Benni Ciappini

 ‘S(ay)(ee)ing’ is an ongoing research on how words* can be activators of engagement and communi(ty)cation, and how images can participate in it and document it. 

*a word: the beginning of a language. The seed of communication. The tool for dialogue. A filter, expelled from the lips, crawling to the eye, changing its perspective. A symbol of exchange. An image of a world.

This researched-based work is presented through a multimedia installation, consisting of different elements: a text-based publication 'Words on Wor(L)ds. Thin questions of an L in-between' which marks the starting point and fundamental core of this research; a palm-sized book of questions; a zine containing visual documentation of a collective word activity; a textile-printed documentation of a drawing session, and visual outcomes from a playful moment with once-word-shapes; a collective writing space. 

All these elements allow direct engagement with the visitor, through the act of reading, writing, unfolding, and turning pages

Through this project, I am exploring a way of making in which the creating (together) is more important than a fixed, final outcome, and in which the process is focused on active learning rather than delivering an end result that solely includes a single author. 

I want to thank Szymon Hernik for making my collective writing space possible, through the precious knowledge of an unknown language to me; Anna Moschioni for designing ‘Words on Wor(L)ds. Thin questions of an L in between’, and turning my thoughts into physical presence; Maryam Touzani, Angelina Nonaj, Caterina Santullo, Alessandro Lucarini, Ira Grünberger, Rowan Moonlion, Sabina Mérida Entrocassi, Nienke Rood, Clara Sharell, Scott van Kampen Wieling , Ieva Maslinskaité, Aaryan Sinha, Vixtoria Salomonsen and Bödvar Hole for taking active part of my proposed moments of play. 

- toalwayskeepplaying -