We try to get a glimpse of the outside world through our windows, but are they really useful? Some get bitter when seeing others skipping quarantine, others depressed because it’s so sunny and beautiful outside already, and others plainly bored. So we turn to another type of window: screens. Be it our smartphones, laptops or TVs, we’re currently understanding the world not through lived experiences outdoors but by reading, watching, thinking, commenting, sharing. And this is precisely what the project Il Mondo Fuori by Italian photographer Luca Bortolato is about.
“Despite the very strong spread of the Internet, TV is still the only media that manages to reach multiple realities, the only one which reaches families, lonely old people, available in hospitals, in prisons, etc.,” he tells us in this interview. He’s very true, indeed. And so, he’s decided to watch TV a lot these past weeks, analyzing through his lens the different types of messages and inputs we’re receiving: from films and documentaries helping us to escape the current global situation, to alarming news broadcasts or political debates. As he concludes, “Il Mondo Fuori was born as a testimony of a non-existent present, which drowns in the sea of thousands of images in which we are immersed, leaving no space for silence. It could have been an opportunity to stay quiet.”
Luca, you’re presenting Il Mondo Fuori, which you define as “a daily diary of snapshots of the TV screen”. How did you come up with the idea? What made you start this project?
We are all experiencing a unique and particular moment, all together at the same time. A condition (I hope) will never happen again. Everyone locked in their home. Each of us waiting, suspended, seeking hopes from distorted and inaccurate information reaching us through the media. Despite the very strong spread of the Internet, TV is still the only media that manages to reach multiple realities, the only one which reaches families, lonely old people, available in hospitals, in prisons, etc. So I imagined thousands of people submerged every hour by thousands of various images. For many people, TV is the only window to the world. For someone, it is a source of hope.
The snapshots I’ve seen so far are very different from each other. How do you decide what TV shows you want to watch?
Every day I stand in front of the TV and photograph the screen. I have been doing this since March 8, since my first quarantine day. I set myself a limit of one hundred photos per day. Among these, there are snapshots of news programmes, movies, music videos, entertainment programmes, etc. Generally, I always try to keep a sort of historical and progressive report of the evolution of the situation but, at the same time, I am curious to observe which kind of images the different TV channels propose to viewers to escape from reality, or to give them hope, in such a difficult moment. Here it is then, a mix of prime ministers’ serious faces, naked breasts from erotic films late at night, or snow-clad peaks of the Himalayas from documentaries. Like a family album, all images together tell us about our living and observing.
Could you tell me actually some of the things you’ve watched on the TV lately?
Creating this project, I’ve been watching many different things on TV every day: political debates, music videos, nature documentaries, movies, etc. In this way, I immerse myself in different worlds, which pass over quickly without leaving traces and the photos are the only proof of these daily trips of mine. Few seconds of zapping build a proper confusion, which is actually a reflection of what we are experiencing in these difficult weeks of ostensible calm. While zapping, I love however to stop on nature documentaries, it is a way to take a breath and escape from reality.
I feel that TV reflects a bit the technologic gap there is between generations as the youth mainly use their phones and laptops. Do you feel that way too?
I feel lucky to be born, let’s say, in between two generations. I’m a forty-year-old man watching the news on TV in the evening and texting to friends on WhatsApp. I know both sides of the coin. However, it is a fact that lately, all TV channels are creating their own online profiles so as to reach the young audience through their laptops and phones. It is presumable that in the near future, the television-object won’t exist any longer, either it won’t have the same appearance as today. Maybe then, the distances will get closer.
Screens are currently our ‘windows’ to the world, we see what’s happening on the outside while we’re on lockdown. And because these windows are very different right now, what do you think they say about each person’s way of perceiving and seeing reality?
Each of us perceives and experiences every single thing in a different way than any other person. This happens because we are all physiologically different from each other and we rework the perception of the world through our own experience, following our personal journey through emotion, etc. We have different opinions compared to other people regarding food, music, love, etc. Nowadays, although it seems like all screens, all over the world, speak the same language, we remain in our uniqueness as observers. There may be a common feeling, but there will never be a unique message.
I’ve been speaking to many people lately, and a recurrent comment comes to mind: they try to avoid watching TV or being very informed to not get anxious. Have you ever felt that way at some point these days, especially since you watch TV for the project? What do you do to overcome this anxiety?
I have accepted this period as a possibility from the beginning. Living such a particular moment all together and all at the same time will not happen again (I hope). It is a moment of investigation and introspection. One thing was certain from the first day: quarantine will end one day. Of course, it is not easy to stay close at home and accept to have a strong limitation of freedom, but it’s also interesting to live in a condition in which the future perhaps for the first time in our life is not so clear and remains suspended. Il Mondo Fuori was born as a testimony of a non-existent present, which drowns in the sea of thousands of images in which we are immersed, leaving no space for silence. It could have been an opportunity to stay quiet.
