DIGITAL VIDEO WALL

On the occasion of Smart Life Festival, from 16 to 18 October, Metronom’s Digital Video Wall will present the complete cycle of works featured in its seventh edition, Theory&Practice: The Italian New Wave, curated by Emanuele Amighetti.

Theory&Practice: The Italian New Wave is conceived as a collaborative project and a statement of intent, bringing together works by Vittorio Maria Dal Maso (1995, Vicenza), LOREM, Giacomo Mercuriali (1990, Cesena), Federica Sasso (1992, Vicenza) & Luca Pagan (1993, Venice), and Alba Zari (1987, Bangkok).
The title itself indicates a methodological position that identifies a common thread running through the different works: the artists’ practice takes the form of theoretical research, in which artworks become tools for investigation and knowledge production.

The working method adopted in this project is therefore hybrid: there are no hierarchical relationships between theory and practice. Rather, the two coexist within a circular process.
The artists’ practices bring together a range of media and tools — from artificial intelligence and machine learning to virtual reality, biosensors, memes and CGI — while also engaging with academic research and institutions. In their work, Theory and Practice coexist.

We Have the Same Eyes (2024) by Alba Zari stems from a research project into the identity of the artist’s biological father and, consequently, her own identity.
Through digital technologies, Zari explores the face and its expressions, moving beyond mere representation in search of an emotional presence. The video thus makes a meeting possible, albeit within a virtual space, questioning the boundary between reality and simulation.

Divergences (2023) by Federica Sasso & Luca Pagan (4E) is a video work and 1:1-scale audiovisual installation that draws on the photographic tradition of studying human movement and on Muybridge’s legacy, giving rise to a kind of moving statue projected into hyper-contemporary experience.
The work explores phenomena such as embodiment, leading the viewer into a suspended universe between digital and physical dimensions and prompting unconscious and cerebral responses, ultimately raising the question: “Would I react in the same way?”

Mnemosyne and my Advance (2026) by Vittorio Maria Dal Maso is a video composed of “augmented” images in which stillness and movement alternate, guiding the viewer through a visual journey of idols and icons drawn from ancient, historical and contemporary repertoires, brought together in a single figurative archive.
Through the Droste effect, Dal Maso creates a conceptual kaleidoscope that reflects on the places and modes of production and consumption of contemporary images, in a tautological repetition of a visual act that observes and interprets another visual act.

Life is Easy (2026) by Giacomo Mercuriali is a film that reflects on contemporary life through a pragmatic approach and the visual languages of memes, reels and advertising.
In this AI-generated video sculpture, the artist films himself carrying out everyday activities as if he were creating content for social media, transforming the flow of his daily life into a video-documentary that investigates the mechanisms through which personal experience is shared in the digital age.

Angle#07 (2026) by LOREM is a multichannel installation that continues the artist’s investigation into states of consciousness and mythological machines: narrative devices based on large textual archives curated by the artist and reworked through statistical tools and combinatorial processes. In Angle#07, language becomes conscious of itself, giving rise to an epiphanic encounter in which an angelic presence is revealed.

Through the DVW, Metronom provides a space dedicated to the exhibition and presentation of digital art languages, with the aim of exploring their expressive possibilities and engaging with the complexity of the context shaped by new technologies.
The DVW’s distinctive position, which allows for 24-hour viewing from the street, makes it a unique exhibition venue. The projection facing outward from the premises becomes an urban intervention: a window display that also offers a way of reshaping and transforming the image of the street through the content presented.

Emanuele Amighetti is an art director and researcher based between Milan, Como and Switzerland. His work is characterised by an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach that brings together contemporary visual culture, new technologies and new media. He conceptualises, commissions and directs a wide range of projects, from branding to publishing, in collaboration with both emerging and internationally established photographers, filmmakers and fashion designers. From 2021 to 2023, he was Creative Director of Esquire Italia. Since 2025, he has served as Executive Image Director of Harper’s Bazaar Italia.

Theory&Practice: The Italian New Wave
METRONOM | Via Carteria 10 | 41121 Modena
October 16 – 18,  2026 | 24h