The GAMeC continues its participation in the prestigious worldwide network dedicated to video art, involving leading international contemporary art institutions since 2008.

For this tenth edition (on the theme of “Truth”), curators Sara Fumagalli and Valentina Gervasoni selected Italian artist Elena Mazzi (Reggio Emilia, 1984) and her work I’m Talking to You (2016–18), which will open the screening agenda.

The video is specially edited for the occasion and comprises a series of recordings made by the artist in the homes of people living in the Maunula district of Helsinki while they listened to news on the radio, read it on a PC, or watched it on TV. Mazzi filmed many reactions to the news, including sighs of resignation, sarcastic comments, howls of disapproval.

As usual, Elena Mazzi engages closely with the communities she decides to investigate, observing habits and listening to stories. In the case of I’m Talking to You, the challenge was to enter the domestic space of strangers, in a country like Finland, in which public and private spheres are kept distinctly separate.

The inhabitants of Maunula involved in the project were then asked for an opinion on how true they thought the news they heard was – a tool to test how inclined the public is to believe the information they receive. The sense of frustration experienced when listening to the news, and varying levels of development of ensuing critical thought are the main themes explored in the work.

This video will be available throughout the entire project. At first individually screened, after 17 June it will be included in the screening programme (during which each series will run for three weeks) presenting the video works selected by the participating institutions: Fundación PROA, Buenos Aires; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Istanbul Modern, Istanbul; Belgrade Cultural Centre, Belgrade; Video-Forum of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Berlin; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon; Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm; Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø; Ballroom Marfa, Marfa (Texas); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; CAC – Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius; Project 88, Mumbai; Hanoi DOCLAB, Hanoi; Para/Site, Hong Kong.