Alain Elkann Interviews

TOP QUALITY. Fabrizio Moretti's new London gallery in Duke Street, St. James's, will open on July 1st 2022. The gallery will focus on Old Master paintings and sculptures for top clients and museums.

SPEAKING TO THE DEFEATED. Federico Campagna is an Italian philosopher based in London. His research concerns the metaphysics, politics and history of world-building. His books are Technic and Magic (Bloomsbury, 2018) and Prophetic Culture (Bloomsbury, 2021) and his next book Otherworlds, Mediterranean Lessons on Escaping History will investigate the history of cosmological imagination during times of crisis in the Mediterranean area. "The values of old are gone, and you have to reinvent your way of life from scratch" "An apocalypse reveals all the things that usually, in your daily life, you tend to not notice immediately." "The world is produced outside of us to a minimal extent. It is produced within us to a maximum extent."

LEADING AN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY. Francesco Billari is Professor of Demography at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. He became Rector in November 2022 after having held the role of Dean of the Faculty. He has worked at the University of Oxford Department of Sociology, at Nuffield College, and at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. His recent book Domani è Oggi offers a demographic lens to shed light on the potential futures shaped by today's choices. "The important thing is that all young people should think that going to university is a wise and desirable idea. "We want to change the world by research." "We still have to learn how to deal with this diversity that comes with demographic change. It is completely new for humanity." https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/francesco-billari/

CURIOUSLY SUCCESSFUL. The French fashion photographer François Halard is well known for his interior and architectural images.

PIONEER OF VIDEO ART AND CULTURE. Marco Brambilla is a leading figure in contemporary video art, internationally recognised for his pioneering use of digital imaging technologies and immersive moving image installations. The Italian-born Canadian artist and film director is best known for work that re-contextualizes archival imagery into visually elaborate, often satirical spectacles that explore the excesses of contemporary culture. His work has been exhibited at major global institutions. "In the 1980s Francis Coppola famously said that at some point he would be able to dictate his films and out will come Lawrence of Arabia." "I thought it was appropriate to imagine a world which is not chronological, not geographic, but could only exist in the mind of a machine." "If you make things that can be broadcast, that can be projected, that can be re-performed, people are very well versed, and there's a thirst for this right now." https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/marco-brambilla/

GOOD GOING. Graydon Carter launched his enjoyable digital weekly newsletter Air Mail in 2019. He was the editor of Vanity Fair for twenty-five years, and under him Vanity Fair won numerous awards. Named to the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame, he is also an author and editor of books, a producer of plays and documentaries, and a restaurateur. In the newly published memoir When the Going Was Good Graydon recounts how he made his mark as one of society's most talented editors and shapers of culture. "I'm a very kind person, and I treat everybody the same." "Every editor out there was working at the top of their game, and they were really good, so the competition was fierce." "Always carry a handkerchief!"

I WANT TO CREATE JUNCTIONS. Hans Ulrich Obrist is a Swiss art curator, critic, and art historian who lives and works in London where he is Artistic Director at Serpentine. Obrist is the author of The Interview Project, an extensive ongoing project of interviews, and is also co-editor of the Cahiers d'Art review.

IN CONVERSATION WITH CARDINAL TIMOTHY RADCLIFFE : A LIFE OF HOPE AND HUMANITY. Timothy Radcliffe OP is an English priest who served as Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001. He is the only friar of the Dominican Order's English Province to hold the office of Master-General. Created a Cardinal by Pope Francis in 2024, he took part in the recent Conclave to elect Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope. "What really sustains me all my life has been friendship." "You meet people as a fellow seeker after meaning, because every human is really in the depths of their being a seeker." "The Conclave was a fascinating experience. We have to honour these moments of change."

MPERIAL PLAY. Giuliano da Empoli was born in 1973. He is an Italian and Swiss writer and political scientist living in France. He was a senior advisor to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. His debut novel The Wizard of the Kremlin became an international bestseller and was translated into 35 languages. A 2025 film version stars Jude Law as Vladimir Putin. His latest book The Hour of the Predator is currently France's best-selling non-fiction title. "These characters could originate from a Machiavelli book or a Roman history book." "The predator's political miracle is bypassing rules and laws, transgressing and wiping out the system as we know it to impact the problem that nobody could solve." "I'm a very strong pro-European and I want a European Federation. I want Europe to be politically united."

CURATING THE VERY DIFFERENT IDENTITIES OF THE PELLICANO HOTELS GROUP. Marie-Louise Sciò is CEO of the Pellicano Hotels group in Italy, which today comprises Hotel Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole in Tuscany, La Posta Vecchia Hotel near Rome, and Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa in Ischia. The youngest child of hotelier Roberto Sciò, Marie-Louise studied design and architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design in the USA and then worked in interior design beside Massimo Zompa in her native city of Rome before returning to her first love, Hotel Il Pellicano, her father's establishment in which she grew up. "I curate the whole aesthetic experience of the hotels" "We have Il Pellicano lovers, we have Mezzatorre lovers, and we have La Posta Vecchia lovers, but it's the same very international clientele" "There's a magic about it. The region is great, the atmosphere is great"