The volume Kant Can’t, published by Quodlibet, accompanies Rä di Martino’s new work of the same name, highlighting a project that intertwines animation, sound, and sculpture in an immersive and reflective experience. The book explores an imaginary universe inhabited by dreamlike figures – fleeing astronauts, colossal hands resembling archaeological remains, giant insects – which together compose a landscape suspended between dream and memory. The project investigates the relationship between sensory perception and knowledge of the world, suggesting that in order to access reality, our perceptual tools must expand. Kant Can’t documents and delves deeper into this visual and theoretical exploration, connecting it to previous works such as Là dove muore, Canta and Moonbird, and confirming the centrality of sound and CGI language in the artist’s practice.
The publication includes an essay by Lorenzo Benedetti, “The Shape of Play and the Logic of Desire / La forma del gioco e la logica del desiderio”, which places Kant Can’t in dialogue with other works by Rä di Martino, highlighting the conceptual and visual threads running through her body of work. The volume thus becomes not just a catalogue, but a critical platform that accompanies and amplifies the artwork, offering readers a map to navigate this complex and multilayered universe.
For the occasion, Rä di Martino’s new poster for 3500 cm² will be distributed, featuring a work created as part of AHEAD and 3500 cm² – Contemporary Art in Mental Health Spaces project, dedicated to accessibility and inclusion.
The original version of the video and the homonymous publication were realised thanks to PAC 2022-2023 – Piano per l’Arte Contemporanea, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture, to enrich the contemporary art collection of the Polo della Cultura of the Province of Potenza.