Christian Caliandro's Poetic Meditation on Chaos and Creation

Christian Caliandro, an art historian and cultural policy expert teaching at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, publishes a lyrical essay on Artribune reflecting on contemporary existence amid terror and magic. Drawing on Caetano Veloso's post-Bolsonaro election quote, he frames the present as an era of danger yet divinity. The text weaves together references to Yoka Daishi's 'Song of Immediate Satori', William Burroughs' 'writing your way out', and Caravaggio's 'Seven Works of Mercy' (1606-07). Caliandro explores the dissolution of boundaries, the construction of space within emptiness, and the painful yet joyful process of mutation and identity transformation. He describes a visit to Rome's Cimitero del Verano, where the difficulty of finding actors' graves mirrors the gap between imagined and real worlds. The essay promotes three Artribune newsletters: Incanti (weekly art market), Render (biweekly urban regeneration), and PAX (biweekly cultural tourism). Caliandro, born 1979, is a member of the scientific committee of Symbola Foundation for Italian Qualities.