summer activities
people
This is a present for you! Download the material at this link to play with your creativity. It’s a gift from SMALL ACADEMIA.
My drawing and imagination school project.
SUMMER People
Maize mag – HI and AI
INTELLIGENCE
Maize mag
Lorenzo Magnani, philosopher of science and director of the Computational Philosophy Laboratory at the University of Pavia, discusses intelligence across various disciplines.
In a conversation about the interaction between human and artificial intelligence, he cautions: ‘We safeguard our intelligence through political and moral decisions.’ Article by Giulia Pozzobon.
Below is the process leading to the final illustrations, along with the final illustrations.
#15 Winter 2024 – Intelligence
DISCOVER
other projects by Chiara Dattola
UNION IP – Protecting Ideas
tote bags
Union-IP
BEHIND THE SCENE
Union-IP, the Union of European Practitioners in Intellectual Property, approached me to create an illustration representing their core mission.
For their June 2024 meeting, Union-IP decided to produce tote bags as gifts for their members.
MY IDEA
The drafts began with an exploration of a character. The illustration aimed to capture two key themes: protection and creativity.
The client requested a design that was simple, flat, and visually striking—an image so appealing that members would enjoy using the tote bag even in their free time.
In this project, I focused heavily on the expressiveness of the main character, ensuring that the design remained as simple as possible.
The illustration had to be printed using the two institutional colors of UNION-IP.
I felt particularly connected to this work, given the discussions about rights and intellectual property in the context of emerging AI technologies. Yet, human creativity follows a different path from the technological processes of artificial intelligence.
With this in mind, I aimed to represent the love involved in creation and, naturally, in protection. A sense of care—this was the essence of my work.
Below, you’ll find some sketches, color studies, the final illustration, and the tote bags.
For this project, I worked entirely in vector.
DISCOVER
other projects by Chiara Dattola
Internazionale – Languages and AI
Languages
Internazionale
Why AI needs to learn new languages. Efforts are under way to make AI fluent in more than just English.
Here is the article in italian.
As published in Internazionale
DISCOVER
other projects by Chiara Dattola
Le Monde – Temps Réel
Temps Réel
LE monde
BEHIND THE SCENE
The creative editorial team at Le Monde reached out to me to provide a commentary, accompanied by one of my drawings, on the release of Temps Réel, a collection of poems by the French-speaking poet Jean-Christophe Bailly, published by Editions du Seuil.
Here is the article by Fabrice Gabriel
MY IDEA
At first, I envisioned a more classical interpretation of the Muse, as described in Gabriel’s article, who encounters the poet. However, Bailly’s work revolves around the idea that poetry, with its unconventional nature, is an ongoing journey.
His verses unfold one after another, much like the landscape passing by outside a train window.
Thus, his poetic language becomes an autonomous, evolving organism.
I aimed to convey this idea of a succession of events, landscapes, and emotions, while still offering a slightly didactic and classical interpretation of the ‘poet’ and of poetry itself.
DISCOVER
other projects by Chiara Dattola
Internazionale – Notes of Loneliness
Notes on Loneliness
Internazionale
Notes on Loneliness in the Age of Social Media
Lovink observes that despite 5.2 billion users being online, the Internet doesn’t feel crowded. Paradoxically, social media fosters a semblance of social connection that often manifests as isolation and loneliness.
This brings forth the idea of ‘interpassive’ users—individuals who contribute data while remaining largely passive in their engagement.
And this is interpassivity introduced by Slavoj Žižek.
Here the original article by Geert Lovink, as published in Internazionale.
DISCOVER
other projects by Chiara Dattola
Internazionale – Chemicals in plastics
plastic chemicals
Internazionale
Scientists funded by the Norwegian Research Council have compiled a list of more than 16,000 “plastic chemicals”: compounds found in or used in plastic, including raw ingredients, stabilizers and colorants. The report recommends that companies be more transparent about what’s in their plastic, for everyone’s health.
Here the original article by Nicola Jones
As published in Internazionale
DISCOVER
other projects by Chiara Dattola
Le Monde – Friendship
friendship
LE monde
BEHIND THE SCENE
Marion Dupont, a journalist, has written six articles for the L’été des idées section of Le Monde, published in the first days of August 2023.
The creative direction reached out to me to address the topic at hand: friendship.
MY IDEA
I believe that, in this society that is entirely liquid, as Zygmunt Bauman described it, friendship stands as a counterforce to rampant individualism and creates a new kind of connection between people—if it is deep and meaningful. Friendship heals, supports, and becomes the cornerstone for building a new society.
A society that is less “liquid,” but fluid and structured in a different way.
Where the most ‘institutionalized’ relationships lose their significance, friendship appears to establish new certainties in people’s hearts.
The friend observes, respects, educates, and loves the other, allowing them to be themselves.
From this foundation, the new generations growing up in these new family structures gain the strength to face life’s struggles with sincerity and full autonomy. Friendship becomes an alliance against alienation.
Dupont proposes six articles under the title The Metamorphoses of Friendship. One of the illustrations is currently on display at the Oscar Niemeyer Library in Le Havre, as part of the exhibition ~ QUAND LA PRESSE S’ILLUSTRE #4 and it was selected by the Society of Illustrators of LA – Illustration West 62
DISCOVER
other projects by Chiara Dattola
Causette – Sick Children
causette
A glass child…
The infernal and traumatic placement of sick children.
As published in Causette February issue.
The first image below, is selected for the exhibition in Le Havre, Oscar Niemeyer Library, entitled
~ QUAND LA PRESSE S’ILLUSTRE #4 ~
DISCOVER
other projects by Chiara Dattola
Wooden dolls #01
Wooden dolls
#01
BEHIND THE SCENE
Character design is part of my professional training and and I have loved toys since I was a child and I love to and i like to play even now.
I have always collected dolls, fetishes, figures, masks and toys. Better if they’re made of wood or ceramic, because they are warm material.
Wood has always been part of the culture of human beings and which I have particularly missed lately.
Wood smells, is warm and gives a good mood to the all environment and, of course, reminds us where we come from: nature.
During an artistic residency in Gressoney, I met the autochthonous carpenter Rudy Maher, who fascinated me with his stories and his huge knowledge about wood.
Back home, his words continued to resonate with me and I decided to contact him to make my figures cut out of wood.
Here are 4 of the 12 characters I plan to make.
Their names are: Bob, Maribella, Lola and Gustavo.
They are made with cedar and willow wood, painted in acrylic + acrylic resin for protection, and have a thickness of 3 cm.
They have dimensions that vary from 21 cm in height to 6 in width.
They love to run around the house in the night and sometimes they run away, chased by the shadows that hide there during the day. But they are not afraid by them, they are all strong and courageous and have a ringing voice.
You can see them on my Pictofolio gallery
To purchase go here
Ask me anything about this project or if you are interested in an ad hoc creation of a wooden doll.
Sketches and ideas
A source of great inspiration were the Wooden dolls created by the great master Alexander Girard for Vitra. I love the uniqueness of Girard’s artistic line on the wood and its expressiveness.
The tenderness and cuteness of those dolls made them known and loved all over the world. Personally, a dear Dutch friend who owned a pair of them, showed them to me. It seemed that her dolls inhabited the shelves of her library and really lived among her books.
It seemed that those shelves were the place they had ever lived.
I chose a color palette with quite saturated and lively tints. My dolls would like to be the translation of my projects on paper. The elements that compose them, the big eyes, the polygons that are part of their shapes, the clean lines of their silhouettes, are a choice to arrive at the simplicity of their shapes. Furthermore, my will is to make them almost archetypal in the imagination and that they are often funny and ironic at the same time. And cute.
the dolls
