Milano Vivavoce Week | The Weight of Words by Saverio Bonelli

The project was born from the synergy between two worlds that are only apparently distant, the scientific-rehabilitation world and the artistic world. On the one hand, Giovanni Muscarà, who has been active for many years with the Vivavoce project in the research and development of innovative methods for the treatment of stuttering, and on the other, Giulia Restifo, director of That's Contemporary and a member of Casa degli Artisti, who found themselves akin in their commitment to the support of expressiveness, on the one hand towards all people affected by language disorders, and on the other as support for the research and work of artists.
The meeting with artist Saverio Bonelli, at that time resident in one of the Casa's ateliers, who has long been investigating through his art such a subtle and complex theme as language, proved decisive.

Ad aprire il percorso multisensoriale allestito dal 22 al 27 ottobre presso la Casa, è la mostra Il Peso delle Parole attraverso cui Bonelli, che sin da bambino ha dovuto far fronte alla balbuzie, dà corpo con le sue opere alla fatica del gesto comunicativo che diventa altresì esplorazione di nuove modalità di relazione con sé e gli altri. Nelle altre sale, installazioni immersive, video e disegni realizzati dagli allievi del centro medico Vivavoce che invitano i visitatori a vivere in prima persona l’esperienza della balbuzie.

The Weight of Words by Xavier Bonelli
"We imagine a person speaking aloud by the sea and his voice resonates louder than the crashing waves, his words come to us clear, yet the contrast with the noise is obvious, we listen to him and we can understand him, we can understand. It happens in the same way with the works of artist Saverio Bonelli: his images and sculptures overpower the noise that surrounds us, and we are able to get in tune with him and ourselves, because the voice he uses is that of the heart. A voice that the artist articulates through works in which he infuses all his inner energy." - So writes Giulia Restifo, curator of the exhibition.

Starting from the concept of dissonances, in Vite the artist transforms musical language into an intimate dialogue, while Interruptus explores sound as matter that fills space and creates relationships. With The Weight of Words and Sisyphus, Bonelli investigates the fatigue of communication, between sculpture and audiovisual, revealing the ongoing effort of incommunicability.

The Multisensory Pathway

In the following room, one physically enters the installation In the Chaos of Stuttering. Here, thanks to technology that also resorts to the tools of Artificial Intelligence, the visitor is led to experience firsthand and immersively the destabilizing experience of stuttering that becomes the symbolic staging of a voice shaming situation.

This same experience in the third room is told ...Through the eyes of the child. This is a space that showcases some of the drawings collected by the Vivavoce Association in recent years. A series of windows that show stuttering and voice shaming through the sincere and unfiltered gaze of young children.

Il percorso si chiude con il video “Ogni voce ha la sua storia” realizzato dallʼAssociazione Vivavoce che vuole proporre ai visitatori un messaggio di consapevolezza e inclusione. Il claim ogni voce ha la sua storia costituisce la soglia dʼaccesso ideale alla sala Il mondo nel cuore attraverso le parole, dove per tutta la settimana sono  state presentate esperienze, testimonianze e storie di voci, appassionate, sensibili ma soprattutto vive.

Video correlato: Milano Vivavoce Week – 22 – 27 Ottobre 2024