Sofia Cappello

In our view, talking about perennial topicality means talking about our perception of time, history, and human interactions. As we considered this project a collective debate, we’d like to hear more about your ideas as well. What is your perception of perennial topicality? And which element of this idea do you think that the artwork that you presented wants to portray? 

This work was born out of a reflection on the perennial topicality and how it is perceived by our minds. On a personal level, time materializes in memories that mark the passing years and form our intimate memory and personality. It is very important for me not to forget anything and to try to remember every experience or mood I have had, which is why, like many people, I often write in order not to forget and to reread what I was thinking in the future. Rereading moments when I was happy and why, or when I was sad and why, helps me to make decisions about the future. In this sense, I live in a perpetual topicality where memories, past and present are on the same plane from which I draw to form my future. Nothing is left behind and everything contributes to my memory which is my topicality.

We are all the sum of our experiences, which shape our personality and perception. How did your personal history affect the creation of your artworks and in what way did you bring it into your project? 

For my work, I often draw on my own experience as I hope that someone can relate to it and therefore have a deeper connection with it. Creating art from oneself allows one to take an inside look and teaches to communicate what one feels in a way that is understandable to anyone else who has had similar experiences; this process acts as a catalyst for the development of empathy and is, for me, the key to the exchange between artist and audience. 

Due to the centrality of technology as well as the redefinition of our personal space, in these pandemic times the intimacy and the lack of it are now not only lived but conceived differently. How would you describe your perception of intimacy, relationships, and connection today?

I don’t tend to blindly praise the past times of more physical and non-technological human contact, but rather believe that we need to create a new idea of intimacy to try to keep up with an unstoppable modernity that will become present every day. The risk of losing ourselves and the perception of our traditionally understood intimacy is high, but I don’t think the new technology is necessarily negative in this, it is more a question of creating new spaces in which we can find our own dimension that is better for us. We have in our hands a very powerful tool that can break down human borders and limits, we just have to learn to make good use of it without losing our human connections. 

What do you expect from the audience’s experience after viewing your work in this digital environment? How do you think that our endless consumption of digital contents is affecting the production and the fruition of artworks? Do you think the virtual exhibition experience will continue to be a possible tool for presenting your research?

In my research, I try to develop works that are closely linked to the audience that experiences them. Definitely on the emotional side, but often also on the practical side. I believe that observing works live is an invaluable experience and fundamental for establishing emotional connections, while experiencing works through a computer only allows us to see reproductions, thus increasing the distance between the artist and the public. This distance can sometimes be functional for some works, but this is not the case for me. In fact, this same work would need to be activated by the public, which would have to come into close contact with it and live it as its own experience. The online exhibition in this sense does not help, but I think it is also a very good solution given the emergency times.