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.

Opening the multisensory journey set up from Oct. 22 to 27 at the House is the exhibition The Weight of Words through which Bonelli, who has had to cope with stuttering since childhood, gives body through his works to the fatigue of the communicative gesture that also becomes an exploration of new ways of relating to self and others. In the other rooms, immersive installations, videos and drawings made by students of the Vivavoce medical center invite visitors to experience stuttering firsthand.

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.