TECHnotOXIC

Research

UPCOMING

This project is realized by the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University and supported by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture, under the Italian Council programme (14th edition, 2025), with the aim of promoting Italian contemporary art internationally.

TECHnotOXIC is the new project by Christian Fogarolli, commissioned by Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (UniSR) and dedicated to investigating the increasingly complex relationship between the human body and digital technologies. The project examines the toxic effects of the overuse of digital devices on mental and social health.

The project is led by Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, which promotes dialogue between contemporary art, psychological distress, and systems of care in today’s society – increasingly marked by technotoxic phenomena. The exchange between artistic practice, the history and criticism of contemporary art, medicine, psychology, and philosophy fosters a transdisciplinary approach to the issue of digital addiction. In this context, the artist emerges as a key interlocutor for investigating the growing forms of distress caused by hyperconnectivity. The ongoing dialogue between art and scientific research emblematically reflects the vocation of the University, which grounds its identity in the integration of different fields of knowledge as a key to understanding and addressing the challenges of our present.

Drawing on recent studies and field research conducted at specialised centres, Fogarolli develops an investigative path into phenomena such as smartphone addiction, social isolation, compulsive nighttime use of devices, cyberbullying, online gambling and extreme outcomes. These behaviours show how the growing technological mediation can alter perceptions, choices, and lifestyles, generating new forms of alienation.

Body, mind, and devices: cartographies of the techno-toxic era


TECHnotOXIC – whose spelling, Fogarolli explains, deliberately alternates between uppercase and lowercase to represent the lack of oxygen often produced by the excessive use of technology (TECH = technology; not = not, without; OXIC = presence of oxygen in microbiology) – highlights the dark side of digitalisation, proposing a critical reflection on “techno-asceticism”. Through direct testimonies from patients, healthcare professionals, and researchers, the artist develops a body of works that reveal how technological addictions deeply affect the emotional, cognitive, and relational spheres.

The project will be promoted internationally through two solo shows:
• Futurium – Museum of the Future, Berlin, 11 September – 31 December, 2026
• Fondation Boghossian, Bruxelles, 10 February – 16 May, 2027

These will be accompanied by a programme of screenings, talks, and presentations at Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan, MUSEION in Bolzano, and other partner institutions.

The final works will become part of the permanent collection of MUSEION – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Bolzano. The project will also be accompanied by a publication featuring essays by experts in the medical, social, and artistic fields.

The entire project will be documented in a final editorial publication within the ICONE series.