Where are you?
This is the website of REINCANTAMENTO, welcome.
REINCANTAMENTO is a hybrid entity born in 2020 that moves between Turin and Berlin. founded by Alessando Y. Longo. We are an independent group of of researchers, philosophers, and designers dedicated to exploring the intricate relationship between technology, magic, and society. REINCANTAMENTO has different forms.
It operates as a writing label. After having published in several online magazines, to date, we only publish in DROPS, our newsletter.
At other times, we exist as an art collective, dedicated to interventions within institutions and independent spaces.
We use our cultural and artistic work to connect and bring together people dedicated to building a common and collective techno-social horizon.
We nurture the hope that new networks and new machines can be born for people. Or, we will fail spectacularly by trying.
Among the themes we covered in our works: philosophy of networks and peer-to-peer systems, political utopias, the role of imagination, social applications of blockchain and NFTs, digital gardens, generative models, the materiality of digital technologies, and the geopolitics of components.
REINCANTAMENTO has collaborated with Serpentine Galleries & RadicalXChange, SAVVY Contemporary, MoCa, MacTe, 48h Neukölln Festival 2023, C/O Digital Festival 2022, IAM Festival 2021, and with online magazines such as SCHON, Not, L’ ndiscreto, Singola.
The extended mind of REINCANTAMENTO includes the individual ones of Alessandro, Giorgio Craparo, and Jeein. Additional input comes occasionally from Marco Mattei, Vincenzo Grasso, Lorenzo Casavecchia, Lapo Sorride, Stranding Production, Anna Fasolato.
- The Writings section houses found all articles in Italian and (almost) all in English as well.
- The Bonus Texts page, on the other hand, includes texts of another nature, unpublished or designed for specific events. We have come up with reading paths to give coherence to all this material, which you can follow by clicking on the bouncing keys at the bottom of the articles. This idea is still under development
- The Activities section includes all the workshops, projects, and other interventions made IRL.
- Videodrome hosts the two seasons of Speculum!, the program aired between 2020 and '21 on the Decamerette network. Speculum! involved Alessandro Y. Longo, Marco Mattei, and Vincenzo Grasso. During 2021, Speculum! was a newsletter, currently suspended but ready for future activations. Here you will also find the video-essay Future Archaeology, the talk on Tech Collapse, and more.
- Finally, the Garden section, a reworking of Tumblr style, is a confusing page of visual inspirations and HTML tricks, an experiment in curating jpg files, and a radical elaboration of the idea of repost. Find out more about it below.
REINCANTAMENTO originated as a series of articles by Alessandro, published on Medium in April 2020. This initial series delves into philosophical approaches to digital technologies, the issue of surveillance, the question of design, and possible solutions to enchant our tools once again. From this crucial philosophical framework, an online meditation with daily outreach on Instagram and article publications across various magazines emerged. In this phase, Speculum! was also born, a philosophical trio engaged in contemplating the idea of the future through YouTube and newsletters.
In 2022, REINCANTAMENTO moved to Berlin and begins organizing performances and workshops as expansions of its philosophical research.
The process of web design has been oriented around the concept of
REINCANTAMENTO is a hybrid entity born in 2020 that moves between Turin and Berlin. founded by Alessando Y. Longo. We are an independent group of of researchers, philosophers, and designers dedicated to exploring the intricate relationship between technology, magic, and society. REINCANTAMENTO has different forms.
It operates as a writing label. After having published in several online magazines, to date, we only publish in DROPS, our newsletter.
At other times, we exist as an art collective, dedicated to interventions within institutions and independent spaces.
We use our cultural and artistic work to connect and bring together people dedicated to building a common and collective techno-social horizon.
We nurture the hope that new networks and new machines can be born for people. Or, we will fail spectacularly by trying.
Among the themes we covered in our works: philosophy of networks and peer-to-peer systems, political utopias, the role of imagination, social applications of blockchain and NFTs, digital gardens, generative models, the materiality of digital technologies, and the geopolitics of components.
REINCANTAMENTO has collaborated with Serpentine Galleries & RadicalXChange, SAVVY Contemporary, MoCa, MacTe, 48h Neukölln Festival 2023, C/O Digital Festival 2022, IAM Festival 2021, and with online magazines such as SCHON, Not, L’ ndiscreto, Singola.
The extended mind of REINCANTAMENTO includes the individual ones of Alessandro, Giorgio Craparo, and Jeein. Additional input comes occasionally from Marco Mattei, Vincenzo Grasso, Lorenzo Casavecchia, Lapo Sorride, Stranding Production, Anna Fasolato.
What will you find here?
- The Writings section houses found all articles in Italian and (almost) all in English as well.
- The Bonus Texts page, on the other hand, includes texts of another nature, unpublished or designed for specific events. We have come up with reading paths to give coherence to all this material, which you can follow by clicking on the bouncing keys at the bottom of the articles. This idea is still under development
- The Activities section includes all the workshops, projects, and other interventions made IRL.
- Videodrome hosts the two seasons of Speculum!, the program aired between 2020 and '21 on the Decamerette network. Speculum! involved Alessandro Y. Longo, Marco Mattei, and Vincenzo Grasso. During 2021, Speculum! was a newsletter, currently suspended but ready for future activations. Here you will also find the video-essay Future Archaeology, the talk on Tech Collapse, and more.
- Finally, the Garden section, a reworking of Tumblr style, is a confusing page of visual inspirations and HTML tricks, an experiment in curating jpg files, and a radical elaboration of the idea of repost. Find out more about it below.
Our story
REINCANTAMENTO originated as a series of articles by Alessandro, published on Medium in April 2020. This initial series delves into philosophical approaches to digital technologies, the issue of surveillance, the question of design, and possible solutions to enchant our tools once again. From this crucial philosophical framework, an online meditation with daily outreach on Instagram and article publications across various magazines emerged. In this phase, Speculum! was also born, a philosophical trio engaged in contemplating the idea of the future through YouTube and newsletters.
In 2022, REINCANTAMENTO moved to Berlin and begins organizing performances and workshops as expansions of its philosophical research.
The process of web design has been oriented around the concept of
digital garden
A concept dating back to Web 1.0, a digital garden is an experience that affects the senses, a cognitive space living an eternal work-in-progress, an oasis of cues, sparks and multimedia deluges. Compared to social media's logic:
“The Garden is our counterbalance. Gardens present information in a richly linked landscape that grows slowly over time. Everything is arranged and connected in ways that allow you to explore. [...] You get to actively choose which curiosity trail to follow, rather than defaulting to the algorithmically-filtered ephemeral stream. The garden helps us move away from time-bound streams and into contextual knowledge spaces. ”
Crossing different styles, from pixel-art to old cryptography manuals, via retro games, HD aesthetics and blogosphere frenzy, the first iteration of our garden is born. Far from being truly autonomous, this digital space is still a work-in-progress and further iterations are planned.
P.S. If you're interested in learning more about digital gardens, click on these flowers
Why are we doing it?
We want to contribute to the construction of a common and collective horizon for a new techno-social evolution. To help dissolve the disciplinary boundaries that separate concepts from matter, code from artworks.
To connect the dots across the jagged map of the present so that new paths can emerge. Trying to occupy the Insta-space without falling victim to influencers-anxiety and hype cycles. To nurture the hope that new networks and new machines can be born for the people. Alternatively, to fail spectacularly while trying.