Interview: Simona Muzzi
Luca Curci talks with Simona Muzzi during Venice International Art Fair 2020 at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello.

She has always lived in Bologna but considers herself a citizen of the world. Born in 1962, in 1990 she graduated in Architecture in Florence. He works as an architect. Photography and video artist, in January 2020 she exhibits for the first time unpublished works at Paratissima Bologna Art Fair NEEDS entitled “Incidenti“, with which he made his debut for the first time in public. He has participated in several international Call for Entries and Contests with his own conceptual photography works. Before starting to take professional photography, she always photographed the reality that surrounded her. Since 2015, following an exhibition visited on Helmut Newton, defined as his mentor, he began to use the self-timer technique to express his art. Since then he has developed several works ranging from photography that tackles different themes updating them through his free artistic interpretation remaining anchored to conceptual photography, up to nude-boudoir photographs. The images are completed with the creation of a video to which it associates an audio. His choice can fall either on a melody, or on instrumental sounds or on real sounds taken from the outside world, thus creating an interesting synergy between images and sound.

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Simona Muzzi – I’ve been taking pictures my whole life, it has always been the best way I can express myself and my emotions, but since 2016, in particular with the use of the self-timer, I’ve decided to take it a little bit more seriously, considering photography as a real form of art.

LC – What are you currently working on?
SM – I’m currently working on some pictures I’ve taken during the lock-down. My goal is to finish the couple projects I have in mind in time for next September/October, the main one being Covi-Tude (Covid Solitude), which will consist in a general storytelling divided into four different parts narrated with images.

LC – Which is the role the artist plays in the society? And the contemporary art?
SM – I consider my role as an artist as an opportunity to talk about the contemporary through a personal message of interpretation and reinterpretation of reality. I am inspired by photographers like Cindy Sherman and Francesca Woodman, specifically in the relationship of the latter with her own self and her own body.

LC – Are your artworks focused on a specific theme?
SM – The image has a fundamental importance in contemporary art and can be declined in a thousand ways, from the most traditional to digital technologies. Lately, I am also very fascinated by collages, intended as contamination of photography, because I think they let me combine with the pictures my experience as an architect, which is a big part of my life.

LC – Do visitors’ suggestions enrich yourself and your art?
SM – When I participate in exhibitions, I love to be able to explain my works to the public. It enriches me in every way, with both positive and critical judgments. This pandemic period puts all this to the test, but I am sure that a recovery of personal relationships is soon to be expected.

LC – Do you agree with our vision of art and what do you think about the theme of the festival?
SM – The festival proposed by Itsliquid immediately aroused my interest, particularly thanks to the Liquid Rooms theme; my artistic sensibility had been touched. The works I chose to propose are part of “anguish”, a project developed in a dark period of my life where, through the images, I throw out my inner world with impulsivity and intensity. The images are always accompanied by a video including sounds and noises from the world around us; in this case, a verbal argument that amplifies the sense of unease and annoyance expressed in the photographs.

LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
SM – Visibility online, especially at times like this, is of primary importance, but I hope the events and exhibitions that in my opinion are part of the DNA of contemporary art will not be abandoned.