entertainment?

Introducion by Giuseppe Oliverio, Founding and Artistic Director – PhMuseum

In collaboration with PhMuseum.

FREE ENTRANCE BY RESERVATION

Max Pinckers (1988) grew up in Indonesia, India, Australia and Singapore, and is currently based in Brussels, where he was born. His work challenges the conventions of documentary photography by exploring theatricality, performativity and collaboration within documentary and photojournalism, made visible through the explicit use of cinematic lighting and staging in a documentary context. Photography, for Pinckers, is a speculative gesture that involves more than the mere representation of external realities. His approach to reality and truth is plural and malleable, open to articulation in different ways.
His works take shape as self-published artist books and exhibition installations such as The Fourth Wall (2012), Will They Sing Like Raindrops or Leave Me Thirsty (2014), Margins of Excess (2018), Red Ink (2018) and State of Emergency (2024). Pinckers is a Doctor in the Arts and a guest lecturer at the
School of Arts/KASK in Ghent. He has received multiple international awards, such as the Edward Steichen Award Luxembourg 2015 and the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2018.