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New Prehistory

The exhibition curated by Andrea Branzi and Kenya Hara is a journey from prehistory to the latest nano-technologies inspired by the power of “100 verbs”. #21triennale

The exhibition “New Prehistory”, curated by Andrea Branzi and Kenya Hara, retraces the long journey from the instruments of ancient prehistory to the latest nano-technologies.

Neo preistoria — View of the exhibition “New Prehistory” curated by Andrea Branzi and Kenya Hara at the Triennale di Milano

A journey inspired by the power of “100 verbs” and “100 instruments” which, like streams of mysterious, life-giving energy, guide the viewer through the dark clouds of history and of infinite space. Reaching all the way to today’s frontiers of scientific research, which is striving to prolong human survival by creating spare parts for our bodies. The as yet relatively unexplored twenty-first century is in this sense a new prehistoric age – a time when the destiny of humanity still had no clear direction and when objects possessed many meanings, from their practical uses to ritual and magical functions. Artificial thought today marks the beginning of a new anthropology, a new stage in human evolution, in which – as in ancient prehistory – we cannot make out our overall destiny but only our individual leaps in the dark.

This loss of direction is still very much a part of the extreme vitality and creativity of human thought and technology, which is to be found both in instruments of death and in the extension of life towards a future still waiting to be explored. The exhibition does not therefore intend to investigate the future, but rather to look at the present and at its most ingenious and dangerous aspects.