Living Anthropology and Art Boundaries (LAB)

Living Anthropology and Art Boundaries (LAB) is conceived as an experimental laboratory that fosters innovative synergies between art and ethnography, exploring the potential of a knowledge that transcends traditional disciplinary confines. Drawing inspiration from the arts, social sciences, and humanities, LAB positions itself as a space of convergence and hybridisation, where interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaborations can generate novel approaches to exploring and representing the myriad dimensions of the world. These dimensions—human and non-human, animate and inanimate, material and immaterial—can be experienced, felt, and imagined, yet they rarely find adequate expression through purely textual or single-disciplinary methods.

LAB does not merely "occupy the margins" of disciplines; it actively challenges conventional boundaries, transforming them into spaces of exchange, tension, and innovation. Rather than striving for a precarious equilibrium between anthropology and art, its aim is to unveil the epistemological, aesthetic, and political fractures that emerge from their encounter. Exploring these margins entails opening up new avenues of research, venturing into uncharted territory, and engaging in continuous dialogue with an ever-evolving landscape. This dynamic, processual approach, rooted in a collective and socially engaged vision, champions a living anthropology and a critical art that question established conventions and paradigms.

LAB is committed to supporting experiments that meld emotion, sensoriality, and imagination with rigorous theoretical and methodological depth. The collaborations emerging from this space not only seek to produce new forms of knowledge, but also to create inclusive, evocative, and transformative modes of expression. Embracing the notion that research is not a conclusive act but an open, evolving process, LAB encourages practices that transcend mere representation by incorporating performativity, evocation, and materiality as essential elements of anthropological and artistic inquiry.

We invite curators, artists, anthropologists, and researchers from all fields to contribute methodological explorations, transdisciplinary collaborations, and experimental projects that challenge disciplinary boundaries and embrace more dynamic and open modes of knowledge production. LAB stands as a generative space where the dialogue between art and anthropology serves not only as an investigative tool, but also as an ethical and political practice for imagining alternative worlds and confronting the challenges of our time.

Curator 2025: Marco Maria Zanin

The LAB inaugurates with the curation of Italian artist, researcher, and activist Marco Maria Zanin. Born in Padua in 1983, Zanin's work explores the intersections of contemporary art, anthropology, and community engagement. His research focuses on the relationships between human beings and their territories, emphasising an intercultural approach that values practices and rituals capable of strengthening the bonds between communities and their environments. His work seeks to place life, in all its forms, at the centre of artistic and anthropological reflection, examining how artefacts, rituals, and craft can foster deep connections between communities and their lands.

With a background in Modern Literature and International Relations, Zanin is currently pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at ISCTE/NOVA University in Lisbon. His thesis, entitled “Potencialidades na Fronteira entre Arte e Artefato” [Potentialities at the Frontier between Art and Artefact], investigates the limits and intersections between artistic practices and cultural objects. His works are part of prestigious public and private collections, including MART (Rovereto), Museu Morandi, Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, Fondazione Brodbeck, Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo, MAM in Rio de Janeiro, and Salsali Museum in Dubai.

In 2015, Zanin founded Humus Interdisciplinary, a platform dedicated to creating artistic residencies that connect artists with rural communities in the Veneto region. Humus focuses on the reinterpretation of local identities through artistic collaborations and cultural revitalisation initiatives. By integrating contemporary art into marginalised rural contexts, Zanin promotes community development and fosters a deeper awareness of the complex relationship between human life and territory.

Through his artistic practice and research, Zanin underscores the importance of creating new relational paradigms that bridge the gaps between art, craft, and community traditions. These intersections serve to foster sociocultural healing and reconnection in the face of modern fragmentation. By linking contemporary art, anthropology, and the role of ethnographic museums, his work reflects on art as a transformative tool for reanimating historical objects and engendering intercultural dialogue. Positioned at the confluence of multiple disciplines and assuming various roles, Zanin reimagines the ethnographic museum as a dynamic space where art, craft, and intercultural connections converge to promote a new understanding of heritage and address broader social issues related to identity, belonging, and cultural restitution.

Chiara Pussetti (Editor/Curator of LAB - Living Anthropology and Art Boundaries)

Interview with Elena Mazzi

1. Elena Mazzi. Photo © Sergio Urbina

In this section of Agora, I am pleased to present an interview with Italian artist Elena Mazzi, whose work lies at the border between art and anthropology, transforming artistic practice into a site of intercultural exchange and symbolic negotiation. With an approach that interweaves local collaborations and global reflections, Mazzi explores the relationships between identity, territory and collective memory, integrating local communities into the creative process and involving the public as an active part of a shared narrative.  

Elena Mazzi, trained between the University of Siena, IUAV in Venice, and the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, is currently working on a doctorate at Villa Arson in Nice. In her artistic research she moves between different disciplines and geographies, from Venice to Greenland, from the Arctic to Trentino, and embraces a range of themes from climate change to social resilience, in a constant dialogue with communities and territories.  

Through works such as Snow Dragon (2019), a tapestry made of cotton threads and recycled plastic that symbolizes the impact of the future Arctic trade route; and The Upcoming Polar Silk Road (2021), a mockumentary that ironically reflects on geopolitical interests in the Arctic, Mazzi explores the environmental and political consequences of global warming. Her projects are often developed through direct collaboration with researchers, scientists and local communities, as is the case with Smellscapes (2022), a participatory work that restores the olfactory identity of a neighborhood in Turin, or Copperialities (2022), which investigates the impact of copper in Trentino farmlands.  

2. Elena Mazzi: Copperialities, 2022.  Installazione, materiali vari, video a due canali, lightbox. © Foto di Francesca Cirilli

Mazzi’s work resonates deeply with the concept of “appropriation as practice” analyzed by Arnd Schneider. From this perspective, appropriation becomes an act of symbolic reinterpretation and transformation, a hermeneutic dialogue aimed at understanding the other in a context of asymmetrical power, rather than a simple aesthetic “taking”. Thus, in her works, Mazzi does not merely reproduce cultural elements, but engages in co-creation with communities, respecting the authenticity of the contexts of origin and aiming to avoid the risk of cultural alienation.  

Roger Sansi, in his work on the anthropology of art, emphasizes how collaborative practices can act as a catalyst for the creation of new social realities and transformative processes. Mazzi embodies this perspective, using art as a means of collective participation and construction, with an approach that transforms the artistic act into a shared meaning-making experience. As Sansi suggests, her work does not merely represent but becomes a social and political act, in which the involvement of communities and audiences promotes new awareness and re-significations of reality.  

Another important theoretical lens is that of “expanded context” proposed by Morphy and Perkins, which calls for considering the original meaning and social context of a work as integral to its understanding. Mazzi applies this principle by creating works that transcend pure aesthetics to include the stories and voices of local communities, transforming each project into a cross-cultural encounter in which communities themselves participate as active agents, following Alfred Gell’s perspective of agency. Her works, therefore, go beyond the “traffic in cultures” described by Marcus and Myers: they are not simply exchanges of symbols, but spaces in which meaning is co-constructed, allowing the viewer to come into direct contact with the cultural complexity of the territory and the people represented.  

In the following interview, Mazzi guides us through her vision of art as “response-ability”, a concept developed by Tim Ingold, which here manifests itself as a deep sensitivity to responding to local contexts and representing otherness in a respectful and participatory way. We discuss with her the delicate balance between inspiration and appropriation, how art can become a means of reconciliation and understanding, and how each project presents an opportunity to engage communities in a global narrative that preserves their cultural identity.  

With this interview, I invite Agora and Etnográfica readers to reflect on art not only as an aesthetic creation but as an ethical and political practice, a space for cultural negotiation and a platform for authentic dialogue between different communities, territories and publics. 

Marco Maria Zanin (MMZ): Arnd Schneider explores the issue of cultural appropriation in the context of contemporary art as a process of identity negotiation and hermeneutic practice. Schneider critiques simplistic views of appropriation as mere “copying” or imitation, proposing instead to interpret it as a complex dynamic in which the artist not only borrows cultural elements from other traditions, but also reworks and transforms them, giving new meanings. This practice thus becomes a means of intercultural understanding, especially when it is based on a deep respect for cultures of origin and a dialogue that avoids reducing the other to an exotic or stereotyped image.  

The global context of contemporary art, however, makes these issues even more relevant, as works born in local contexts are experienced and interpreted in international spaces where the risk of superficial aestheticization is high.  

It seems to me that your position as a contemporary artist is that of a figure who, as Schneider points out, is not only an “author” but also an “interpreter” and “mediator” of meanings. In this sense, the idea of appropriation becomes a profound cultural act, where the representation of the other turns into an exercise in responsible listening and response – a form of “response-ability”, as suggested by Tim Ingold (as we will see later). Here, art becomes a channel for cross-cultural connection and respect.  

In your participatory and site-specific works, where local communities become co-authors of meaning, you navigate the subtle balance between inspiration and appropriation: on the one hand, there is the desire to bring to light narratives that respect the identity and depth of their contexts of origin; on the other, there remains the risk – often unavoidable in the international sphere – that global aestheticization will distance these symbols from their roots.  

How do you deal with the line between inspiration and appropriation in your projects?

Elena Mazzi (EM): I think the words “interpreter” and “mediator” are very appropriate; I would also add “translator”. In fact, I like to define my practice as an exercise in collective translation. I never speak of appropriation because I don’t think that term accurately describes the processes I employ. Each step of the creative process, especially when it involves the symbols and iconographies of other cultures, is always carried out in close dialogue with the communities I work with.  

A significant example is the Silver Rights project, where I collaborated with the Mapuche community in Argentine Patagonia – or, as would be more appropriate to say, in Puel Mapu (the eastern side of the Andes Mountains, part of Mapuche territory). My intention was to acknowledge and build on the social and relational value that jewelry has always held for the Mapuche community. From this foundation, Silver Rights generated a new constellation of stories addressing contemporary struggles for land rights, the recovery of territory, and the preservation of ancestral culture, making public the collective stance of a broad network of alliances.  

3. Elena Mazzi in dialogo con Mauro Millán e Eduardo Molinari. SILVER RIGHTS, 2021 Installazione,materiali vari, dimensioni variabili. Vista dell'installazione presso ar/ge kunst, Bolzano. © Foto di Tiberio Sorvillo

During the implementation of the project, I organized several workshops together with Mauro Millán, lonko (spiritual leader) of various Mapuche communities. These workshops involved young women, men, boys, and girls from several Mapuche communities scattered across Patagonia. The workshops were moments of listening and hands-on creation, allowing us to pass down a traditional art that is disappearing, while reflecting on present-day challenges.  

We worked to identify symbols that could give visibility to these struggles beyond local borders. Encouraging manual labor activated an organic form of mediation: the body carries an ancestral memory that is difficult to express in words. In these diverse forms of listening, I identify starting points for the next steps, discuss them together with the communities, and collectively decide how to formalize them, finding additional forms of mediation – which some have also referred to as a form of “diplomacy”.  


4. Elena Mazzi in dialogo con Mauro Millán e Eduardo Molinari. SILVER RIGHTS, 2021 Installazione,materiali vari, dimensioni variabili. Vista dell'installazione presso ar/ge kunst, Bolzano. © Foto di Tiberio Sorvillo

MMZ: The concept of “expanded context” outlined by Howard Morphy and Morgan Perkins suggests considering a work of art not as an isolated object but as part of a complex system of cultural, social, and historical meanings. This approach acknowledges that a work is deeply connected to the environment in which it was created, and its meaning cannot be fully understood without analyzing the relationships and values surrounding it.

The expanded context also highlights how art reflects the historical and cultural influences of its era, with each work carrying a wealth of symbols tied to tradition and community value systems. This perspective allows for moving beyond aesthetic observation to explore the symbolic value of art as a reflection of community life and a vehicle for collective narratives.

Moreover, this concept embraces the social relations and power dynamics that shape artistic creation. In contexts marked by colonial heritage, for example, many non-Western artworks have been removed from their original cultural settings, stripping them of some of their authentic meanings. The expanded context seeks to restore these works’ complexity, offering a respectful and thoughtful perspective on their cultures of origin.

In your approach, what strategies do you employ to ensure that the stories and traditions of local communities are represented respectfully and authentically while resonating in a global artistic context?

EM: The research phase is always the most important step for understanding the needs of the community. Through direct dialogue, I try to explore and analyze not the official “History”, but personal stories, diverse perspectives, and the inherent complexities flattened in institutional narratives.

How can a work of art express these multiple layers of interpretation? How can an art project improve current cultural and social conditions without being invasive? For me, the key lies in a horizontal reading and a bottom-up approach – a process that requires time, active listening, and care. This stage is crucial to identifying the most respectful and coherent way to translate the work.

Not all mediums are suitable; some may be inappropriate, failing to respect the intimacy or will of local communities. The ideal goal for me is to work together to identify the best way to communicate the shared vision and, depending on what needs to be conveyed, collaborate in multiple voices to build the final project and contextualize it.


5. Elena Mazzi in dialogo con Mauro Millán e Eduardo Molinari. SILVER RIGHTS, 2021 Installazione,materiali vari, dimensioni variabili. Vista dell'installazione presso ar/ge kunst, Bolzano. © Foto di Tiberio Sorvillo

MMZ: According to Alfred Gell, art is not just an aesthetic product but a “social actant”, endowed with agency and capable of influencing relationships and interactions. Gell extends the concept of agency to artworks and art objects, recognizing that they can act as true agents within the social fabric, generating new connections and meanings for those who encounter them. However, agency is not limited to the artist: collaborators, materials, and even the audience also plays an active role in the creation and interpretation of artistic meaning.

This framework aligns well with your practice, often based on collaborative, site-specific works with local communities, where participants become integral to the artistic process and co-creators of meaning. In your work, agency manifests itself not only in your capacity to conceive and shape the project, but also in the participation of the people involved, who contribute with their knowledge, stories, and experiences to determine the work’s content and direction.

Each project thus becomes a web of interconnected visions and meanings, where the artist and local collaborators engage in dialogue and create together, moving beyond the role of the artist as the sole creator. Your art does not merely represent – it becomes a platform for collectively generated narratives and meanings. In this sense, artistic practice becomes an act of relationship and reciprocity, raising questions about how much each voice influences the final work and how you create space for shared agencies – a process requiring listening, openness, and co-creation.

In such a process, how do you balance your role as an artist with that of local community members? What strategies do you use to let your work be shaped by collaborators’ voices and experiences while maintaining your artistic direction?

EM: Each collaboration is unique, so it is difficult to provide a one-size-fits-all answer. There have been instances where the work was “distributed” by mutual agreement, and I was responsible for the presentation and circulation of one series, while the local community managed another – thus sharing intellectual property.

In other cases, the work was divided among participants, making each person responsible for activating a small part, knowing that only collectively could the final result be achieved. In some situations, agency involved not only people but also elements of nature or non-human entities. We recognized that we, as humans, had to respect their presence and will. We created activations of the work to make viewers aware of what they were about to experience, often requiring some “necessary” preparatory steps, such as listening to an audio piece or reading a short text beforehand.

The central point around which the entire process revolves is respect: respect for the community we engage with, respect for the subject matter, and respect for the place and the beings that inhabit it. Without this, no work or creative process can exist.

MMZ: In some cases, art has the potential not only to represent social realities but also to generate new ones, a concept Roger Sansi explores through the theme of art as a transformative practice. Sansi reflects on how artistic practices can function as agents of social change, fostering dialogue and promoting new forms of collective awareness. In this context, art transcends the mere production of objects or images, becoming a process that stimulates new social dynamics and re-significations. It is a concept that positions art as an act of “sense-making”, capable of affecting both those involved in its creation and those who experience it.

In your projects, as we have seen, community participation is not merely an aesthetic contribution but a form of collective agency, where each participant brings their history, vision and sensibility, helping transform the work itself and, potentially, the community it represents. This type of collaboration can lead to new forms of identity and spatial awareness, encouraging community members to rethink their relationship with their environment, history, and social transformations.

This suggests the possibility of art becoming an active force, reshaping perceptions, strengthening social bonds, or sparking processes of identity reappropriation. Reflecting on these effects reveals not only the creative process but also its broader social implications, in line with Sansi’s view of art as a generative and political force.

In light of this vision, do you feel that your projects have had tangible effects in the communities you’ve worked with? In what ways can art become a tool for social transformation, generating awareness both for participants and audiences?

EM: Participatory processes usually produce long-term effects. This can happen because some actions need to be repeated over time or because reaching the entire community at once is often unrealistic. Immediate impact may not be visible, while in other cases, the effects begin quietly and unfold over time.

One project particularly close to my heart had an unexpected beginning and continuation. It started with a commission from the City of Reggio Emilia, which asked me to create a public artwork addressing violence against women. I requested a few months for field research and to connect with local associations, a task complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The people I involved were open to dialogue, and the result was a diffuse artwork in the form of wallpaper, to which any citizen, institution, or organization could actively contribute by sharing.

To date, the work is installed in more than 40 buildings, including schools, museums, associations, public and private institutions, companies, hospitals, prisons, and sports centers. This year, it covered 800 square meters of walls in a stadium. Each installation includes a donation to the Reggio Emilia anti-violence center, with which I collaborated from the start. Often, the installation becomes a catalyst for workshops, conferences, and creative activities that help deepen public understanding of this urgent issue, which is still discussed far too little.


6. Elena Mazi: Parole Parole Parole, 2021. Opera d’arte pubblica. Promossa dal Comune di Reggio Emilia e realizzata in collaborazione con l'associazione Nondasola. Vista dell'installazione dell'opera Parole Parole Parole presso la scuola secondaria A. Manzoni di Reggio Emilia. ©Foto di Kai-Uwe Schulte-Bunert

MMZ: Howard Morphy and Morgan Perkins, examining the relationship between art and anthropology, argue that art is not only a means of representing cultures but also a field of connection that reveals the complexity and depth of human experience. According to them, art offers an alternative form of anthropological interpretation by conveying emotions, cultural nuances, and symbolic meanings that words alone cannot fully express.

Art’s potential lies in its ability to evoke and bring to life cultural aspects that would otherwise remain inaccessible or difficult to articulate through academic texts. This idea resonates with the approach of visual ethnography, where images transcend verbal language, constructing immersive and participatory narratives.

Your artistic practice, much like Morphy and Perkins’ perspective, goes beyond cultural documentation. It invites viewers into direct contact with lived experiences, allowing them to grasp the depth of symbols and stories without rigid interpretive filters. In this sense, your work reflects a model of visual anthropology that seeks engagement rather than distant representation, making audiences active participants in cultural narratives. Visual art thus becomes a means of exploring and communicating cultural complexities that words alone often fail to capture.

How does visual language enable you to convey the narratives and nuances of the communities you work with? How do you think audiences can connect more deeply with these stories through visual experience?

EM: Sharing one’s artistic process, as well as teaching it, is deeply personal. You expose yourself by sharing your methodology. I have always believed that art can only be learned by experiencing it, which is why I value the participatory workshop experience so much – they are based on unpredictable factors. Workshops, labs, and open platforms are among the most exciting parts of my practice. They give form to thoughts through shapes, signs, and compositions.

In some workshops, I start with Kandinsky’s Point and Line to Plane to establish a common visual starting point. Other times, I begin by asking participants about the places we’re working in: how they experience them, what they think about them, what they would like to improve. From there, we work together to transform a word, a concept, or a feeling into a symbol.

These symbols, when combined, create a constellation – a collective voice, a shared condition, a statement. This process reveals layers of meaning that words alone might not uncover. It shifts thinking to other levels and opens new horizons – sometimes predictable, sometimes surprising, but always critical and thought-provoking.

And what could be more valuable than questioning one’s existence and way of living, both personally and collectively?

6. Elena Mazzi: Smellscapes, 2022. Installazione, materiali vari, dimensioni variabili.  ©Foto di Francesca Cirilli. Vista dell'installazione presso PAV - Parco Arte Vivente, Torino

MMZ: In several parts of your work, I resonate with concepts I have encountered in Tim Ingold’s writings. Like many other authors in contemporary philosophy and anthropology, Ingold advocates for overcoming the traditional view that sharply separates the human from the non-human. He suggests instead that all forms of life are deeply interconnected within a system of relationships where every entity – human or non-human – is in constant interaction.

This perspective aligns with how you conceive your works as sites of exchange and co-creation, where landscapes, people and natural elements collaborate in shaping meaning. The environment is never a passive backdrop but rather a co-protagonist. This connection emerges clearly in how you use local materials and engage with the histories of specific places, creating works that reflect a sense of belonging and a profound connection between the entities involved.

Your artistic methodology, reminiscent of Ingold’s notion of “dwelling”, does not seek to impose itself on the context but integrates into it, constructing meaning through collaboration with the people and natural elements inhabiting the space. Your approach, like Ingold’s, envisions art and anthropology as practices that do not merely observe from the outside but immerse themselves in the relationships between human and non-human, fostering representations that honor the complexity of coexistence in a framework of interdependence and reciprocity.

In your artistic work, you explore the concept of “inhabiting” a place in a profound sense, entering into dialogue with its stories and natural elements. How do you develop your creative process to build this network of relationships between environment and work? How does the interaction with the landscape and its elements affect the final meaning of your work?

EM: In my work, I begin with case studies in which the relationship between humans, non-humans, and the landscape is inherently intertwined. I think, for example, of the city of Kiruna, where I have been working in recent months. There, the world’s largest iron mine is causing the ground to collapse, forcing cities, people and animals to relocate. I think of Mount Etna, continuously erupting for hundreds of years, engaging in an ongoing dialogue with the communities that have chosen to live in close proximity to this great active volcano. I think of the Venice Lagoon, shaped by its continuous environmental transformations – both natural and human-induced.

I also reflect on ourselves, on bees, and on the archetypes we have constructed over the centuries, which still accompany us today as we attempt to interpret a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence. I consider how everything is interconnected, how relationships are constantly being formed and reformed, and how the speed that drives and “forces” us to simplify reality today hinders our ability to grasp and deconstruct the complexities enveloping every aspect of our existence.

On the contrary, this simplification risks making us lose sight of the deeper meaning of the relationships that weave together the world we inhabit.

MMZ: I recently had the opportunity to attend a lecture by Ingold in Padua, where we listened to and debated a text he wrote for the occasion, titled Reason and Response-Ability. In that contribution, he explores the concept of education and art as acts of response-ability, invoking a sense of care and active engagement with the world. This reminded me of an author close to your work, Donna Haraway, who invites us to “stay with the trouble” – to inhabit the world consciously and compassionately, promoting an ethic of care and “making kin” with all creatures and elements of the environment.

Haraway advocates for a direct and reciprocal engagement with the world, a vision that encourages staying connected to ecological and social challenges rather than attempting to solve or overcome them in a detached way.

These ideas resonate deeply with your work, which embraces a methodology grounded in responsibility and direct participation. Your works become a way to “stay with the issues”, highlighting environmental and social challenges while inviting both local participants and the public to actively engage in processes of change.

Through the integration of artistic practice and activism, your work embodies the idea of response-ability as a concrete form of engagement – not only for the present but also for future generations.

In an ideal – or even utopian – perspective, what could be the next step or evolution of this approach to maximize its impact on the community and local environment? Or, put differently, in your opinion, what gaps or obstacles do you most frequently encounter as an artist-activist working to advance your processes?

EM: That’s a complex question, which requires stepping back for a moment to reflect on the role of the artist itself. I believe one of the main obstacles comes from the lack of recognition of the artist’s profession – particularly in Italy, more so than in other countries. The artist as an “interpreter” or “mediator” is still a difficult role to acknowledge, unlike in contexts where artists are seen as active agents within society, capable of driving tangible change even in fragile environments.

In this sense, I find Haraway’s theories on care and kin-making particularly inspiring in a world marked by pressing, concrete issues. While these critical challenges may seem unsolvable, they can be addressed collectively, through shared efforts.

With my works, I try to propose collective crossings – moments where the aim is not necessarily to find definitive answers but to create space for open, constructive dialogue. It is in these moments that a sense of collective awareness can emerge – a feeling of connection that helps people feel less isolated when facing the complexities of our time.

7. Elena Mazzi: The upcoming Polar Silk Road, 2021. Video HD, colore, suono, 9'45''. Opera selezionata dall’avviso pubblico “Cantica21. Italian Contemporary Art Everywhere” - Sezione Over 35 (MAECI-DGSP/MiC-DGCC, 2020)

MMZ: One question, in conclusion, based on your artistic practice and experience: from your perspective as an artist, what advice would you give to anthropologists approaching the world of art and visual storytelling? And, conversely, what advice or perspectives would you like to receive from anthropologists to further enrich your artistic practice?

EM: It would be valuable and inspiring for both sides to develop and propose open, collaborative projects that build bridges between the academia and the arts. The goal could be to experiment with new ways of sharing research – not only through academic papers but also by exploring formats that are open and accessible to diverse audiences.

The same applies to art projects, which are starting now to connect with the research world, though often in uncertain and precarious ways. There is still much room for improvement in creating a shared space where art and anthropology can collaborate, innovate, and amplify each other's field.

Marco Maria Zanin, December 2024.