Gioia Laura Iannilli on Aesthetics, Design, and Everyday Experience
In an interview with Davide Dal Sasso for Artribune, Gioia Laura Iannilli, a senior researcher specializing in aesthetics at the University of Bologna, shares insights into her research on aesthetics, design, and daily life. She highlights the experiential aspect of design and its significance in grasping the dynamics between aesthetics and the everyday. Iannilli critiques the tendency to limit aesthetics to art and nature, promoting a pragmatist approach centered on tangible experiences. She differentiates between theoretical and meta-theoretical frameworks in Everyday Aesthetics (EA), emphasizing the value of gratification. While contemporary art often embraces disharmony, everyday aesthetics finds satisfaction even in negative experiences. Iannilli cautions that experience design might cloud the process of meaning-making. Her publications include 'L'estetico e il quotidiano' (2019) and 'The Aesthetics of Experience Design' (2020).
Key facts
- Gioia Laura Iannilli is a senior researcher in aesthetics at the University of Bologna.
- Her research focuses on pragmatist aesthetics, everyday life, design, fashion, and new technologies.
- She is a member of the editorial board of Studi di estetica and the International Lexicon of Aesthetics (Mimesis).
- She served on the board of the Società Italiana d'Estetica and as secretary of the Experience Research Society.
- She edited volumes including 'Aesthetic and Linguistic Practices' (with Stefano Oliva, 2022), 'Co-Operative Aesthetics' (2022), and 'Aesthetic Environments' (2021).
- She authored 'The Aesthetics of Experience Design: A Philosophical Essay' (2020) and 'L'estetico e il quotidiano' (2019).
- Iannilli argues design has explanatory, critical, and productive force for everyday aesthetics.
- She advocates for a pragmatist and phenomenological-critical methodology in studying everyday experience.
- She distinguishes between theoretical and meta-theoretical positions in Everyday Aesthetics.
- The concept of gratification is key: even negative experiences can be gratifying in everyday aesthetics.
- Experience design risks opacifying mechanisms and reducing our capacity to generate meaning.
- The interview was conducted by Davide Dal Sasso for Artribune in May 2023.
Entities
Artists
- Gioia Laura Iannilli
- Davide Dal Sasso
- Stefano Oliva
Institutions
- University of Bologna
- Studi di estetica
- International Lexicon of Aesthetics (Mimesis)
- Società Italiana d'Estetica
- Experience Research Society
- Mimesis
- Mimesis International
- Artribune
- Scuola IMT Alti Studi Lucca
Locations
- Bologna
- Italy
- Lucca