Vincenzo Marsiglia, digital artist from Cremona, Italy. Photography © Giuseppe Grasso

1.In your opinion what is the role of a museum?

Today the museum must play an important role in communicating the new vision of art and the relationship with new technologies.

Since 2008 I have been dealing with new media especially with interactivity and immersive works. These new technologies can give museums the opportunity to generate new discourses and also a generational change of the public.

2.What are your favorite museums in the world? Why?

The ZKM museum in Karlsruhe in Germany is the mecca for those who deal with new technologies in art, where the user switches from an interactive work to a sound work: it is the true museum of digital art.

Then I want to mention a French museum which is the Palais de Tokyo, apart from the architectural beauty, I have always seen important and thick exhibitions, also in the 90s I attended a lesson inside the museum with elementary school children on conceptual art, in Italy there was still no way of making children approach art.

The Winterthur Museum where I was able to see the most beautiful retrospective of an artist I love very much, Fausto Melotti, was back in 2011.

And to finish, otherwise the list would be endless, to return to Italy, the Museum and Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Napoli, where inside there is one of the cretti by Alberto Burri, among the most fascinating of his period together with the room of Daniel Buren and finally an exceptional work by Caravaggio, the Flagellation of Christ.

3.How important are social networks in your business? And which platform do you prefer and why.

My favorite platform is Instagram. I consider the social networks to make work known, especially Instagram and Facebook, because in addition to exhibitions both in museums and in galleries, people and professionals in the sector can see the evolution of work.

For example, my site-specific interactive works, from painting to marble sculpture, to installations that generate architectures built with fluorescent threads and neon wood, to the latest immersive works with Hololens 2 technology.

4.In particular, due to the coronavirus emergency, how have you changed your business on social networks?

During my blocking period I started the #unritrattoperunirci project on Instagram and Facebook.

The concept of the project consists in creating a large group of portraits of people called “constellation” to generate a strong message, that of being united thanks to art, side by side while they are displayed on my Instagram profile.

I realized this project thanks to two curators, Julie Fazio and Laetitia Florescu who will deal with external events both in Italy and abroad. In Italy, however, the project is supported by the Luca & Katia Tomassini Foundation of Orvieto and the other is Var Group, very close to digital art in order to create a dedicated section called Var Digital Art.

5.To create greater engagement among museums, artists and professionals, do you have any advice for cultural projects such as #MuseumWeek?

It is a project very similar to my point of view during the lockdown, a conceptual and virtual project. In my opinion, the important thing is to make the public interact as much as possible both virtually and physically within the limits of the possibilities.

Interview by Fabio Pariante, journalist

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Vincenzo Marsiglia on social networks: Instagram − Facebook − Vimeo

Vincenzo Marsiglia (Cosenza, 1972) from Italy, studied art at Art Institute in Imperia then at Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, where he graduated in Painting.

His works originate from a four pointed star, the “logo” of the artist, that joins to cloths, felt, spangles and pottery with a variations of rhythms and shapes. His works have been exhibited in Italy and abroad.

Currently, Marsiglia’s artistic research is based on technology in which the user becomes an integral part of the work. The artist lives and works in Cremona.