Conclusion

Abstract

A life with meaning and a place worth living in are the result of a relation with things and objects that renounces the purely instrumental and utilitarian. The main purpose of this book has been that of arguing this point by presenting examples that speak directly to it, either by reinforcing the hypothesis through positive outcomes or by stressing it through creative and emotional failures. The focus of the book is on modern, postmodern, and postindustrial modalities of relation and expression, showing different typologies of interaction between the human and the material. The case studies analyzed in the book are taken from the Italian context, yet their relevance has applications for a broader discussion of the material and symbolic life of objects and their interaction and encounter with humans.