Emanuele Coccia

This book documents Lerin/Hystad s meetings with more than a hundred different plants through sketches, text, and music. The otherness of the non-human is by nature inexpugnable. The baseline of our sharing the planet with them, at this point in its evolutional history, entails making kin while negotiating distance. In line with the mounting environmental concerns, artists began to nurture the desire to present less mediated encounters with nature. Central to Lerin/Hystad s modus operandi is a principle of ecological interconnectedness that manifests the undeniable presence of more than human worlds. The main objective has been that of dismantling the anthropocentric view that humans are the most perfect and intelligent species on this planet while inviting us to reconsider non-human intelligences and complexities as valuable diversity. Lerin connects sensors to the plants that Hystad has carefully drawn in their environment. The sensors register electrical currents that plants produce through their biological rhythms and that form a communicational network with animals, bacteria, and fungi. Genom teckning, text och musik, samlar den här boken Lerin/Hystads möten med över hundra olika växter. Det icke-mänskliga är, till sin natur, ofrånkomligen annorlunda oss. För att vi ska kunna samexistera på jorden krävs det därför, vid denna punkt i evolutionshistorien, att vi knyter an till det främmande samtidigt som vi också aktivt förhåller oss till dess ofrånkomliga annanhet. I takt med att miljöhoten har ökat har också konstnärerna uttryckt en ökad vilja att genom konsten möta naturen direkt. Lerin/Hystads modus operandi vilar på den ekologiska sammankopplingens princip och förutsätter att det existerar fler världar än människans. Viktigast av allt har varit att nedmontera den antropocentriska bilden av människan som planetens intelligentaste och mest fulländade varelse för att i stället lyfta fram det icke-mänskligas många komplexa intelligenser som delar av en rik mångfald. Lerin kopplar sensorer till de växter som Hystad så noggrant har tecknat i det vilda. Dessa sensorer känner sedan av alla de elektriska impulser som orsakas av växternas egen biologiska rytm och som bildar kommunikationsnätverk tillsammans med djuren, bakterierna och svamparna.

Patricia Urquiola(Oviedo, 1961) is a globally acclaimed architect, art director, and industrial designer, celebrated for her innovative work with leading brands such as Flos, Cassina, Kettal, Kvadrat, BMW, Boeing, Louis Vuitton, and Missoni. Her designs are imaginative, eclectic, playful, and often experimental, with a strong commitment to sustainability. The exhibition Meta-Morphosa at CID Grand-Hornu, part of Europalia Espana, highlights Studio Patricia Urquiola’s research from the past five years. In a world increasingly shaped by climate change and artificial intelligence, the exhibition explores transformation—how materials, aesthetics, and perceptions of beauty evolve. Featuring functional objects, visionary projects, and experiments with innovative materials and unexpected combinations, Meta-Morphosa presents a new aesthetic characterised by formal and cultural mutation. The exhibition invites visitors to embrace change, celebrating creativity, adaptability, and the beauty of transformation, reflecting Urquiola’s boundless imagination and her commitment to shaping design for a rapidly changing world. Text in English and French.

An illuminating exploration of fashion philosophy told by the brilliant Alessandro Michele, Creative Director of Gucci, and Emanuele Coccia, one of the most distinguished contemporary philosophers. Drawing on Alessandro Michele’s personal story and on the impact that he has had on contemporary norms with his work, Michele and Emanuele Coccia will show how traditionally distinct forms of creativity and intellectual pursuit – fashion and philosophy – are inextricably intertwined. If fashion can distill centuries of art and philosophy into a daily experience accessible to every human being, philosophy cannot help but a become a form of fashion.

Er et hjem bare et soveværelse, en stue, et køkken og et badeværelse? Nej, hævder Emanuele Coccia, det er meget mere end det. De bygninger, vi opholder os i, har en enorm psykologisk og kulturel betydning. De spiller en afgørende rolle for menneskelig trivsel, og i hundreder af år har deres vægge og gangarealer, vinduer og døråbninger guidet vores forhold til andre og til os selv. De afspejler og forstærker sociale uligheder; de giver os mulighed for at fejre og værdsætte dem, vi elsker. De er tilflugtssteder, der giver os mulighed for at begive os ud i verden. Hjemmets filosofi er en intim og elegant beretning, hvor Coccia velargumenterede viser, hvordan hjemmets arkitektur har formet og fortsat former vores psyke og vores samfund, før han mesterligt leder os hen imod en mere kreativ, økologisk måde at bo i verden på. Emanuele Coccia, f. 1976, er lektor på École des Hautes Éttude en Sciences Sociales i Paris og har tidligere udgivet en række bøger. Heriblandt Planternes liv, som udkom på dansk i 2021. Emanuele Coccia har høstet stor anerkendelse for sine stilistiske greb og begrebslige originalitet og bliver betragtet som en af vor tids store tænkere inden for arkitektur, design, samfund og økologi.

A bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom - are these rooms all that make a home? Not at all, argues Emanuele Coccia. The buildings we inhabit are of immense psychological and cultural significance. They play a decisive role in human flourishing and, for hundreds of years, their walls and walkways, windows and doorways have guided our relationships with others and with ourselves. They reflect and reinforce social inequalities; they allow us to celebrate and cherish those we love. They are the places of return that allow us to venture out into the world. In this intimate, elegantly argued account, Coccia shows how the architecture of home has shaped, and continues to shape, our psyches and our societies, before then masterfully leading us towards a more creative, ecological way of dwelling in the world.

I Planternes liv – blandingens metafysik foreslår Emanuele Coccia en fornyet kosmologi og naturfilosofi. Naturens væsner, der længe har været forbeholdt naturvidenskaberne, placeres i hjertet af human- og samfundsvidenskaberne, og den økologiske krise er først og fremmest et æstetisk problem, her forstået som et spørgsmål om sensibilitet, perception og repræsentation. Her ligger en af nøglerne til at forstå planternes liv og deres konceptuelle univers. Resultatet af denne hybride analytiske angrebsvinkel er en række af de mest originale, kraftfulde idéer inden for moderne økologisk tænkning, der tager form af en fornyet naturfilosofi. Bogen udkom først på fransk med titlen La vie des plantes i 2016, er siden oversat til adskillige sprog og har fra såvel filosofiske fagfæller som den bredere offentlighed høstet stor anerkendelse for sine stilistiske greb og begrebslige originalitet. “Back to animals! Back to mushrooms! And now back to plants! It is with plants that this marvellous, witty, and immensely literate book wants us, the human readers, to get acquainted again. And, of course, with plants it is actually toward the sun that we are reoriented. Philosophy is on the move again, not exactly forward but downward, giving a completely different meaning to what counts as a foundation to thought.” Bruno Latour “The view of life as interdependence is a particularly affecting and relevant way to think about living and coping in the Anthropocene, when the ways that humans affect the literal composition of the atmosphere has become the existential question of our time.” The Nation Emanuele Coccia er lektor på École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales i Paris.

We are all fascinated by the mystery of metamorphosis – of the caterpillar that transforms itself into a butterfly. Their bodies have almost nothing in common. They don’t share the same world: one crawls on the ground and the other flutters its wings in the air. And yet they are one and the same life. Emanuele Coccia argues that metamorphosis – the phenomenon that allows the same life to subsist in disparate bodies – is the relationship that binds all species together and unites the living with the non-living. Bacteria, viruses, fungi, plants, animals: they are all one and the same life. Each species, including the human species, is the metamorphosis of all those that preceded it – the same life, cobbling together a new body and a new form in order to exist differently. And there is no opposition between the living and the non-living: life is always the reincarnation of the non-living, a carnival of the telluric substance of a planet – the Earth – that continually draws new faces and new ways of being out of even the smallest particle of its disparate body. By highlighting what joins humans together with other forms of life, Coccia’s brilliant reflection on metamorphosis encourages us to abandon our view of the human species as static and independent and to recognize instead that we are part of a much larger and interconnected form of life.

We are all fascinated by the mystery of metamorphosis – of the caterpillar that transforms itself into a butterfly. Their bodies have almost nothing in common. They don’t share the same world: one crawls on the ground and the other flutters its wings in the air. And yet they are one and the same life. Emanuele Coccia argues that metamorphosis – the phenomenon that allows the same life to subsist in disparate bodies – is the relationship that binds all species together and unites the living with the non-living. Bacteria, viruses, fungi, plants, animals: they are all one and the same life. Each species, including the human species, is the metamorphosis of all those that preceded it – the same life, cobbling together a new body and a new form in order to exist differently. And there is no opposition between the living and the non-living: life is always the reincarnation of the non-living, a carnival of the telluric substance of a planet – the Earth – that continually draws new faces and new ways of being out of even the smallest particle of its disparate body. By highlighting what joins humans together with other forms of life, Coccia’s brilliant reflection on metamorphosis encourages us to abandon our view of the human species as static and independent and to recognize instead that we are part of a much larger and interconnected form of life.

The work of 38 established and emerging artists explore the creative potential of risk-taking and transgression in contemporary life The unconventional theme underlying the art featured in this book is the struggle between risk-taking and the prediction algorithms that have become a feature of contemporary life. Does the influence of machine intelligence, and the coincident avoidance of risk, homogenize creative thought? These ideas are explored in the work of 38 established and emerging artists in a variety of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, sculpture, video art, computer art, and performance. Featured artists include Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Ed Atkins, Esther Ferrer, Mounira Al Solh, and Shezad Dawoud. The book takes its title from a town on the French-Belgian border with a history as a well-known customs outpost. Distributed for MercatorfondsExhibition Schedule:WIELS Museum for Contemporary Art Brussels (September 12, 2020–February 10, 2021)

Kasvien elämä käsitteellistää nimensä mukaisesti elämää kasveille ominaisen olemisentavan kautta. Mitä on elämä näille maailmamme luojille, jotka ovat jääneet länsimaisessa ajattelussa ihmisen ja eläimen erityistä luontoa koskevien kysymysten varjoon? Voimmeko enää ympäristökatastrofin aikakaudella ymmärtää itsemme erillisinä fotosynteesiin kykenevistä kasveista, joihin olemisemme kietoutuu jokaisessa hengenvedossa? Mikä on tämän biologisen riippuvuussuhteen metafyysinen merkitys? Sitä mikä maailma on, mitä me olemme, on kysyttävä lehdiltä, juurilta ja kukilta. Emanuele Coccia on Averroesin ajattelusta väitellytfilosofi, joka toimii Pariisin Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales -oppilaitoksessa. 2016 ranskaksi ilmestynyt Kasvien elämä on hänen neljäs kirjansa.

Throughout modernity there has been a clear divide between art and commerce. Objects could either be consumed as commerce or contemplated as art. Today, as museums are facing increasing financial pressure and as stores have become inventive locations for new modes of display, this clear divide has begun to dissolve. There is one place that represents a key stage in this evolution: 10 Corso Como. It was founded in Milan, at that very address, by fashion editor Carla Sozzani and has since expanded to Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, and New York. The name “concept store”, which has now spread across our globalized world, was originally coined to describe this new form. This book is the first philosophical inquiry into this new form of store and it sheds new light on how categories that have governed our modern lives, such as commerce, art, fashion, and museum, are being redefined today.

Throughout modernity there has been a clear divide between art and commerce. Objects could either be consumed as commerce or contemplated as art. Today, as museums are facing increasing financial pressure and as stores have become inventive locations for new modes of display, this clear divide has begun to dissolve. There is one place that represents a key stage in this evolution: 10 Corso Como. It was founded in Milan, at that very address, by fashion editor Carla Sozzani and has since expanded to Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, and New York. The name “concept store”, which has now spread across our globalized world, was originally coined to describe this new form. This book is the first philosophical inquiry into this new form of store and it sheds new light on how categories that have governed our modern lives, such as commerce, art, fashion, and museum, are being redefined today.

We barely talk about them and seldom know their names. Philosophy has always overlooked them; even biology considers them as mere decoration on the tree of life. And yet plants give life to the Earth: they produce the atmosphere that surrounds us, they are the origin of the oxygen that animates us. Plants embody the most direct, elementary connection that life can establish with the world. In this highly original book, Emanuele Coccia argues that, as the very creator of atmosphere, plants occupy the fundamental position from which we should analyze all elements of life. From this standpoint, we can no longer perceive the world as a simple collection of objects or as a universal space containing all things, but as the site of a veritable metaphysical mixture. Since our atmosphere is rendered possible through plants alone, life only perpetuates itself through the very circle of consumption undertaken by plants. In other words, life exists only insofar as it consumes other life, removing any moral or ethical considerations from the equation. In contrast to trends of thought that discuss nature and the cosmos in general terms, Coccia’s account brings the infinitely small together with the infinitely big, offering a radical redefinition of the place of humanity within the realm of life.

We barely talk about them and seldom know their names. Philosophy has always overlooked them; even biology considers them as mere decoration on the tree of life. And yet plants give life to the Earth: they produce the atmosphere that surrounds us, they are the origin of the oxygen that animates us. Plants embody the most direct, elementary connection that life can establish with the world. In this highly original book, Emanuele Coccia argues that, as the very creator of atmosphere, plants occupy the fundamental position from which we should analyze all elements of life. From this standpoint, we can no longer perceive the world as a simple collection of objects or as a universal space containing all things, but as the site of a veritable metaphysical mixture. Since our atmosphere is rendered possible through plants alone, life only perpetuates itself through the very circle of consumption undertaken by plants. In other words, life exists only insofar as it consumes other life, removing any moral or ethical considerations from the equation. In contrast to trends of thought that discuss nature and the cosmos in general terms, Coccia’s account brings the infinitely small together with the infinitely big, offering a radical redefinition of the place of humanity within the realm of life.