Morestalgia – Riccardo Benassi

Description

From November 1 to 6, 2026, the IBSA Foundation presents Morestalgia, a work by Riccardo Benassi, in Lugano. It is publicly viewable at the LAC Hall. Morestalgia Morestalgia, created in 2019 by Riccardo Benassi with support from the Italian Council, is an installation whose central element is an LED screen that the human body can pass through. As visitors pass through, they become aware of their own physical presence and the presence of others. In this way, they become part of a collective sensory experience and at the same time a situation that the artist has created precisely for this purpose. The title is based on a neologism coined by Benassi, which describes a painful feeling characteristic of the post-internet era. Riccardo Benassi explains: "As 'Morestalgia,' I refer to a specific form of nostalgia, whose pain is more similar to that caused by envy than to that of actual nostalgia. It is the perception of a painful absence, which each of us interprets as a loss and which directly relates to other people we value, as well as to the experiences they share online." Conversation with the artist On November 3 at 6:30 PM, Riccardo Benassi will meet the audience for a 45-minute conversation at the LAC Hall, moderated by curator Chiara Nuzzi. Building on the installation, the conversation will go beyond the work itself. The focus is on 'Morestalgia': a feeling of painful nostalgia that the artist associates with the post-internet age and that is linked to language and the presence of the body. The conversation offers an opportunity to reflect together on how our way of experiencing the present is changing – a present increasingly hovering between physical and virtual dimensions. Free