News from OUR world

Intro (general situation vs Nietzsche) • In-person fairs and open houses • Interviews with the trees of Milan and news broadcasts at the fair • Closed (the information system and new sites) P.S. notes for the next editorial: the difficult relationship between man and crocodile

Editorial by Stefano Lavorini

The facts, as of today: the pandemic seems to be receding and expectations are growing for a return to normality, characterized, however, by strong global tensions regarding availability and prices of energy products and potential social and geopolitical conflicts, which affect the current economic recovery.

On the whole, however, a feeling of confidence prevails, pivoting on a combative energy, having been made shrewd by the difficulties.

Astuteness, daring and rapidity of reaction still seem to be good tools, but even more useful is a little of the "lightness" of which Nietzsche spoke, which, even before being an emotion, is "an existential attitude, an anthropological act... an expression of rebellion that takes on concrete form as suspension, waiting and respite from the weight of life" ⁽¹⁾. The same Nietzsche who, moreover, blamed men who are incapable "of starving their souls for the sake of truth".

And so, also in our small/big universe, we start again ...

The doors of our factories are opening again for new open-houses (Marchesini Group is organizing two in April and May) and the trade fairs are back with a few adjustments to the calendar.

Among them, Cosmoprof/Cosmopack in Bologna at the end of April and Ipack-Ima/Pharmintech in Milan at the beginning of May, with encouraging expectations in terms of both exhibitors and visitors, without prejudice to the fact that they will probably be different (but not necessarily negatively so) than in the past.

We at Pack-Media believe in it and we will be there, renewing formulas that have already been tried and tested but also using unusual methods of communication.

On the one hand, this is the case of the multimedia dossier "La grande bellezza torna a Cosmopack" ("The great beauty returns to Cosmopack") which, from March, will be published "in progress" on the renewed ItaliaImballaggio (in Italian) and Packmedia International (in English) websites and in the magazine in May.

On the other hand, like those interviewers who converse with the trees of Milan, telling about their relationship with human beings, their long stories and biodiversity ⁽²⁾, Pack-Media & the Intono agency are planning to produce a chronicle of the events and live reports to the companies in a daily news broadcast in Milan, underscoring reality.

This news will be available to visitors during the event (via video wall) and in streaming on our online news portals.

Information projects that do not want to replace knowledge, in the belief that Big Data will not replace homo sapiens, the only one able to find within the meaning of everything that happens within himself.

For this reason we share - even if it might seem a paradox - what Roberto Calasso wrote: «In the past, censorship operated by blocking the flow of information. In the twenty-first century, censorship operates by flooding people with irrelevant information... Today having power means knowing what to ignore» ⁽³⁾.

Which means, for us, making critical choices as users, and giving ourselves a measure as communication providers.

On the other hand, as the philosopher Byung-chul Han explains, «memory is not the storage of data and information, but rather through memories we tell ourselves a story» ⁽⁴⁾.

In short, information alone is not enough to explain the world.

⁽¹⁾ Giacomo Dallari, "La gravità: tu deve, io voglio, io sono", monthly magazine EXagere.
⁽²⁾ Municipality of Milan, In Comune Web TV Radio, Milan environment
⁽³⁾ Roberto Calasso, "L'innominabile attuale", Adelphi Edizioni
⁽⁴⁾ Carlo Pizzati, interview with Byung-chul Han, la Repubblica 4 February 2022