He had asked for silence post-mortem for ten long years. Now the time has come to bring back to mind the most beautiful things of the philosopher, semiologist and writer who died in Milan on 19 February 2016. He was Umberto Eco and a marathon will remember it for 24 hours.
It’s about the Eco Eco Eco – A World-Wide Talk for Umbertoa true 24-hour collective work in live streaming, starting at 12pm on February 18th.
Ten years after his death, the Umberto Eco Foundation and the Bottega Finzioni Foundation – thanks to an intuition of Roberto Grandi, Eco’s long-time colleague and dear friend – will rekindle a light, literally playing with the Professor once again, just as he himself did throughout his life.
How the marathon works
It will start from the island of Taveuni Eco Eco Eco – A World-Wide Talk for Umbertoa 24-hour collective digital marathon broadcast live starting at 12pm on February 18th (Italian time). The choice of place is symbolic: in Fiji the 180th meridian marks the passage of date and is also the scenario linked to Eco’s work for The island of the day before.
At the stroke of midnight, February 19th it will make its first appearance on the planet here. From that moment the event will ideally follow the path of sunlight through the countries influenced by his thought, from Asian universities to the Americas, crossing all time zones and then closing at the starting point at 12pm Italian time on 19 February.
The live broadcast will be visible on the YouTube channels of the Umberto Eco Foundation and the Bottega Finzioni Foundation for the entire duration of the initiative, from 12pm on the 18th to 12pm on the 19th February and the program will reflect the breadth and variety of Eco’s work: alongside leading figures such as Roberto Saviano, Maziar Bahari, Beppe Severgnini, Michele Serra, Luciano Canfora and the Lincei academic Carlo Ossola, there are unexpected interventions expected. Tullio Pericoli, Milo Manara, Igort and Vittorio Giardino will talk about his connection with comics and the visual arts; Alessandro Bergonzoni will bring his surreal character, while Moni Ovadia will remember him through a joke.
There will be no shortage of musical moments with Paolo Fresu and Gianni Coscia, Eco’s childhood friend, nor experimental forays: Jeffrey Schnapp, from Harvard’s metaLAB, will dialogue with a version of Eco generated by artificial intelligence. It will also be present Fahrenheitthe literary program on Radio3, with interventions by the hosts Susanna Tartaro and Tommaso Giartosio.
All instructions for participating are available HERE.
