PIETRO FORINO

Common Index
An Ecology of Beasts

Medium
Interactive installation
Role
Creative technologist @Common Index
Year
2026
Deliverables
An Ecology of Beasts is a research-driven project by Common Index that revisits medieval bestiaries as speculative systems for understanding the world.
null - Common Index: An Ecology of Beasts | Pietro Forino

An Ecology of Beasts is a research-driven project by Common Index that revisits medieval bestiaries as speculative systems for understanding the world. Rather than approaching bestiaries as collections of isolated creatures, the project treats them as ecologies: interconnected structures where myth, belief, observation, and imagination coexist. In medieval culture, beasts were not simply animals, but ways of describing behaviors, environments, and relationships within a shared system. Starting from this perspective, An Ecology of Beasts translates the logic of the bestiary into a contemporary digital context.

null - Common Index: An Ecology of Beasts | Pietro Forino

Through an open call, participants reinterpreted different creatures from a custom digital deck through video, generating a heterogeneous yet cohesive collective bestiary. Presented as a physical exhibition, the works coexist within a non-hierarchical display system, while an interactive generative installation – Cartography of Entangled States – shapes the ecological conditions in which they appear. Conceived as an open system rather than a closed artwork, An Ecology of Beasts becomes a framework for collective experimentation: a space where practices, imaginaries, and interpretations overlap, interact, and remain in dialogue over time.

null - Common Index: An Ecology of Beasts | Pietro Forino

© Valerio Salvatore - 2026

Participants were invited to draw a medieval creature from a digital deck and reinterpret it through video. The result is a heterogeneous set of works spanning 3D, generative systems, AI experiments, filmmaking, motion design, text-based pieces, and DIY approaches. Diversity becomes the core condition of the project.

null - Common Index: An Ecology of Beasts | Pietro Forino
null - Common Index: An Ecology of Beasts | Pietro Forino
null - Common Index: An Ecology of Beasts | Pietro Forino

Cartography of Entangled States is the interactive installation that expands An Ecology of Beasts beyond the open call. If the collective bestiary gives form to individual interpretations, the installation gives form to the environment they inhabit. Inspired by medieval mappae mundi, it maps conditions rather than places. Presence, movement, sound, and environmental data shape a responsive digital landscape where visitors become part of the system.

The installation is driven by a set of environmental and contextual inputs that continuously feed the system. The landscape responds to people’s presence, movement,
and the overall sound level of the room, using these signals to modulate its configuration and behavior.

null - Common Index: An Ecology of Beasts | Pietro Forino

© Valerio Salvatore - 2026

The exhibition was developed in close collaboration with Sole°, through a process based on shared intuition, dialogue, and care, which defined the spatial conditions in which the event took shape. Their approach, guided by relaxed and open thinking, is oriented toward the construction of meaningful experiences, exploring how material, spatial, and visual elements can generate new narratives.

Special thanks to TXT Studio for hosting us and providing a wonderful window onto this project.

null - Common Index: An Ecology of Beasts | Pietro Forino

© Valerio Salvatore - 2026

Press:
Common Index: Experimentation that begins with the way we are present
Quello che nasce quando nessuno deve dimostrare niente

null - Common Index: An Ecology of Beasts | Pietro Forino

© Luca Venturoli - 2026

The Sensing Beyond the Human workshop arose from the desire to extend the philosophy of the project into a shared, practical experience. Led by Giacomo Baccega, the workshop explored forms of more-than-human perception and intelligence, inviting participants to consider alternative ways in which animals can perceive and communicate.

In this sense, the activity was closely connected to the exhibition, functioning as a concrete extension of the ideas, materials, and narratives presented in the space. In this sense, the activity was closely linked to the exhibition, functioning as a concrete extension of the ideas, materials, and narratives presented in the exhibition space.