Following the successful organization of the Festival della Tecnologia, held by the Politecnico di Torino to celebrate the 160th anniversary of its foundation, the Politecnico presents, in synergy with the local players, a permanent biennial event dedicated to technology’s decisive impact on each aspect of human life – from health to environment, from interpersonal relationships to democracy: the Biennale Tecnologia (Torino, 12-15 November 2020). The Biennale Tecnologia will alternate with the Biennale Democrazia – an event that promotes a culture of democracy that should be translated into democratic practice – in order to complete and deepen such reflection by looking wider to the multiple aspects of technology, a human-created instrument that, after all, significantly affects everyone’s life.
The Biennale Tecnologia will thus be a wide-ranging event that will offer to the citizenry an articulated, inclusive and accessible reflection on the increasingly relevant issue of the relationship between technology and society, starting from the most recent technological innovations, but also recalling the history of Italian technological roots (with the hope that past and present great results will be inspirational for the future). The discussions will focus on the environmental, ethical, social, economic and geopolitical implications of major technological issues such as artificial intelligence, energy, transports and telecommunications. More generally, the question will be how to manage technology in the community’s interest.
The program will include lessons, debates, workshops and exhibits with international guests and with a strongly interdisciplinary approach, enriched by the languages of fiction, cinema, music and figurative arts. Laboratories and learning activities, some of whom specifically designed for primary and secondary schools, will also be included.