Elisabetta Di Stefano on Everyday Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Daily Life

In an interview with Davide Dal Sasso for Artribune, philosopher Elisabetta Di Stefano discusses the field of everyday aesthetics, which examines the aesthetic dimensions of ordinary life. She traces the philosophical neglect of daily life from Christian culture and Cartesian rationalism to modern alienation, noting a shift with Freud, Heidegger, and especially Henri Lefebvre, who reconciled the dualisms of matter/spirit and authentic/inauthentic through a cyclical understanding of time. Di Stefano distinguishes European research (sociological, anthropological, aesthetic) from Anglo-American everyday aesthetics, which is more analytical and includes Richard Shusterman's somaesthetics. Key themes include the aesthetic appreciation of clothing, food, body care, and environment, as well as the concept of 'artification' from ethologist Ellen Dissanayake, which sees artistic behavior as making ordinary actions 'special.' She also discusses the role of art in everyday aesthetics, citing Land Art and Public Art as examples that redirect attention to surroundings. Di Stefano's book 'Che cosa è l'estetica quotidiana' (Carocci, 2017) synthesizes these ideas.