Draft:Marco Furio Ferrario

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Marco Furio Ferrario
Born1984 (age 41–42)
Milan, Italy
Alma materVita-Salute San Raffaele University (BA, Philosophy)
University of Milan (MA, Cognitive Science)
OccupationsEssayist, art curator, manager
Known forCuratorial direction of the Namibian Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale (2022)

Marco Furio Ferrario (born 1984, Milan) is an Italian essayist and curator.

Education

Ferrario graduated in Philosophy from Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, where he studied under Edoardo Boncinelli.[1] He subsequently obtained a Laurea Magistrale in Cognitive Sciences from the University of Milan, also supervised by Boncinelli.[2][3]

Curatorial work

Namibian Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale (2022)

In 2022, Ferrario curated the first-ever national participation of the Republic of Namibia at the Venice Biennale, an exhibition titled A Bridge to the Desert.[4] [5][6] He served as curator of the Namibian Pavilion, held on the island of La Certosa in Venice, which featured the land art project The Lone Stone Men of the Desert by Namibian artist RENN.[7][8]

Ferrario has stated that he first encountered RENN's works by chance in the Namib Desert, and subsequently proposed the idea of a Namibian national pavilion to the Namibian government.[9][10] The curatorial appointment was formally assigned to Ferrario by the Namibian Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture.[11]

The pavilion attracted public debate: a group published an open letter questioning the representativeness of the exhibition and the curatorial process. [12] In a detailed interview with the Italian art journal Finestre sull’Arte, Ferrario rejected the accusations, describing the criticism as based on “weak arguments”, focused on personal discriminative traits and oddly oblivious of what should be the real focus of every exhibition, namely the artworks. In another interview, the Namibian consul in Milan expressed support for the initiative, arguing that the objections raised appeared aimed at discrediting the work carried out on the pavilion rather than reflecting the official position of the Namibian state.[13]

In several statements to the Italian press we read that the selection process "was as correct as possible" because the works were chosen even before the identity of the author was known: "the controversy is specious, any consideration of age, race, sex, is irrelevant, we have chosen the works. Visitors can form their own idea of the actual content of the Pavilion beyond sterile controversies which, among other things, never talk about the only thing that should be at the center of an exhibition: the work of art."

The Honorary Consul of Namibia in Italy also issued an official denial of the accusations contained in the original petition and in the media news queue: "some [newspaper articles] contain a lot of untruthful information [...] there are always those who, for some unknown personal reason or perhaps because they have not been able to obtain their own visibility, criticize and hinder the work of others [...]".[14][15]

In the Consul's press release, reference is also made to the possible origin of the dispute: "a person initially involved in the project withdrew, although from the beginning they were aware of the work and the project; in recent weeks this person had proposed adding some new artists to the selected artist." [16] Namibia was one of five countries participating in the 59th Venice Biennale for the first time.

The exhibition catalogue was published by Electa under the title A Bridge to the Desert: The Lone Stone Men by Renn (2022, ISBN 9788892822351).[17]

Written works

Ferrario has authored and co-authored works of scientific and philosophical popularisation:

  • L'animale inquieto: storia naturale della scontentezza (The Restless Animal: A Natural History of Discontent), co-written with Edoardo Boncinelli, il Saggiatore, 2024, ISBN 9788842834229.[18] In this essay, Ferrario and Boncinelli trace the evolutionary origins of human discontent, exploring both biological and cultural roots. They advance a theory of irony as a form of cultural evolution of grooming — arguing that irony functions as a social bonding mechanism capable of operating at a distance, reinforcing and extending the stress-relief and cohesion functions associated with physical grooming in other primates.[19]
  • OGM: Ogni Giorno Mangiamo cibo 2.0 (GMO: Every Day We Eat Food 2.0), co-written with Federico Baglioni, with contributions by economist Dario Frisio, jurist Paolo Borghi, and biotechnologist Piero Morandini; also featuring a foreword by Edoardo Boncinelli; Falco Editore, 2016, ISBN 9788868291808.[21]

Other activities

Ferrario has contributed to the liberal magazine Strade and to science communication outlets, addressing current affairs in relation to philosophical reflections on the relationship between society and scientific research.[22][23][24] He has also directed entrepreneurial activities, including a street vending [25][26][27] initiative and a chain of luxury accommodation in the Namib Desert.

See also

References

  1. "Radio24 | Il Sole 24 ORE". RADIO 24 (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  2. "E vissero felici e scontenti" (PDF). La Repubblica. 2024-05-03.
  3. https://www.doppiozero.com/boncinelli-e-ferrario-lanimale-scontento
  4. "Namibia – Biennale Arte 2022". La Biennale di Venezia. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
  5. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/arts/design/venice-biennale-women-art.html
  6. "Il Padiglione Namibia alla Biennale Arte di Venezia 2022" (in Italian). Artribune. 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2026-04-02.
  7. "Renn, Namibian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale". ArtRabbit. 2022-03-27. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
  8. https://www.ad-italia.it/gallery/biennale-darte-venezia-il-debutto-del-padiglione-della-namibia/
  9. https://arte.it/calendario-arte/venezia/mostra-59-esposizione-internazionale-d-arte-la-biennale-di-venezia-padiglione-della-namibia-renn-the-lone-stone-men-of-the-desert-83985
  10. "Il Padiglione Namibia alla 59esima Biennale Arte di Venezia". Arte Dossier. 2022-11-26. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
  11. "Namibia – Biennale Arte 2022". La Biennale di Venezia. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
  12. "Open Letter: Not Our Namibian Pavilion". ART AFRICA Magazine. 2022-03-08. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
  13. "Biennale Venezia. Il curatore del Padiglione della Namibia replica alle critiche" (in Italian). Artslife. 2022-04-15. Retrieved 2026-04-02.
  14. "Namibia Pavilion, curator: controversy rests on weak arguments". Finestre sull’Arte. 2022-04-19. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
  15. https://www.namibian.com.na/arts-ministry-explains-venice-biennale/
  16. "Il Console della Namibia in Italia Petter Johannesen fa chiarezza sugli accadimenti della Biennale". Bebeez. 2022-04-17. Retrieved 2026-03-31.
  17. Ferrario, Marco Furio (2022). A Bridge to the Desert: The Lone Stone Men by Renn. Electa. ISBN 9788892822351.
  18. Ferrario, Marco Furio; Boncinelli, Edoardo (2024). L'animale inquieto: storia naturale della scontentezza. il Saggiatore. ISBN 9788842834229.
  19. Ferrario, Marco Furio; Boncinelli, Edoardo (2024). L'animale inquieto: storia naturale della scontentezza. il Saggiatore. ISBN 9788842834229.
  20. Ferrario, Marco Furio (2022). A Bridge to the Desert. Electa. ISBN 9788892822351.
  21. Ferrario, Marco Furio; Baglioni, Federico (2016). OGM: Ogni Giorno Mangiamo cibo 2.0. Falco Editore. ISBN 9788868291808.
  22. "Le Scienze n.562". Le Scienze (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  23. "Abolito il garante dei contribuenti. Codice rosso". www.stradeonline.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  24. Marco Furio Ferrario. "#JeSuisCharlie/.5 Essere o non essere Charlie? Un'antica domanda sui limiti della libertà". www.stradeonline.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  25. "La bancarella "green" di due giovani milanesi". nuvola.corriere.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  26. "Espositore riciclabile". www.domusweb.it. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  27. "Il giramondo e lo skipper: ambulanti si diventa". solferino28.corriere.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-05-13.