Artribune essay argues art communication needs authentic storytelling beyond disposable culture

In a 2025 essay on Artribune, Francesco Monico critiques contemporary art communication as trapped in a disposable, social-media-driven logic. He traces the origins of narrative and image to prehistoric cave paintings at Lascaux, Cosquer, and Altamira, citing E.M. Forster's 1927 Cambridge lecture and Pablo Picasso's remark that "we have learned nothing in twelve thousand years." Monico invokes Werner Herzog's documentary "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" (2010) and Aby Warburg's "Mnemosyne Atlas" to argue that art is a dynamic, mysterious flow of meaning. He questions the impact of Chiara Ferragni's collaboration with the Uffizi, warning that art must not become a fleeting social event. Monico calls for an alliance of narrators, philosophers, theologians, and artists to build authentic narratives, citing Jonathan Gottschall's literary Darwinism (2012). He presents Damien Hirst's 2017 Venice exhibition "Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable" as a model of immersive mythological storytelling, and Michelangelo Pistoletto's "L'uomo nero" (2010) as a reflection on identity and perception. Drawing on Giambattista Vico's concept of "Bestioni," Monico urges a return to symbolic, world-creating art that transcends hyper-rational modernity.