APNEA

Apnea explores the dimension of the emotions of migrants who venture out to cross the sea. Apnea proposes an inner itinerary that we can all recognise: a cartography of feelings and fears mapped using interactive immersive technologies and an exhibition of objects that were salvaged from the sea. 

In Apnea employs digital interactivity systems and immersive technologies with the goal of raising awareness through the personal and emotional engagement of each participant.

The visitor’s exploratory experience unfolds across three distinct moments/environments, each offering different levels of immersion and interactivity—a journey into one’s own emotions.

Apnea was born from the collaboration between the Fondazione 107 for Contemporary Art and the Interactive Media Art platform Officine Sintetiche, involving CIRMA, the Department of Humanities at the University of Turin, and Cinema and Media Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Turin. Later, the Castel dei Mondi International Festival in Andria joined as a supporting partner.

In May 2016, the project won the Ora! Grant from the Compagnia di San Paolo, which enabled a formative pre-project phase of research and development that had already led to a public event in March 2016.

The work was conceived by Vanessa Vozzo and curated by Vanessa Vozzo and Stefano Sburlati, who began researching migration and the sea in 2015. From January 2016, Stefano and Vanessa led student groups and conducted extensive research on immersive and interactive technologies. From this point onward, Apnea became a collaborative project involving students, researchers, and faculty from the Polytechnic University and the University of Turin, along with external professionals—a team of over 20 people.

All audio-visual content was created on the island of Lampedusa.