On 21 October 2023 at 11:00 a.m., at LAC (the Lugano Arte e Cultura cultural centre), the public had a chance to meet the author and essayist Emanuele Trevi, winner of the 2021 Premio Strega (Strega Prize).
This event was organised as part of the IBSA Foundation's SciArt SwitzerlAnd project, in partnership with LAC.
During the event, the public had the opportunity to meet Emanuele Trevi, renowned author and winner of the 2021 Strega Prize. The author presented his new novel, La casa del mago (The House of the Magician), a reflection on the relationship between father and son, dedicated to his father, the famed Jungian psychoanalyst Mario Trevi.
In addition to being an emotional journey, the book explores how we process grief and how writing can allow us to start down a path of healing for our psyche.
This event was more than a book presentation. It was part of the larger SciArt SwitzerlAnd project, an initiative promoted by IBSA Foundation in partnership with LAC and MASI, whose purpose is to explore and foster interaction between the spheres of the arts and of science.
While the meeting with Emanuele Trevi was the focal point of this event, the fact that it is part of the larger SciArt project framework offered an additional perspective on how the arts can be enriched through the establishment of a dialogue with the sciences.
The event offered a chance to explore not only the workings of the mind of the contemporary author Emanuele Trevi, but also the intriguing convergence of science and the arts promoted by IBSA Foundation.
An intimate, ironic and moving novel
In his book La casa del mago (The House of the Magician), published by Ponte alle Grazie (2023), Trevi explores his relationship with his father, the renowned Jungian psychoanalyst Mario Trevi. The novel deals with the themes of grieving and of the process of healing the mind through writing. Upon the death of his father, the author inherits an apartment/office steeped in the presence of his father’s patients. Taking a decision to live in it, he immerses himself in the dense atmosphere of that place in an attempt to better understand his father. The work ranges from the autobiographical to reflections on existence and cultural reference points of the twentieth century, like Jung and others. The book takes the form of a profound introspective journey, touching on themes of life, death, wisdom and madness, underscoring the way in which simple actions and words can divulge deep existential meanings.
Emanuele Trevi
Emanuele Trevi (Rome, 1964), one of the most esteemed writers and critics of his generation, writes for the Corriere della Sera newspaper. Ponte alle Grazie published the three novels Qualcosa di scritto (Something Written, 2012, Strega Prize runner-up, winner of the European Union Prize for Literature and translated into eighteen languages), Sogni e favole (Dreams and Fairytales, 2019, Viareggio Prize) and Il figlio del mago (The Magician's Son, 2023), and a new edition of the essay Musica distante (Distant Music, 2012). His other books include: Istruzioni per l'uso del lupo (Instructions for Using the Wolf, Castelvecchi, 1994), I cani del nulla (The Dogs of Nowhere, Einaudi, 2003), Senza verso (Without Verse, Laterza, 2004), Il libro della gioia perpetua (The Book of Perpetual Joy, Rizzoli, 2010), and Il popolo di legno (The Wooden People, Einaudi, 2015). Con Due vite (Two Lives, Neri Pozza, 2020) won the 2021 Strega Prize.
SciArt SwitzerlAnd
To create a stimulating conversation between spheres that are simultaneously both distant and linked in an effort to promote scientific culture as part of a journey of international research into Science and the Arts:
This is the goal with which SciArt SwitzerlAnd was founded, a project by IBSA Foundation for scientific research, in partnership with the LAC cultural centre (Lugano Arte e Cultura) and Lugano's MASI museum (Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana).
Science and the arts have always coexisted through time and space. Albeit with different methods and for different purposes, artists and scientists both observe the world around them and open up new perspectives, interpretations and meanings for us to explore.
Using different event formats and digital products, SciArt SwitzerlAnd plans to place its focus on those artistic creations that have been transformed thanks to their interactions with scientists, with new discoveries and with research institutions.
The public will be offered a look at fascinating projects, the products of different dimensions intersecting, and be able to listen to the voices of artists and scientists explaining the extent to which spheres that are so different can mutually influence one another.
The new project is perfectly aligned with the mission of the Foundation, which has been committed since 2012 to disseminating scientific culture that is trustworthy, sharing principles and knowledge using language that is accessible, and raising awareness of topics relating to science and culture as well as to personal health and well-being.
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