CROSSING RELATIONAL SPACES. IN CONVERSATION WITH CLARA LUISELLI

| by Elena Redaelli |

Clara Luiselli (Bergamo, 1975) holds a degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bergamo and attended courses at the Ratti Foundation and the Spinola Banna Foundation for Contemporary Art. Her artistic practice explores the relationship between artwork and viewer, space, and social dynamics through a hybrid expressive language that integrates visual arts, performance, dance, and sound experimentation.

Her artistic process is driven by “continuous transformation in a fluid process of impermanence.” Everyday life’s seemingly insignificant details become opportunities for the artist to open a dialogue with the unexpected, “the other beyond oneself.”

A Journey of Research and Collaboration

Since her studies at the Accademia Carrara, Luiselli has favoured interactive and collaborative artistic creation, rejecting a self-referential vision of art. Between 2007 and 2017, she was part of the Ovali Mancati collective, active in theatre, visual arts, and sound art. This allowed her to explore a “dimension of creative and productive friction,” from which research projects on sound, vibration, and movement in space emerged.

Clara is currently collaborating with musician Jos Olivini and actress Laura Mola to keep pushing beyond her comfort zone. The relational aspect of Luiselli’s practice is also reflected in her work with GAMEC, where she works as a museum educator and leads the highly attended SFOGHI workshop linked to exhibitions in the Gallery. This program, aimed at an adult audience, encourages direct engagement with art and the interaction with the artworks from different perspectives. The goal is to provide physical and intellectual stimuli that become investigative tools for participants. The workshops, often attended by other artists, offer Clara a privileged perspective on observing the creative dialogue that develops among participants. This represents a significant learning experience for her. Using educational activities to convey art also allows her to connect with a broad audience, including people of different ages and backgrounds.

At the Carrara Academy in Bergamo, Luiselli participates in the Dance Well project, which combines dance and movement and is dedicated to people with Parkinson’s disease, and in Custodire Memorie, a collaboration with Ferb (European Foundation for Biomedical Research) aimed at Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers.

Sensitive Works: Body and Interaction

Luiselli merges visual arts with movement. Bodily expression flows into the materials without the need for rigid boundaries. There is no separation between thought and form; the artwork seamlessly integrates the physical dimension. The artist states, “When there is integration, the work becomes fluid.”

Among her most emblematic works, the Abiti Sensibili series reflects on the desire for togetherness in a society oriented toward isolation through playful yet melancholic pieces. The unisex white silk tunic, Mi sento sempre tutti quegli occhi addosso (2008), is filled with luminous pupils that react to movement, conveying a sense of attraction and unease. On the other hand, Helmet explores the theme of unexpected contact. Small magnetic hands are attracted to metallic bodies as one walks down the street, making us aware that our interaction with the world escapes our control and occurs instead unpredictably. The sensations arising from this unexpected contact can be varied and sometimes unpleasant. The helmet, which is supposed to be a protective object, becomes a communicative medium open to the unknown.                                                 

These “wearable membranes” devices push the senses to play with the body’s boundaries in a suspended space-time. Through the artwork, these pieces investigate the role of the viewer, the artist/agent, and their relationship, identifying a physical space between things and thus playing with their distance and encounter.

Between Journey and Memory

The theme of physical and symbolic movement emerges in the wandering project Bagatto-Baratto (2008), which explores the emotional value of objects through an exchange accompanied by personal stories. The objects are transformed into playing cards inspired by Il Castello dei destini incrociati by Italo Calvino, where the cards narrate stories and connections. The work E.Vado (2014), a blanket embroidered with traces of pathways, symbolizes the circulatory system of these objects, without geographical references but with a red embroidered line on black velvet.

This work is part of the Oggetti Molli series, composed of easily foldable and transportable pieces addressing the precariousness of everyday life with adaptability and intelligence.

Rituals and Domestic Intimacy

With Visionaria (2014), embroidered tablecloths inspired by botanical sections of ritual plants evoke shared mystical journeys. The tablecloth, a symbol of conviviality, becomes a means to transmit ancestral knowledge or create new realities. “I have always embroidered maps of real or visionary spaces,” the artist states.

Portable domestic environments also emerge in the Home Sweet Home series (2011-ongoing), representing “intimate spaces to rediscover warmth.” The white embroidered blankets depict household objects as sewing patterns, with technical information suggesting their possible reconstruction. Though conceptual, the blankets retain their practical function: “In the absence of a bed, at least one can wrap oneself in a blanket.” Each is accompanied by a pillowcase, transforming it into a portable cushion for those seeking a safe place.

Exploring Uncertainty: Attempts and New Worlds

The Tentativi series (2022) explores, through embroidery, the “traces that emerge from crumpled thoughts in an attempt to map new possible worlds.” The artist explores space-time by crumpling white sheets to trace, with a pencil, the lines created by chance. These black lines are then translated with a sewing machine onto rigid linen fabric (140×140 cm), evoking shapes similar to meteorites or forming magma, symbols of new evolving worlds.

A fior di pelle

“A fior di pelle” is a 2024 project that combines performance, sculpture, and site-specific installation. It was presented at the Giardini Sambuy in Turin as part of Art Site Fest, curated by Domenico M. Papa. The project also took the form of a participatory artwork created on the occasion of the Culture Weeks. Giovanna Brambilla and Giuliano Zanchi curated this new iteration in collaboration with the A. Bernareggi Foundation and the Church of San Giovanni XXIII in Paderno, Seriate (BG).

The artist describes A fior di pelle as a work born from a tree trunk that had naturally reached the end of its life cycle. Stripped of its bark, the wood reveals its vulnerability and becomes a totem—a threshold between nature and culture. Collected at the edge of the forest, the trunk received the collective gesture of a group of young people who gave it new skin: fragments of clay imprinted with the textures of living bark. This simple yet deeply attentive and caring gesture gave shape to unique pieces, hand-moulded and then transformed—soft at first, solid after drying, and finally fired in a kiln. These clay casts, suspended from the trunk by thin threads, outline a welcoming space, ready to receive prayers, thoughts, or wishes—moments of pause in the silence of passing through.

Clara Luiselli continues exploring the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature and themes of displacement, travel, and memory. Her artistic practice is fertile ground for investigating relational, cultural, and social dimensions, where art becomes a vehicle for questions, exchange, and attentive listening.