Tools For After is a cultural project that won the first Capitali della Creatività [Capitals of Creativity] competition, promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aimed at both the Italian Cultural Institutes and the Italian diplomatic-consular network, worldwide. The project, created by Angelo Gioè, the current director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Beirut, and curated in its entirety by architect Maurizio Corrado, was presented by the Italian Cultural Institute in Melbourne, the Italian Cultural Institute in Beirut (Design), and the Italian Cultural Institute in Sofia (Design), and will soon be presented by the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade. The initiative showcases the Italian approach to tackling the challenges of the Anthropocene.

The Anthropocene is a method of reading reality. Everything is changing: the economy, how to think and make culture, the very view of the world and the human being’s place in the cosmos. The issues, fears, needs, concepts, rules, scenarios and discourse on which our culture is based have suddenly become obsolete and unusable. The point of no return is behind us; we have entered the aftermath.
What can we do? What are the tools for the after? What scenarios await us? What issues need to be addressed? We need to imagine.

TFA is a workshop of ideas, solutions, projects, imaginings, models and tools to draw a collective map of the imaginary of the Anthropocene, a collaborative exploration of possibilities, solutions and ways to deal with everyday practice. It is a call to a utopia, to develop the imaginary, to propose ideas, and to build a survival manual for the world’s coming transformations, an atlas of solutions, a range of strategies.

After Tools for After Design at Sursock Palace this last spring, the Italian Cultural Institute of Beirut, in collaboration with Metropolis Art Cinema Association, presents Tools For After Cinema, a selection of the most interesting proposals of new Italian cinematography, presented to Lebanese audience. The six days of cinema work around themes related to the Anthropocene. The selection was curated by Maurizio and Antar Corrado, along with Elisa Roncalli.

Science Session 2 

ARCTIC MISSION, by Claudia Amico, 30 min

This is WWF Italy’s first exploratory sailing mission to the Arctic Ocean. A group of 7 experts, including marine biologists, mountain guides and naturalists, followed the wild and little-known east coast of Greenland to experience first-hand one of the places most affected by the climate crisis. In addition to sharing the breathtaking beauty of one of the planet’s last remaining wild places, the journey illustrates, through first-hand accounts and interviews with experts from the European Space Agency (ESA), how the gradual disappearance of the ice is affecting the well-being of local communities and the lives of us all, but also how the climate crisis can be addressed through the smart use of technology, increased awareness and, above all, the will to act.

From a story by Isabella Pratesi, with contributions by Paolo Falco and Carlo Gabasio. Overalp – Biella.

Production year 2023

CELESTIAL SPACE, EARTHLY SPACE, by IIC Melbourne, 35 min

Will we abandon the Earth or learn to take care of it? This documentary from Visioni: the Italian Ecoway of Lyfe Series, produced by the Italian Cultural Institute in Melbourne, poses the question to three young Italian researchers who have won international awards for their groundbreaking research. Mario Spera is a young astrophysicist from Sissa, (International Senior Institute of Advanced Studies); then there are the projects of space architect Valentina Sumini, who collaborates with Nasa on village projects on the Moon and Mars. And from the infinitely large to the infinitely small, there is the research on nanotechnology by Silvia Marchesan, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Trieste, who with her team is developing important applications in the fields of medicine as well as of everyday life. And from here to the suggestions of science fiction narrated by writer Alessandro Vietti.

Production year 2022