Ernesto Pezzi - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ernesto Pezzi
For many years I have been interested in creativity and creative thinking in the most varied of a... more For many years I have been interested in creativity and creative thinking in the most varied of areas, such as art curation, the study of literacy issues, artistic and musical aesthetics. Several years ago I established a permanent seminar on creativity, open to input from all backgrounds. I wrote a text proposing a hypothesis of the relationship between living spaces, individuality, and childhood, in which, using mostly an overview of the history of theatre and the analysis of some emblematic works (Oresteia, Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Seagull), I sought to identify the complexity of motives of modern and contemporary creativity. The thesis proposes that without individual spaces there is no private individual psyche, and, as such, no particular form of interiority to allow for the creative processes as they exist in the modern epoch. I propose that the fundamental motives of creativity, at least in our culture, have psychological origins that have been correctly interpreted by certain psychoanalytic authors and which refer on one hand to the basic instincts of sexuality and aggression (Melanie Klein, Otto Kernberg, and – in the field of evolutionary biology – Geoffrey Miller), and, on the other hand, to social motives relating to the asymmetric and unequal distribution of both economic and cultural capital (Bourdieu). In other words, a correlation exists between private individuality and solidity of the structure of the ego. This strength enables the creative process to be fully realised by way of an integration of sexual and aggressive drives through a process of sublimation, avoiding an overly severe diversion. Reducing the influence of the regressions in basic assumptions (Bion) and applying the concept of group work to the individual, it reduces the compulsion to conform to social norms thus promoting originality. This theoretical base allows for various forms to practice. Drastically reducing the motives of the possible forms of creativity, a slighty unintuitive resulting consequence is that, on the one hand, we can consider the cultural forms as morphogenetic fields dynamically structured around cultural, social and individual "points of view", and, on the other hand, we can identify the lines of deformation of these seemingly incompatible fields thus allowing them to communicate through a continuum within which new objects can be conceived. For example, in the military field, the concept of a non-lethal weapon introduces an adjustable variable in the way in which the strength of a device is applied to a target: this introduces a strong component of variability in the application of force. If the range of capabilities of a weapon is not limited merely to hurt or to kill, one can think of the weapon as a device which attaches, or perhaps that the assignment is not the actual penetration of the target body. Shall we then say that the task of the weapon is to intervene on the perceptual abilities of the individual (considering the potential of penetration of the weapon as a capacity to provide a deep perception of the target, along a continuum that connects the penetrative and non-penetrative potential of the weapon itself). The task of the device would be to cause a certain degree of sensory overload (or, on the contrary, of sensory deprivation) such as to induce a regressive state in the target (an individual or a group of individuals). The above definition is also perfectly applicable to another class of artifact that our culture categorises under the definition of "works of art". By accepting this hypothesis we are in possession of a theoretical tool that enables us to consider an alternative class of theoretical object (for example, concerning the use-of-force doctrine in the different situations of war and non-war) and concrete objects (for example, devices that produce perceptual-but also "cultural "-innovative effects, redesigning the targeting concept, as much in art as in war). Accepting these assumptions we are in possession of a theoretical tool that establishes a continuum between two different linguistic fields, the field of art and the field of military: a line along which they can rise to an unpredictable number of theoretical tools and devices.
Il mondo di Kafka è un teatro universale. Per lui l'uomo è naturalmente in scena. E la prova è ch... more Il mondo di Kafka è un teatro universale. Per lui l'uomo è naturalmente in scena. E la prova è che sul teatro naturale di Oklahoma tutti vengono assunti. È impossibile comprendere secondo quali criteri ha luogo l'assunzione. L'attitudine alla recitazione, a cui si sarebbe indotti a pensare dapprima, non ha apparentemente nessuna importanza. Benjamin, Franz Kafka.
Nelle parole ci sono dei suoni, e nei suoni ci sono delle parole; in particolare in quei suoni ch... more Nelle parole ci sono dei suoni, e nei suoni ci sono delle parole; in particolare in quei suoni che cadono sotto la definizione di "musica". Senza un discorso della musica e sulla musica, la musica stessa non esisterebbe. Si tratta di una relazione talmente duale che si potrebbe affermare che, in un campo delle attività e del pensiero umano che vogliamo definire "musicalità", le parole sono manifestazioni di suoni e i suoni sono manifestazioni di parole, senza che si possa spezzare la circolarità della relazione. E d'altra parte, ci sono suoni nei pensieri, nei pensieri strutturati, nelle forme concettuali, ma anche nel brusio del delirio, nel ticchettio del pensiero ossessivo, nell'andamento liquido del dormiveglia, quando si crea una zona d'indistinzione tra elementi sonori, linguistici, visivi. Secondo l'insegnamento della psicanalisi, tuttavia, tutti questi elementi possono essere interpretati linguisticamente: diremo che si può attribuire loro una struttura linguistica, la quale si può far ricadere sotto un campo di isomorfismo proprio della musicalità. Gli elementi costitutivi del discorso musicale, frasi, temi, motivi, ecc., e le loro modalità di implementazione formale, variazione, sviluppo, contrasto, ecc., formano una struttura indipendente dal contenuto, una sorta di algebra, che si può applicare a qualsiasi forma identificabile o percepibile, sia essa sonora o no.
Books by Ernesto Pezzi
Alice's Room: Theater, Childhood, Creativity, 2021
A study on theater, childhood, and psychoanalysis through a historical excursus that starts from ... more A study on theater, childhood, and psychoanalysis through a historical excursus that starts from Aeschylus and goes up to Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin. The text also attempts to analyze how the perception of scenic space, starting from the Renaissance perspective, has influenced the formation of the modern individual's self-perception.
Fellini 8 1/2 Creativity Handbook, 2023
Based on Fellini's masterpiece, the author offers an analysis of the creative process, with dozen... more Based on Fellini's masterpiece, the author offers an analysis of the creative process, with dozens of structured exercises designed to enhance the creative abilities of anyone, regardless of their natural inclinations. The unique approach to the exercises is indeed multimedia, asking the reader to challenge themselves with languages and mediums that may be unfamiliar, in order to both expand their creative capacities and their perception and understanding of different artistic forms. Through an analysis of the salient elements of Fellini's magnum opus, the reader will be guided to delve deeper into their own unique vision. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJMSWRYM
For many years I have been interested in creativity and creative thinking in the most varied of a... more For many years I have been interested in creativity and creative thinking in the most varied of areas, such as art curation, the study of literacy issues, artistic and musical aesthetics. Several years ago I established a permanent seminar on creativity, open to input from all backgrounds. I wrote a text proposing a hypothesis of the relationship between living spaces, individuality, and childhood, in which, using mostly an overview of the history of theatre and the analysis of some emblematic works (Oresteia, Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Seagull), I sought to identify the complexity of motives of modern and contemporary creativity. The thesis proposes that without individual spaces there is no private individual psyche, and, as such, no particular form of interiority to allow for the creative processes as they exist in the modern epoch. I propose that the fundamental motives of creativity, at least in our culture, have psychological origins that have been correctly interpreted by certain psychoanalytic authors and which refer on one hand to the basic instincts of sexuality and aggression (Melanie Klein, Otto Kernberg, and – in the field of evolutionary biology – Geoffrey Miller), and, on the other hand, to social motives relating to the asymmetric and unequal distribution of both economic and cultural capital (Bourdieu). In other words, a correlation exists between private individuality and solidity of the structure of the ego. This strength enables the creative process to be fully realised by way of an integration of sexual and aggressive drives through a process of sublimation, avoiding an overly severe diversion. Reducing the influence of the regressions in basic assumptions (Bion) and applying the concept of group work to the individual, it reduces the compulsion to conform to social norms thus promoting originality. This theoretical base allows for various forms to practice. Drastically reducing the motives of the possible forms of creativity, a slighty unintuitive resulting consequence is that, on the one hand, we can consider the cultural forms as morphogenetic fields dynamically structured around cultural, social and individual "points of view", and, on the other hand, we can identify the lines of deformation of these seemingly incompatible fields thus allowing them to communicate through a continuum within which new objects can be conceived. For example, in the military field, the concept of a non-lethal weapon introduces an adjustable variable in the way in which the strength of a device is applied to a target: this introduces a strong component of variability in the application of force. If the range of capabilities of a weapon is not limited merely to hurt or to kill, one can think of the weapon as a device which attaches, or perhaps that the assignment is not the actual penetration of the target body. Shall we then say that the task of the weapon is to intervene on the perceptual abilities of the individual (considering the potential of penetration of the weapon as a capacity to provide a deep perception of the target, along a continuum that connects the penetrative and non-penetrative potential of the weapon itself). The task of the device would be to cause a certain degree of sensory overload (or, on the contrary, of sensory deprivation) such as to induce a regressive state in the target (an individual or a group of individuals). The above definition is also perfectly applicable to another class of artifact that our culture categorises under the definition of "works of art". By accepting this hypothesis we are in possession of a theoretical tool that enables us to consider an alternative class of theoretical object (for example, concerning the use-of-force doctrine in the different situations of war and non-war) and concrete objects (for example, devices that produce perceptual-but also "cultural "-innovative effects, redesigning the targeting concept, as much in art as in war). Accepting these assumptions we are in possession of a theoretical tool that establishes a continuum between two different linguistic fields, the field of art and the field of military: a line along which they can rise to an unpredictable number of theoretical tools and devices.
Il mondo di Kafka è un teatro universale. Per lui l'uomo è naturalmente in scena. E la prova è ch... more Il mondo di Kafka è un teatro universale. Per lui l'uomo è naturalmente in scena. E la prova è che sul teatro naturale di Oklahoma tutti vengono assunti. È impossibile comprendere secondo quali criteri ha luogo l'assunzione. L'attitudine alla recitazione, a cui si sarebbe indotti a pensare dapprima, non ha apparentemente nessuna importanza. Benjamin, Franz Kafka.
Nelle parole ci sono dei suoni, e nei suoni ci sono delle parole; in particolare in quei suoni ch... more Nelle parole ci sono dei suoni, e nei suoni ci sono delle parole; in particolare in quei suoni che cadono sotto la definizione di "musica". Senza un discorso della musica e sulla musica, la musica stessa non esisterebbe. Si tratta di una relazione talmente duale che si potrebbe affermare che, in un campo delle attività e del pensiero umano che vogliamo definire "musicalità", le parole sono manifestazioni di suoni e i suoni sono manifestazioni di parole, senza che si possa spezzare la circolarità della relazione. E d'altra parte, ci sono suoni nei pensieri, nei pensieri strutturati, nelle forme concettuali, ma anche nel brusio del delirio, nel ticchettio del pensiero ossessivo, nell'andamento liquido del dormiveglia, quando si crea una zona d'indistinzione tra elementi sonori, linguistici, visivi. Secondo l'insegnamento della psicanalisi, tuttavia, tutti questi elementi possono essere interpretati linguisticamente: diremo che si può attribuire loro una struttura linguistica, la quale si può far ricadere sotto un campo di isomorfismo proprio della musicalità. Gli elementi costitutivi del discorso musicale, frasi, temi, motivi, ecc., e le loro modalità di implementazione formale, variazione, sviluppo, contrasto, ecc., formano una struttura indipendente dal contenuto, una sorta di algebra, che si può applicare a qualsiasi forma identificabile o percepibile, sia essa sonora o no.
Alice's Room: Theater, Childhood, Creativity, 2021
A study on theater, childhood, and psychoanalysis through a historical excursus that starts from ... more A study on theater, childhood, and psychoanalysis through a historical excursus that starts from Aeschylus and goes up to Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin. The text also attempts to analyze how the perception of scenic space, starting from the Renaissance perspective, has influenced the formation of the modern individual's self-perception.
Fellini 8 1/2 Creativity Handbook, 2023
Based on Fellini's masterpiece, the author offers an analysis of the creative process, with dozen... more Based on Fellini's masterpiece, the author offers an analysis of the creative process, with dozens of structured exercises designed to enhance the creative abilities of anyone, regardless of their natural inclinations. The unique approach to the exercises is indeed multimedia, asking the reader to challenge themselves with languages and mediums that may be unfamiliar, in order to both expand their creative capacities and their perception and understanding of different artistic forms. Through an analysis of the salient elements of Fellini's magnum opus, the reader will be guided to delve deeper into their own unique vision. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJMSWRYM