Enrico Dedin is a media artist and art director whose work spans video, digital media, and experimental storytelling. Based in the Metropolitan City of Venice and known for his poetic visual language and thoughtful exploration of contemporary life, Enrico combines his background in visual experimentation with a sharp curatorial eye.

Drawn to art since childhood, his creative path deepened in his teenage years through a fascination with philosophy — particularly the ideas of Umberto Galimberti, Zygmunt Bauman, Günther Anders, and Hans Jonas. Their reflections on the psychosocial impact of technology continue to shape his artistic lens, guiding his exploration of contemporary life through media.

His practice often merges artistic research with communication and branding. Enrico describes himself as an Artivator — a term he coined to express art’s potential as a transformative force beyond museums and galleries. Whether working on cultural projects or commercial content, he uses art as a tool to spark identity, meaning, and social insight.

We asked Enrico about his art, creative process, and inspirations.

Best Venice Map, video documentation, credit Enrico Dedin

Can you tell us about your background in digital media? How did you get started in this field?

I’ve had a natural inclination for art since childhood, which gradually evolved into an early, innocent fascination with photography. What truly sparked the flame during my teenage years was the discovery of philosophy between 2012 and 2013. Around that time, and in the years that followed, I became deeply engaged with the ideas of Umberto Galimberti, Zygmunt Bauman, Günther Anders, and Hans Jonas. Their work led me to reflect on the psychosocial impact of technology and digital media. This marked the beginning of my exploration and experimentation with various artistic languages, guided during that phase by Professor Giordano Russo at the Liceo Artistico Statale in Treviso. I eventually moved on to focus on specifically multimedia practices.

It was also around 2013 that I began participating in my first group exhibitions. During my years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, I further developed this interest by enrolling in the "New Technologies of Art" program, with a focus on "Visual Arts and Multimedia Design." During this period, I consolidated my creative and research practice in the digital field, from contemporary art to the world of communication. In 2017, I also began my first professional experiences in multimedia content creation for commercial purposes, expanding beyond purely artistic and cultural projects. In 2018, I completed my academic studies and earned my degree from the Venice Academy. This is a brief overview of how it all started.

Digital tribalism, installation during 102ma Collettiva Giovani Artisti Bevilacqua La Masa, 2019, credit Enrico Dedin

From art direction to media art, you wear many hats. Do you have a favorite practice?

I believe I’m quite versatile; in fact, I don’t like to confine myself to a single activity or discipline. My work ranges from languages typically associated with contemporary art to those of digital communication and branding. In any case, I still consider Media Art to be my primary field of artistic exploration. Within that realm, Video Art and Digital Art are definitely among my favorite practices.

The Photo Hunters, video, still image, credit Enrico Dedin

We noticed from your social media profiles that you also describe yourself as an “Artivator”. What do you mean by this term?

Artivator is a neologism I recently coined. The word combines Art and Activator, expressing the idea of art as a trigger for innovation and transformation in contexts that are not strictly artistic or cultural, beyond the walls of museums and galleries. It’s about elevating places, experiences, products and services through the power of art, turning it into a true catalyst for identity, values, and socio-cultural impact. I also publish a LinkedIn newsletter dedicated to these topics.

You’re based in the Metropolitan City of Venice, one of the world’s most iconic art cities. How does living there shape your digital and media art practice?

Living and studying not far from the historic center of Venice—what I consider the most beautiful city in the world—has been, and continues to be, a major source of inspiration. Even the lesser-known Venetian mainland is deeply imbued with the history and culture passed down through centuries by the Serenissima. The natural environment of the Venetian Lagoon, the surrounding rivers, and the vibrant cultural and landscape context have always felt like an open-air laboratory, where many of my artworks and reflections have taken shape.

My proximity to Venice and the elective affinity I feel with the surrounding amphibious hinterland have inspired several artistic projects, such as the photographic series “Sur-Venezia”, the performative intervention “Best Venice Map”, the video art piece “LandEscape”, the documentary project “I Gabellieri del Basso Piave”, and its related short film “Il Passo”. These works portray the territory as a kind of geological layering of meanings, eras and experiences, each exploring different contemporary challenges—such as genius loci, mass tourism, visual perception, the identity of places and the anonymity of non-places.

FAQ Frequently Art Questions, video, Durres International Art Biennale, credit Enrico Dedin

Your work has traveled quite a bit — over 16 countries and as many as 4 continents, and it’s also preserved by Heure Exquise!, the French distributor of the audiovisual collections of the Musée du Louvre. What’s it like seeing your digital art live on in these international spaces?

Every exhibition is an opportunity to bring urgent and relevant messages into the world, to spark reflection, and to contribute to building a new digital humanism.

At the same time, having some of my video art pieces, such as “The Photo Hunters” and “Digital Tribalism”, preserved and distributed by Heure Exquise! Centre international pour les arts vidéo is something deeply meaningful to me, even from a historiographic perspective. The French center Heure Exquise!, active since 1975, is one of the world’s leading distributors of video art and artists' films—an international archive that traces the history of electronic arts through more than 4,000 documents and over 2,500 works by artists, including major figures who have revolutionized the art world and the creative industries. In this way, I believe my works can continue to exist beyond the typical lifespan of a temporary exhibition and remain accessible to people in the future—which, to me, is truly important.

Fungi-Fi, installatioin, Nōdus, 2022, credit Numthong Art Space

Can you tell us about a piece you created that surprised you — either in how it turned out or how people responded to it?

Definitely Fungi-Fi. It’s a cross-media project that is gaining increasing international attention and opening new conversations around technology, the environment, and the Anthropocene. After installations and screenings in Bangkok, Bergamo, Bogotá, Venice, and Berlin, and its inclusion in the archive of the Harddiskmuseum, the work was recently featured in the book “L’arte del XXI secolo. Temi, linguaggi, artisti” by Viviana Vannucci, art historian at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts and international curator.

Presented as a revolutionary patent through the lens of advertising storytelling, Fungi-Fi envisions a dystopian—yet seemingly redemptive and perhaps not-so-distant—future where big tech corporations harness the natural intelligence of forest mycorrhizal networks to create a new form of wireless connection, not without consequences.

The work defies easy categorization: it can be anything and take any form—video art, installation, public art, pure narrative in the form of a book. What fascinates me most is that it presents itself as a “fake brand,” which, in an era increasingly devoured by branding, becomes an artistic provocation. What I find intriguing is how naturally and optimistically the public seems to receive it, almost as if it were a Black Mirror episode. They see it as an entirely plausible invention for the present or near future. That, on the other hand, is what scares me.

Fungi-Fi, video during CreArt 3.0 L'habitat di domani, 2024, credit Enrico Dedin

How do you handle the criticism against AI art? Do you think your work was influenced by these debates in any way?

My work is certainly influenced by these debates, as I have already produced two works that could be considered AI Art: “The Last Supper” and “F.A.Q. Frequently Art Questions”, along with others that I’m currently planning. I don’t think it’s fair to be overly critical of AI Art. However, it’s important that AI systems are not trained on content protected by copyright; otherwise, they should compensate the artists, while still protecting their intellectual works. Ethics is definitely an area that needs improvement.

That said, I believe not everything generated by artificial intelligence can be considered art, but it can become art if there is a profound (human) authorial vision behind it, driven by a strong idea and a memorable aesthetic, guiding or co-creating with the AI.

I wouldn’t yet consider current systems to be “intelligent”; true intelligence is much more. For now, they can be seen as a powerful new tool at the disposal of artists. In the beginning, even photography was not considered art. What is interesting is that the arrival of these artificial language models is making us rethink what we can consider art today. Creativity is not an exclusive prerogative of humans; nature is the perfect proof of that.

Sur-Venezia, photo series, credit Enrico Dedin

What is a fun fact about you?

A fun fact? When we did “Best Venice Map”, we distributed 500 fake maps of Venice to unsuspecting tourists. Some walked off confidently, while others were puzzled, trying to make sense of the map. These maps, inspired by wandering ancient cartography, were designed by me to disorient the user. It was a provocative response to the satellite omniscience of Google Maps and the predictability of the standardized paths in mass tourism.

The goal was precisely to get lost in order to be open to encountering the unexpected, thus encouraging “dérive urbaine” as a practice of casual exploration of space.

After all, it was Carnival, and there’s a local saying that goes: “At Carnival, every joke counts!”

The Last Supper, digital images, credit Enrico Dedin

What else fills your time when you’re not creating art?

When I’m not working, I love cycling, pedaling through landscapes and nature, not as an athlete but more like a wanderer, a sort of postmodern flâneur.

As an aphorism I once read goes, the bike is the way to tune life with time and space; it’s the act of going and being within still human measures.