iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

ANTENNAE ISSUE #70 -REALISM is now online! The second installment of the ‘Realism Trilogy’ can be downloaded free at www.antennae.org.uk

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The Plant Initiative @theplantinitiative.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Free online interactive event- Planting Art with Other Species: A Conversation with Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg & Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social . Oct 26, 2026, 12pm CDT. "about imagining art with other living worlds." www.eventbrite.com/e/planting-a...

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

In the garden: four o'clocks at seven twenty-two o'clock... #garden #summer #4oclock

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Yesterday, I photographed these cut flowers at a stand in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. I share them today as a small gesture of compassion for those who lost their lives or were harmed in the tragedy that unfolded in Berlin, and for all who are now grieving.

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ContempraInn 🌹 @contemprainn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

What are the chances!

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The Plant Initiative @theplantinitiative.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Rooted Relations: Tʼuyʼtʼtanat-Cease Wyss and Jaz Whitford in conversation with Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social. From @theplantinitiative.bsky.social, Aug 20, 2026, 12-1pm CT. Free online conversation with 2 Indigenous artists whose work foregrounds plants. www.eventbrite.com/e/rooted-rel...

eventbrite.com

Rooted Relations: Tʼuyʼtʼtanat-Cease Wyss and Jaz Whitford

A free online conversation with two Indigenous artists whose work foregrounds plants as teachers, healers, witnesses, and collaborators.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

I have just received a copy of the impressive catalog of "Plumes du Paradis" (Plumes of Paradise) exhibition at the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac in Paris, which explores the cultural and environmental colonial journey of birds of paradise from New Guinea to the world.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

While in Milan last autumn, I had the great pleasure of meeting botanical artist Margherita Leoni, who has been leading illustration courses at the Orto Botanico di Brera since 2000.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

It's always a joy to see the tulip tree bloom at this time of the year. One of the most spectacular North American native trees, Liriodendron tulipifera has been used by many Indigenous tribes to carve canoes as it grows particularly straight and tall.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

From my essay “Henry Moore’s Trees and the Groundlessness of Existence,” included in the catalogue of the Kew Gardens exhibition Henry Moore: Monumental Nature:

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Hello gorgeous! Came across this baby garter snake close to the house. Unlike most snake species that lay eggs, garter snakes give birth to live young (typically 15 to 40 snakelets at a time).

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

The tiny bell-shaped blooms of heuchera are some of spring best treats. They invite us to look closer at tiny details and recalibrate our moments of presence. #plants #heuchera #small

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

In Mina Jin’s painting, the house appears to have surrendered its traditional privilege as the symbolic center of the landscape. The houses don't register. For once we are blind to human constructs instead of plants. \

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

And as the weather stabilizes the overwintering chrysalis of black swallowtails hatch! Gosh the sheer beauty. It's always special to witness the first flight of a butterfly and notice how the initial awkwardness turns into competence within a few seconds. #butterflies #spring #chicago

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Happy birthday, David Attenborough! 100 -- what a remarkable life spent discovering, loving, and sharing the incredible nature that makes our planet so unique. As a kid I religiously watched his documentaries. At the time, they used to play after lunch-time -- every day. Mesmerizing.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

While at MiArt recently I came across this gorgeous photograph by Joanna Piotrowska (Untitled, 2019) and of course I stopped in my tracks! Such beautiful awkwardness. The artist is interested in creating images that are open to interpretation, suggestive, but intentionally unresolved.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Today is the 40th anniversary of the tragic Chernobyl incident. In this article for Il Sole 24 Ore, I focus on artists who have crafted new approaches to representation in order to capture the magnitude of this disaster.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to meet and interview the first Botanical Curator ever appointed by an institution: Rahel Kesselring at Beyeler Fondation in Basel. Supported by the CHANEL Culture Fund in Basel, this appointment signals a change of direction in the politics of eco-art.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

ANTENNAE ISSUE #69 'REALISM' IS NOW ONLINE! Hot off the press for Earth Day, here's Antennae's new issue dedicated to Realism and the representation of the natural world. Realism gives us the contour of a leaf while concealing the fungal networks beneath the soil; it reveals the plumage of a

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

It is deeply sad that we should need an “Earth Day” at all. The very idea carries the wrong implication. The planet is not a cause among others, nor a theme to be acknowledged once a year. It is everything we have. It is the ground of every life, every hope, every future.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Jokes aside, it is deeply sad that we should need an “Earth Day” at all. The very idea carries the wrong implication. The planet is not a cause among others, nor a theme to be acknowledged once a year. It is everything we have. It is the ground of every life, every hope, every future.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Another vegetal gem from EXPOCHICAGO2026. rocki swiderski’s paintings of no-man's land and liminal spaces are full of fragile beauty. These paintings linger in the uneasy space where vulnerability is rooted in resilience:

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

A quick visit to Miart 2026, Milan’s contemporary art fair. One thing that struck me was the near-total absence of animals and plants in the works on view. By comparison, EXPO Chicago felt like a vegetal triumph.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Some things don't change. As I child, I was obsessed with wall lizards (Podarcis muralis Laurenti) that thrived on the perimeter wall of my kindergarten in spring and summer. Most kids played with balls and hoops. I spent time looking for them and would take friends to discover them with me.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

· Shared with Public A handful of hours in London while en route to Venice. How could I not rush to Greenwich Park to see the rhododendron, azaleas and cherries in bloom? #greenwichpark #london #blooms #flores #spring

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

This year, @expochicago was a triumph of vegetal gorgeousness! I will share some of my highlights here over the next few days starting from Korean painter Manna Lee, here represented with 'Forest' (2023), a lush and intriguing oil on canvas.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Have you missed me on PBS Lakeshore as I discussed my book 'I'm not an artist' with Dr. Thomas J. Roach for The Roundtable Perspectives? The episode is now on Youtube at the link below. Thanks to the fantastic crew at PNW! #art #imnotanartist #book #artists

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Honored to be in Venice on April 17th, to present my book 'Botanical Revolution' at Ca'Foscari University for the Center for Environmental Humanities. I will be in conversation with the wonderful Cristina Baldacci. More info and zoom link below! #art #plants #nature #botanicalrevolutions

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Antennae issue #68, the third installment of the 'Garden Trilogy' is now available in print as a limited edition of 300 copies.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Episode #3 in the 'I'm Not an Artist' series is now available on Youtube. In this episode I talk about the artist myth, how it prevents creative people from organically developing fulfilling careers and how we might be better off without the word "artist" altogether. Is this a provocation?

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

When your spring break begins like this, you need the right soundtrack to pull you through... #spring #snow #billevans

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Last summer, I had the great pleasure of rediscovering Second Nature by Michael Pollan. A masterclass in thinking through our fraught relationship with nature the book anticipates human-animal studies and critical plant studies arguments by roughly 20 years. 1m

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The Plant Initiative @theplantinitiative.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

This is Not a Fairy Tale is a conversation between Giovanni Aloi & Monica Gagliano, open access in L’Uomo Nero, about "...contemporary representations of the more-than-human world, particularly where critical plant studies, art, and philosophy intersect" riviste.unimi.it/index.php/uo...

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

The second episode of 'I'm Not an Artist' is now on Youtube. Here I tackle art history and the art history book... The art history book is not what you think it is and all the works featured in it share one important thing. Find out at the link below! #arthistory #art #arthistorybook #imnotanartist

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Honored to be part of this exciting issue of the Italian journal of art and culture L’Uomo Nero, which includes a conversation I had with ecologist Monica Gagliano. Expertly edited by Cristina Baldacci and Silvia Bignami, this rich issue, titled Green, brings

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The Plant Initiative @theplantinitiative.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Interesting short article in @sciam.bsky.social by Claire Cameron - Ghostly UV sparks light up forests as thunderstorms pass overhead "Thunderstorms can generate weak electrical discharges on the plants underneath..." www.scientificamerican.com/article/ghos...

scientificamerican.com

See how thunderstorms create ghostly UV sparks on the tips of trees

Thunderstorms can generate weak electrical discharges on the plants underneath, but until now, they had never been observed in nature

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Walking through the sheer beauty of the Californian spring landscape. We live on a gorgeous planet but we had to ruin it all by inventing Gods and money... this is the real tragedy. #god #nature #money #beauty

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Last Sunday, Il Sole 24 Ore (Italy’s FT) published my article on the Victoria & Albert Museum’s recent acquisition of the very first YouTube upload: 'Me at the Zoo'. In the piece, I trace how the video’s setting and mode of viewing became a blueprint for the way social media trains us

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

This e-banner appears at the bottom of the email signature of a Kew Gardens editor I’m currently working with. I love Kew Gardens' commitment to break down the hetero-normative conception of nature we have been handed down.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

tands and banners across the College Art Association Book Fair in Chicago. I really can't say that my publishers don't support my work. Thank you Getty and Bloomsbury! #getty #bloomsbury #Imnotanartist #botanicalrevolutions #art #nature #plants

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

A wonderful afternoon at Secrist Beach, leading a walk-through of the current exhibitions: Luminous Matter and Luftwerk’s The Sun Standing Still. Over two hours, alongside the insightful, generous Carrie Secrist, and co-starring artists Kate Joyce, Andrew Bernot, and Yuge Zhou, we moved from

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

If in Chicago, join me this Saturday at Secrist Beach gallery where with artists Luftwerk and Kate Joyce, we'll embark on a walkthrough and discussion of the current exhibition. The conversation will interrogate the artist's practice as engaging simultaneously with the built and natural world.

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Nearly 60F (15.5C) in Chicago today. Icebergs on Lake Michigan fragment and retreat. What a spectacular place this is. #ice #lakemichigan #winter #spring #chicago

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

The recording of my presentation on collecting and cabinets of curiosities for The Linnean Society of London is now available on Youtube. Link below! From artists’ studios to digital platforms, the cabinet reemerges as a metaphor for fragmented and reconfigured knowledges,

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Plants depicted through plant matter. This is not a drawing but an excruciatingly detailed carving. A living world re-imagined in a material that once grew, turning ornament into a kind of specimen, and carving into a form of close looking. In chapter

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

"Created using a technique learned from a community of Mexican farmers, an interweaving also rooted in Japanese tradition, Asawa’s wire sculptures embody this tension flawlessly. Formed through a continuous loop that requires complete dedication to a precise gesture, they hang from the

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The Plant Initiative @theplantinitiative.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Botanical Revolutions: 2 Book Talks With Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social. Feb 4 & Feb 5, 2026. Two special lectures about Giovanni Aloi's new book, Botanical Revolutions: How Plants Changed the Course of Art. Feb 4 in Upperville, VA. Feb 5 in Wash, DC. $10. www.osgf.org/oneday-events

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Giovanni Aloi @giovannialoi.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Here's the catalog of "The Botanical Turn" exhibition curated by the one and only Helen Gregory at MCintosh Gallery in London Ontario. It features works by Carrie Allison, Paul Chartrand, Joscelyn Gardner, Zachari Logan, Sarah Maloney, Amanda White, and ZOFF ...

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