NEXT BEAUTY

Evolution and sensoriality of matter.

Exhibition of materials curated by Baolab.

Beauty and its relationship with time.

Umberto Eco says that “Beauty has never been something absolute and immutable but has taken on different faces according to historical period and country.”

What he calls the “fundamental aesthetic models” are usually associated with specific historical periods but often short circuits are created that, by challenging the idea of absolute and shared beauty, become prodromal of new syntheses and creative expressions.

Perhaps then, in a confused and conflicted age such as ours, it is worth asking what is happening to the dominant aesthetic models.

Climate crises, new technological universes, the crossing of boundaries between the digital and the human, but also inclusivity as a pervasive theme, the fluidization of identity, the ability to manipulate one's body and the environment in which we live are just some of the issues we are confronted with and are constantly changing.

It is interesting then to ask how, as these paradigms change, our aesthetic references also change, to understand, if possible, what are the reference scenarios of the near future.

The intent of the proposed theme, Next beauty, is therefore to give insights for a prospective thought on the concept of beauty and well-being for the next generations.

We want to include the concept of well-being by bringing it closer to that of the good, an idea that has always been connected to beauty, because we believe, perhaps with a somewhat far-fetched juxtaposition, that these times of ours feel as fundamental the drive for the protection and well-being of the earth and the ecosystems in which we live. The much-quoted sustainability for us becomes care, inexorably linked to the planet and those who inhabit it.

Some questions then arise, the answers to which will perhaps give us insights into what will happen in future imaginaries. How can we create healthy living in a damaged world? How can we propose regenerative spaces and habits for people and nature and rethink our lifestyles in ways that revitalize our communities?

The theme of the multiverse also has a strong aesthetic impact, just think of how the two dimensions are hybridizing faster and faster, through new technologies that adopt a primarily visual narrative, forgetting the other sensibilities. Will we be able to integrate them? If so, how?

And from these ever-expanding infinite universes we then come back to the individual, the ultimate term of ever reflections, and his or her identity, which needs multidimensional and multisensory places in which to live, which needs to tell its story through materials and colors, in common spaces and with common practices, able perhaps one day to understand and accommodate our many selves so that they can live and grow together.

What, then, will be the beauty we share in the near future?

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