Tommaso Trini on Art Criticism, Duplicity, and Diffuse Aesthetics

In an interview with Davide Dal Sasso for Artribune, critic Tommaso Trini reflects on his mutable writing style, which adapts to the shifting poetics of the artists he explores. He emphasizes the ethical responsibility of criticism, viewing it as a constructive act that establishes connections rather than chasing truth. Trini describes his approach as philological, focusing on word meanings and unexpected links. He introduces the concept of 'diffuse aesthetics' (estetica diffusa), where art is encountered everywhere beyond institutional spaces, and discusses the 'sensorium'—a term influenced by Donald Judd and Robert Smithson, referring to the multiplication of senses through technology and materials. Trini recalls key moments in his career, including his 1964 text on Michelangelo Pistoletto and his work on the artist's Mirror Paintings and Metro cubo di infinito (1966). He cites Richard Dawkins and Jorge Luis Borges as influences, and mentions artists such as Pollock, Dadamaino, Vincenzo Agnetti, Giovanni Anselmo, Bruce Nauman, Piero Gilardi, Jannis Kounellis, Nicola De Maria, Richard Long, Michael Heizer, and Roman Opalka. Trini argues that art should take a spiritual, community-building direction, with artists as new 'animists' who foster communities capable of philosophizing beyond theology. He rejects immateriality, insisting on substitution rather than dematerialization, and envisions a future where art replaces the economy of objects with that of gifts.