This research project focuses on understanding the role of narratives in promoting the reception of atypicality and easing its diffusion.
Among the lessons learned from the recent pandemic is the importance of embracing the unconventional. Indeed, atypical approaches have proved to be a key strategic resource for coping with unforeseen events, as well as promoting socio-cultural transformation and expanding the capacity to deliver valued goods and services.
The Velvet Underground is probably the most influential band in the entire history of rock music. They challenged the conventions of popular music at their time by blending a diverse range of genre influences, creating a unique sound that set them apart from their contemporaries.
Their unconventional approach combined elements of rock, avant-garde, and experimental music with a gritty, urban aesthetic, reflecting the raw energy of New York City’s underground culture. They incorporated influences from genres such as rock and roll, blues, and even classical music, while also drawing inspiration from the avant-garde art scene, particularly through their collaboration with artist Andy Warhol.
This fusion resulted in a sound that was both innovative and provocative, changing forever the perception of what music was all about.
However, although atypical actors, products, or ideas may open up pathways to exceptional impact, existing research shows that atypicality often generates mistrust and skepticism, leading to rejection due to its ambiguous and potentially illegitimate nature.
Paul Cézanne is considered one of the great fathers of modern art, but he was fiercely ostracized for defying established norms of beauty in his time.
A forerunner of Cubism, he broke away from Impressionism and developed a highly atypical aesthetic style that resisted categorization in contemporary aesthetic theories, resulting in the systematic rejection of his work: The Salon, the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, rejected Cézanne’s submissions every single year from 1864 to 1869.
Narratives are powerful means of sustaining the alignment between actions and established conventions, especially in the face of situations that depart from expectations or definitions of what is considered contextually normal.
NARR-ATY-VES (Narratives for Atypicality) will develop an understanding of the role and structure of narratives in supporting the evaluation of atypical ideas by introducing an innovative computational approach based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to model contextual embeddedness and their sequential unfolding.
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