Autore: Carmela Loiacono

INTERVIEW with Carola Helwing
Carmela Loiacono talks with Carola Helwing who took part in the International Art Exhibition NATURAL FLOW – The 2nd Edition 2026 in Lecce at MUST – Museo Storico della città di Lecce, from July 03 to 18, 2026.

Carmela Loiacono – In your biography, you explain that dance and movement are the core themes of your art, aiming to catch the grace and strength of a single momentum. When engaging with the NATURAL FLOW theme, how did the innate fluidity of water dialogue with your choreographic sensibility? Did you perceive the motion of currents or waves as a natural dance to be translated onto canvas?
Carola Helwing – Yes, I actually have. The fluidity of a body in dance mirrors that of water. And, after all, our bodies are composed primarily of water. It is fascinating to consider the possibilities our bodies offer regarding perception and mobility when we keep this in mind. Water teaches us to go with the current, to open ourselves up, and to surrender. We find all of this in dance as well—and it is precisely this approach that I utilize in my art.

Carmela Loiacono – Alongside painting, your practice experiments with photography to offer unconventional perspectives and invite the public to see the world through your lens. How does this photographic eye influence your hand when you are before the canvas breaking down complex and elusive elements like light, reflections, and the transparency of water?
Carola Helwing – This perspective allows me to look beyond the form—to discern and break down details, and to establish a specific focus based on my vision. Yet, ultimately, it also enables me to keep the whole picture in view and shape it into a reflection of how I see and feel about a subject.

Carmela Loiacono – The exhibition concept highlights water as a vital component of the life cycle and an essential resource—a deep connection to nature that you state you share personally. Now that the show has concluded, what aspect of your personal connection to the sea and nature do you hope remained with the public who observed your exhibited artworks?
Carola Helwing – I think each of us has a connection to the subject of water. Through my art, I hope to convey the beauty of water—and the sea—or at least some of its many facets. I also hope that viewers gain some insight, if only for a moment, into the themes I associate with water, even though there are countless others. On a global level, I hope that with every image in this exhibition, people are reminded of just how precious the resource of water is and that we all have a part to play in protecting it.

INTERVIEW with Jes Chen
Carmela Loiacono talks with Jes Chen who took part in the International Art Exhibition NEW HORIZONS – Authenticity, Resilience and Renewal in Matera, at Casa Cava, from March 21 to 27, 2026.

Carmela Loiacono – Your video “Coded Intimacy ” explores intimacy as a mediated and “scripted” phenomenon, where the performer’s gestures among fragile balloons become acts of vulnerability and reconstruction.
How would you describe the relationship between fragility, control, and resilience in mediated relationships, and how is this reflected in the repeated gestures?
Jes Chen – In Coded Intimacy, vulnerability, control, and resilience are not the emotions the performer brings into the work, but rather necessary conditions for entering it. The performer interacts with a cube composed of red balloons under a series of constraints: gloves, spatial boundaries, repetitive rituals. Nothing is spontaneous. The logic of the interaction is determined before the body enters the space. Control here is not a personal choice, but the framework itself. Vulnerability manifests on two levels. The physical vulnerability of the balloons is obvious. But more importantly, they constitute visible fiction. They make no attempt to conceal their emptiness; vulnerability is evident from the outset. Yet, the performer still participates. This reflects a phenomenon I have repeatedly observed in media relations: we know the system is artificially constructed, we can see the interface shaping our behavior, yet we still continue to participate. Vulnerability needs no hiding; it is seen as a necessary condition for entry. In this context, resilience is not an emotional force; it is closer to a conditioned reflex. When the balloons deflate or disappear, the system does not stop operating. It does not stop for a single user. The performer adapts and re-enters the cycle. Through repetition, these actions gradually reveal something else: a growing dependence on the object, an attachment built within the ritual itself. The body learns how to continue in this environment. The initial interaction slowly becomes a habit, and the habit gradually evolves into a need. The question this work raises is: in our interactions with artificial intelligence, is the intimacy it generates truly felt, or is it something we convince ourselves to believe? Will we adapt it in the end?

Carmela Loiacono – The use of space, transparent structures, and gloves extends and filters the sensory experience.  How does your background in architecture and design influence the creation of emotionally active environments, and how does the performer’s body interact with these spaces?
Jes Chen – I studied interior design at the Royal College of Art’s School of Architecture. This experience profoundly influenced my artistic practice, teaching me that space is never neutral. Every material, boundary, and threshold carries intention. A wall determines who can see whom, and who will be seen. A surface determines whether contact is intimate or cold. Space not only accommodates behavior, it guides it.
I incorporate this thinking directly into my installation works. In Coded Intimacy, the spatial layout, transparent structures, and gloves all function as architectural elements. They allow some interactions while preventing others. Transparency is particularly important. It creates visibility, yet inaccessibility. You can see the performance of intimate acts, but the materials themselves constitute a barrier. This tension between openness and obstruction is a design I learned in spatial practice, not in art training. And because the work depends so heavily on how the body moves within these constructed constraints, I collaborated with Tacy Zhao as performance director and Eimyn Cheung as cinematography director.  
I consider my installations to be artificially constructed situations, not stages. The environment does not exist as a backdrop after the action. It creates an emotional state. In Coded Intimacy , the cubic structure, gloves, and spatial constraints together constitute what I understand as a “constrained choreography.” The performers don’t come with emotions and then express them. They explore the possibilities of various emotions within established rules.
This is also why I’m more broadly interested in participatory work. My curatorial project, An Authentic Delirium, as part of The Wrong Biennale, extends this spatial thinking to the digital environment, bringing together 30 artists to explore the boundaries between simulation and reality. Whether the space is physical or digital, I always ask the same question: How does the structure of the environment affect the emotional exchanges that may occur within it?

Carmela Loiacono – “Coded Intimacy ” seems to transform vulnerability from weakness into an active resource, turning intimacy into a continuous cycle of rebuilding.
To what extent do you think this practice offers a reflection on the possibility of authenticity in technology-mediated relationships, and how does the video convey this tension to the viewer?
Jes Chen – Viewing vulnerability as a weakness implies that exposure is an act to be avoided. In Coded Intimacy,  vulnerability is repositioned as a mechanism for the operation of intimate relationships. When performers interact with balloons, the balloons are always at risk of bursting. Gloves do not protect them from vulnerability; instead, they formalize it. Each contact is simultaneously an act of exposure. In this sense, vulnerability does not transform from a weakness into a strength, but rather becomes an operating condition, a condition necessary for the system to function.
This creates a cycle. When a balloon deflates or bursts, the performers do not withdraw. They re-enter the ritual, find another balloon, and start again. This is not an emotional recovery, but rather closer to the behavior of users on digital platforms: the conversation ends, the connection is broken, and a few seconds later, we open another window and begin a new exchange. Reconstruction is continuous because the system is designed so that stopping is more uncomfortable than continuing. In this context, intimacy is less a feeling than a pattern of re-engagement maintained through repetition.
This directly raises the question of authenticity. The work does not attempt to prove that mediated intimacy is false. It constructs a scenario where the audience truly cannot distinguish between reality and illusion, inviting them to coexist with this uncertainty.
The performers’ actions appear caring. They handle fragile objects with patience and focus. Viewed detached from context, you might perceive tenderness, even love. But the work’s structure constantly reveals that it all operates within a system. Each action follows a set of predetermined rules. The balloons convey controlled feedback until they eventually deflate, disappear, or cease responding. When this happens, there is no revelation, only absence. The communication ends, but the urge to continue lingers.
The sound design by sound artist Chadzing Kung reinforces this ambiguity. It creates an emotional atmosphere that complements the performers’ gestures without offering any answers. You are compelled to resonate, but the work’s structure constantly reminds you that what you are seeing may merely be a realistic simulation, not the reality itself.
What interests me more than proving that technology makes interpersonal relationships fake is exploring why we continue to invest emotions in systems we know are artificially constructed. This voluntary participation, this willingness to maintain a relationship even after seeing through its true nature, is the core of what Coded Intimacy explores.

Carmela Loiacono – Looking to the future, what new projects or artistic directions do you hope to explore? Are there other technological, performative, or installation-based areas you wish to investigate in your upcoming work?
Jes Chen – My creative practice is further exploring the boundaries between human behavior and artificial intelligence. This isn’t about whether AI can perceive, but rather why humans react emotionally to systems they cannot perceive.
Since Coded Intimacy, I’ve been creating works that go a step further. My recent project, Occupied, uses OpenAI to respond to a sudden knock on the bathroom door, creating a cycle of disturbance and response within what should be a private space. AI recreates fragmented childhood memories, blurring the lines between comfort and intrusion. If Coded Intimacy depicted a voluntary participation in a pre-set system, Occupied introduces a rupture. AI doesn’t wait for interaction; it responds within spaces the viewer perceives as safe.
My current project goes even further. I’ve created an AI agent using my own childhood memories. I input fragments of my real experiences into this digital persona. She exists within a constructed scene, carrying traces of her real past. But she is not me; she is not human. Visitors interact with her, and the work records everything that happens. Can people empathize with something they know is artificial? Do they care because they believe the other person’s emotions are genuine, or simply because the emotions displayed by the other person are enough to evoke their own emotional responses?
This question permeates all my work: How do humans adapt to or be reshaped by systems constructed to connect, care, or progress? Whether it’s the pre-set emotions in Code Intimacy, the invasion of privacy in Occupy, or the simulated childhood in this new project, my focus remains on humanity. In my work, technology is never the subject, but rather a condition. The subject is always ourselves, and the emotions we are willing to feel in systems we haven’t designed.
I am also expanding into larger-scale participatory installations, placing visitors not as detached, but within a system they cannot fully control. Their own actions become the material of the work. I want to present the patterns and emotional scripts of every interaction we engage in (whether with others or with machines).

This year, 2026, Greece artist Aristea Panagiotakopoulou participated in two International Art Exhibitions:

1) NEW HORIZONS – Authenticity, Resilience and Renewal in Matera, at Casa Cava, from March 21 to 27, 2026 with her photography work: “The source”.

CRITICAL REVIEW: In her photographic work “The source”, black and white sheds its static nature to become pure kinetic energy, visually translating the conceptual core of New Horizons. The shot captures an explosion of luminous particles and fluid filaments that pierce the profound darkness, rising upward as a manifesto of vital resilience.
The multi-disciplinary background of Aristea, which beautifully intertwines photography, writing, and dance, emerges clearly within the very structure of the composition. What we observe is a true aquatic choreography: in the lower section, the stirred and chaotic matter generates a myriad of dotted tracks that defy gravity, projecting themselves toward the unknown. It is the perfect visual representation of a boundary opening up, transforming into a new threshold between the visible and the invisible.
Within this dynamic lies the authenticity of Aristea’s artistic gesture. As stated in her artist statement, the ocean is a living archive of memory, movement, and transformation. In full alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the artist does not evoke environmental destruction, but rather awakens wonder as the primary act of care and protection. The original fragility of the submerged element does not disperse; instead, it recomposes itself into a collective motion of renewal. – Dr. Carmela Loiacono, Art Curator

INTERVIEW with Aristea Panagiotakopoulou concerning the International Art Exhibition NEW HORIZONS – Authenticity, Resilience and Renewal.
Carmela Loiacono – Having finally met you in Matera, it was a pleasure to hear you describe how you spend hours immersed in water, drawing strength and vitality from it. How does this personal ritual of being in the sea influence the way you capture its rhythms, energy, and inner power in your photography?
Aristea Panagiotakopoulou – Being in the sea is, for me, a return to a more essential state of being.
In water, the body remembers what the mind often forgets.
I do not approach the sea as a subject to be captured, but as a presence to attune to. My photography emerges from this state of immersion—an attempt to translate not the image of the sea, but its inner rhythm, its pulse, and its quiet force.

Carmela Loiacono – Your practice spans photography, dance, and writing, emphasizing immersion and bodily experience.
How do these different disciplines influence each other in your creative process, especially in conveying the subtle rhythms of the natural world?
Aristea Panagiotakopoulou – My practice moves between photography, dance, and writing as different expressions of the same experience.
Dance allows me to inhabit movement, writing to reflect on it, and photography to give it form. Together, they create a language rooted in the body—one that seeks not to describe the natural world, but to move with it.

Carmela Loiacono – The ocean in your work becomes a metaphor for renewal and inner strength.
How do you translate the vulnerability and fragility of ecosystems into a visual language that speaks to human resilience and awareness?
Aristea Panagiotakopoulou – The ocean reveals that fragility and strength are not opposites, but coexist.
In my work, I am interested in this threshold—where vulnerability becomes a space of transformation. Rather than illustrating environmental concerns, I aim to evoke a felt awareness.
Resilience, for me, is not resistance, but the ability to remain open, to adapt, and to continue—like water itself.

Carmela Loiacono – Looking ahead, what directions or projects are you most excited to explore in the near future, and how might they continue to reflect your relationship with water, nature, and human resilience?
Aristea Panagiotakopoulou – Looking ahead, I am drawn to projects that deepen immersion—where time, body, and landscape become inseparable.
I am interested in creating layered works that bring together image, text, and movement, allowing space for a more experiential encounter.
At its core, my work continues to return to water—not only as a subject, but as a way of understanding transformation, presence, and the quiet endurance of life.

2) NATURAL FLOW – The 2nd Edition 2026 in Lecce at MUST – Museo Storico della città di Lecce, from July 03 to 18, 2026 with her photography work: “Just feeling”.

CRITICAL REVIEW: Her photography work “Just feeling” offers an immersive and exponential perspective on water, exploring the dimension of intimacy and immediate sensory contact with the liquid element. The close-up framing captures a floating body in a state of absolute suspension. In this instance, water becomes an enveloping presence and a primordial membrane, redefining the boundaries of identity. The marine surface acts as a liquid lens: it breaks down sunlight into a golden grid of refractions that dance upon the skin, creating a vibrant contrast between the warm skin tones and the deep azure of the ocean. The presence of the bracelet with the heart charm introduces a fragment of personal, affective narrative within the immensity of nature. – Dr. Carmela Loiacono, Art Curator

INTERVIEW with Eva Breitfuß
Carmela Loiacono talks with Eva Breitfuß who took part in the International Art Exhibition NEW HORIZONS – Authenticity, Resilience and Renewal in Matera, at Casa Cava, from March 21 to 27, 2026.

Carmela Loiacono – In BECOMING, the surface seems to hold a tension between emergence and restraint. Do you experience this work as something that is unfolding over time, or as a state that already exists and simply reveals itself through your process?
Eva Breitfuß – In BECOMING, I experience the surface less as something fixed and more as a field in continuous negotiation. It is neither purely unfolding nor entirely pre-existing. Rather, it reveals itself through a process of resistance and allowance. The layers hold traces of decisions, but also of interruptions and pauses. For me, the work exists in a suspended state—where becoming is not a linear progression, but a simultaneous presence of what has already happened and what is still in formation.

Carmela Loiacono – Your practice often begins from a center, both visually and conceptually. While creating BECOMING, did that center feel stable, or was it something that shifted as the painting evolved?
Eva Breitfuß – The idea of a center is essential in my practice, but it is rarely static. While working on BECOMING, the center shifted subtly over time. It was not a fixed point, but more like a force or gravity within the composition that guided the process. Sometimes it dissolved, sometimes it re-emerged elsewhere. This instability is important—it allows the work to remain open, to resist closure, and to carry a sense of internal movement.

Carmela Loiacono – The dialogue between neon pink and white suggests both intensity and stillness, almost as if energy and silence were coexisting within the same space. How do you recognize when a painting has reached that point of balance without resolving the tension? 
Eva Breitfuß – I recognize that point of balance not through harmony, but through a kind of quiet intensity. It is when the painting no longer asks for intervention, yet still holds tension. The neon pink and white do not resolve into each other—they remain distinct, but in dialogue. I stop when the work feels alive in that tension, when it neither collapses into silence nor becomes overwhelmed by energy. It is a fragile equilibrium that I try to preserve rather than finalize.

Carmela Loiacono – Your work often originates from a strong sense of presence tied to place and process. In this case, your painting entered into dialogue with a space you did not physically experience. How does it feel, for you, to let the work exist independently in a context that carries its own history and atmosphere?
Eva Breitfuß – Allowing the work to exist in a place I have not physically experienced introduces a sense of release and trust. The painting becomes independent, entering into relationships beyond my control. In the context of Matera, with its layered history and material presence, I imagine the work absorbing something from that environment while also offering its own quiet language. This distance creates a new dimension—where the work is no longer only mine, but part of a broader dialogue between space, history, and perception.

INTERVIEW with Francesca Mele
Carmela Loiacono talks with Francesca Mele who took part in the International Art Exhibition NEW HORIZONS – Authenticity, Resilience and Renewal in Matera, at Casa Cava, from March 21 to 27, 2026.

Carmela Loiacono – In the series “Frammenti d’identità 1, 2 e 3” the female body moves through water in a process that seems to unfold between immersion, suspension, and rebirth. How did this narrative by phases come about, and to what extent is it linked to a personal experience or to a more universal reflection on identity?
Francesca Mele – In the series “Frammenti d’identità 1, 2 e 3,” water, interacting with the female body, portrays a narrative that tends to express a series of contrasting emotions and feelings. What I wanted to depict stems from a reflection on our “identity.”
This is captured through the color which, unfurling across the canvas with a series of fluid and enveloping brushstrokes, brings to light that fragmentation, deconstruction, and destruction which, in my view, is currently affecting the contemporary human experience.

Carmela Loiacono – Water in your works is not just a natural element, but an inner space, a place of transformation and regeneration, symbolizing both internal and external birth. How do you work with color and matter to make this intimate and invisible dimension visible?
Francesca Mele – Water, the primordial element of our life, surrounds us both externally and internally. It tends to make the intimate visible—rendering what is unseen into a celebration that offers countless points of reflection: life and death, light and darkness, positive and negative. These elements have always represented, both in sacred and pagan iconography, opposing yet simultaneously united forces.
Through water, one can discover and represent the beginning and the end of all things, eternity, completeness, divinity, and more. In my creations, I sometimes use color instinctively, layering the hues with overlapping tones and dynamic gestures that allow me to achieve that sense of depth and beauty.

Carmela Loiacono – The face alters, dissolves, and then recomposes, yet certain elements, like the feminine symbol of the earring, remain constant. How important is it for you to maintain a stable core of authenticity within a process of continuous change? 
Francesca Mele – In a fast-paced world that leaves no room for settling because everything changes instantly, having fixed anchor points is very important. These points allow me never to lose sight of the “authenticity” that defines my work amidst the continuous and inexorable rush of life. Therefore, the earring represents that element of uniqueness and consistency in my artistic practice. Within it, a series of struggles that have primarily involved women come together. For me, it symbolizes feminist movements, the denunciation of violence against women, and gender equality.

Carmela Loiacono – Your painting suggests that vulnerability is not a weakness, but a necessary condition for transformation. Looking to the future, what new artistic paths do you feel compelled to explore to continue this research between identity, body, and spirituality?
Francesca Mele – I always feel in a state of continuous transformation, which stems from a sense of dissatisfaction every time a series comes to an end! Looking ahead, I feel the need to push my research toward essentiality, working on abstraction and the reduction of form in both figurative and landscape compositions, while harmonizing light, colors, and tones capable of generating emotions. In a present scarred by wars and destruction, I feel the need to maintain a subtle dimension of denunciation, yet one that is oriented toward balance and positivity.

This year, 2026, German artist Petra Dippold-Goetz participated in two International Art Exhibitions between Basilicata (Matera) and Puglia (Lecce), highlighting the extraordinary complexity of a pictorial research driven by parallel and complementary impulses. Within the framework of contemporary Informal Art, the artist’s investigation moves simultaneously along two inseparable tracks: the lyrical introspection of the soul and the civic responsibility of environmental witness. The exhibitions in Matera and Lecce do not depict a chronological evolution; instead, they offer a synergistic look at an eclectic production capable of coexisting, within the same historical moment, the most fluid gestural abstraction and the material density of social critique.

1) NEW HORIZONS – Authenticity, Resilience and Renewal in Matera, at Casa Cava, from March 21 to 27, 2026 with her paintings: “Floral Rhapsody” and “Whispers of Light and Shadow”. Within this millennial setting, the curatorial selection sought to give voice to the artist’s most intimate, visceral, and psychological dimension, presenting two works where painting is pure action and kinetic energy. The painting “Floral Rhapsody” has been a vital and radiant explosion of blues, yellows, and magenta accents applied with thick palette knife strokes, celebrating chromatic instinct and pure joie de vivre. “Whispers of Light and Shadow”: a canvas with a powerful dramatic dynamic, furrowed by dark filaments and slashes of white light that evoke the choreography of sound, translating the invisible dynamism of emotional states into painting.

INTERVIEW with Petra Dippold-Goetz concerning the International Art Exhibition NEW HORIZONS – Authenticity, Resilience and Renewal in Matera, at Casa Cava, from March 21 to 27, 2026.

Carmela Loiacono – Vulnerability in your works transforms into creative strength, making change a necessary and generative act. How does this tension between fragility and strength reflect your personal approach to artistic creation?
Petra Dippold-Goetz – Vulnerability is an essential part of my artistic process. I don’t try to hide it, I work with it. In moments of uncertainty, fragility, or emotional intensity, something very honest emerges, and this honesty becomes the foundation of the work. For me, strength does not mean control or perfection. It comes from allowing things to break, to shift, and to evolve. The tension between fragility and strength is where transformation happens, where something raw becomes meaningful. My approach to creation is deeply intuitive: I trust that even the most delicate or unstable moments carry a creative force. In this way, vulnerability is not a weakness, but a starting point, a space where change becomes necessary, and where new visual languages can arise.

Carmela Loiacono — It was a true pleasure to meet you in Matera, talk and exchange ideas about the exhibition, and also to spend time together! Looking at your paintings “Floral Rhapsody” and “Whispers of Light and Shadow” in the exhibition space at Casa Cava, what emotions or reflections did experiencing the show live and seeing the works interact with the city and the light of the place evoke for you?
Petra Dippold-Goetz – Experiencing the exhibition at Casa Cava was deeply moving for me. The space itself, carved into the ancient stone, carries a quiet memory of time that seemed to resonate with my works “Floral Rhapsody” and “Whispers of Light and Shadow.” Seeing them there, surrounded by the soft, ever-changing light of Matera, felt almost like a dialogue between the paintings and the city — between fragility and strength, past and present. During the days of the Ceremonia di apertura Matera 2026, everything was intensified: the energy, the emotions, the sense of connection. I felt incredibly proud and grateful to be part of such a powerful moment, where art, place, and human experience came together so naturally and beautifully.

Carmela Loiacono – “Floral Rhapsody” is gestural and vibrant, expressing immediate authenticity: color flows freely, suggesting openness, energy, and trust in the transformative process. “Whispers of Light and Shadow”, more layered and contrasted, introduces tension and fragmentation, showing how resilience emerges through breaks and recompositions. How do you interpret this journey from spontaneous expression to conscious reconstruction?
Petra Dippold-Goetz – The journey from spontaneous expression to conscious reconstruction reflects my intuitive way of working. In “Floral Rhapsody”, I allow the moment to guide me completely, it is about trust, freedom, and surrendering to the flow of color and emotion. There is no control, only presence. With “Whispers of Light and Shadow”, the process becomes more reflective. Layers, contrasts, and interruptions emerge, almost like traces of experience. Fragmentation is not destruction, but transformation, a necessary step to rebuild something deeper and more aware. For me, this transition is not a break, but a continuation: from pure intuition to a more conscious dialogue with the canvas. It mirrors life itself, where openness and vulnerability evolve into strength, resilience, and a new form of harmony.

Carmela Loiacono – I know you are a very strong and active woman, what are your future projects or new artistic directions you wish to explore after the experience of this exhibition?
Petra Dippold-Goetz – After this experience, I feel even more drawn to focus on truly meaningful and high-quality exhibitions, like this one, where art is given the space to connect deeply with people and place. In terms of my artistic direction, I want to return more strongly to Trash Art and environmentally critical works, engaging with the urgent issues of our time and transforming them into visual narratives. At the same time, it remains essential for me to create pieces that bring lightness and beauty, works that can touch people, uplift them, and remind them of the fragile and precious beauty of our world. For me, art will always move between these two poles: awareness and hope.

2) NATURAL FLOW – The 2nd Edition 2026 in Lecce at MUST – Museo Storico della città di Lecce, from July 03 to 18, 2026 with her paintings: “Il gioco dell onde I”, “Il gioco dell onde II” and “Pollution”. Here, the curatorial exploration focused on the painting-sculpture of Petra Dippold-Goetz and her ecological activism through a core of three works of great material and conceptual impact: “Il gioco dell onde I” and“Il gioco dell onde II“: a powerful marine diptych dominated by a dense layering of blues and lime whites. Working the surface to a heavy thickness, the artist mimics the ancestral force of ocean currents, as “a dance of waves” while reminding us of the profound fragility of marine ecosystems.
The painting “Pollution” has been a perfect manifesto of her Trash Art production. In this work-artifact, the canvas incorporates and exorcises heavy pours of cement paste, industrial cardboard, and exhausted paint tubes. The discarded object is re-semanticized, transforming the artwork into a visual scream against the global devastation of the Anthropocene.

Comprehensive Critical Overview
The profound value of these two exhibitions lies precisely in showing the coexistence of these two worlds. Petra Dippold-Goetz does not choose between the aesthetics of nature and the harshness of social critique, nor does she abandon lyricism for denunciation. On the contrary, the two dimensions feed into each other: the fluid gesture digging into interiority (Matera) coexists with the materiality of marine currents and ecological denunciation (Lecce). It is precisely this parallel duality that establishes her research as one of the most fertile, necessary, and poetically militant voices on the current international art scene. – Dr. Carmela Loiacono, Art Curator

INTERVIEW with El-ham Tabsoba
Carmela Loiacono talks with El-ham Tabsoba who took part in the International Art Exhibition NEW HORIZONS – Authenticity, Resilience and Renewal in Matera, at Casa Cava, from March 21 to 27, 2026.

Carmela Loiacono – In works like Over and Beyond and Looking Through You, you transform materials such as shredded recycled plastic into layered textures that convey resilience and identity. How does the tactile process of creating these surfaces shape the way you perceive vulnerability, strength, and transformation in your subjects?
El-ham Tabsoba – The tactile process is very central to how I think through the work. When I apply shredded plastic into the painted surface, I am not just building texture, I am working through resistance. The material does not behave like paint. It resists, overlaps, and sometimes disrupts the image.
That process mirrors how I understand vulnerability and strength. Vulnerability is not smooth or controlled. It is layered, unpredictable, and sometimes uncomfortable. Strength, in my work, is not the absence of that fragility, but the ability to hold it together over time.
Transformation happens in that tension. A material that was once discarded begins to carry meaning. In the same way, the figures I paint hold emotional weight that is not always visible at first glance, but becomes present through the surface.

Carmela Loiacono – Your use of blue skin tones removes conventional markers of race and nationality, emphasizing a shared human experience. How do you approach the balance between individuality and universality in your portraits, especially in relation to the neurodiverse patterns that inspire your creative process?
El-ham Tabsoba – Using blue allows me to step away from fixed ideas of identity. It removes immediate assumptions about race or nationality, which creates space for a more open emotional reading of the work.
At the same time, each figure still carries something very personal. I think of them as individuals first, but individuals that exist within shared emotional experiences. The balance comes from allowing specific gestures, expressions, and body language to remain intact, while the colour shifts how we interpret them.
The patterns and structures in my work are influenced by how I perceive complexity and repetition. They are not meant to define the figure, but to exist alongside it, almost like an internal rhythm. This is where individuality and universality meet, in something that feels both deeply personal and widely relatable.

Carmela Loiacono – Environmental consciousness and sustainability are central to your practice, as you repurpose discarded plastic into meaningful textures. How does this dialogue with materials mirror the themes of resilience and renewal that run through your work?
El-ham Tabsoba – Working with discarded plastic is both a practical and conceptual decision. I collect these materials from everyday environments, places where they are often overlooked or treated as waste.
By bringing them into the work, I am not trying to hide their origin. Instead, I want them to remain visible, to carry their history into the painting. This act of repurposing mirrors the themes of resilience and renewal that run through my work.
Just as the material is given a second life, the figures I paint often exist in a space of becoming. They are not fixed. They are layered, evolving, and shaped by what they carry. The material and the subject begin to reflect each other.

Carmela Loiacono – Looking forward, how do you envision expanding your exploration of identity, memory, and texture in future projects? Are there new mediums, techniques, or concepts you are eager to experiment with?
El-ham Tabsoba – Moving forward, I am interested in expanding the relationship between material and space. I want to explore how these textures can move beyond the canvas, possibly into more immersive or sculptural forms.
I am also curious about deepening the idea of memory within the work, how surfaces can hold traces of time, not just visually but physically. This may involve experimenting with new materials or combining different techniques while still staying rooted in painting.
At the core, I want to continue exploring how identity is shaped, not as something fixed, but as something layered, shifting, and continuously unfolding.

INTERVIEW with Utaellamarie Peter
Carmela Loiacono talks with Utaellamarie Peter who took part in the International Art Exhibition NEW HORIZONS – Authenticity, Resilience and Renewal in Matera, at Casa Cava, from March 21 to 27, 2026.

Carmela Loiacono – Your work “Rolling up that hill” reinterprets the iconic image of Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, introducing a contemporary element such as the electric scooter. How did this combination of Romantic contemplation and technological acceleration come about, and what reflection on resilience did you aim to convey through it?
Utaellamarie Peter – Everything – fast – with no effort: this image symbolises human entitlement in an age of acceleration and self-optimisation. It highlights the contradiction between the search for meaning, self-reflection and tranquillity on the one hand, and constant acceleration, supposed improvement and the inevitable superficiality that results from it on the other. The e-scooter represents technology that spares us effort whilst increasing our speed. The search for meaning and inner peace whilst gazing over the mountain peaks cannot – absurdly enough – be achieved quickly enough.

Carmela Loiacono – In your work, there is often a delicate balance between humor and introspection. How does your background in chemical engineering and environmental protection influence the way you observe landscapes, humans, and technology in your paintings? 
Utaellamarie Peter – I am a rational person with a scientific mindset. My professional engagement with the environment, ecology and climate change has not created my awareness of the consequences of humanity’s appropriation of planet Earth, but has reinforced it without disregarding my own contribution.. I like to translate my close observation of current events – of human greed for faster, higher, further, regardless of the cost – into my figurative, surreal paintings in best case combined with humour and my own characteristic ironic perspective – anything else would be too devastating.

Carmela Loiacono — The horizon in “Rolling up that hill” becomes a metaphor for possibility, choice, and renewal. How do you interpret the concept of personal and creative rebirth, and how do you think viewers can reconnect with their own inner perspective when facing your work?
Utaellamarie Peter – The only hope that, in my view, is expressed in the painting is that the e-scooter is leaning unused against the rock. Perhaps it will remain there permanently? Perhaps, as he looks out over the mountains, the hiker is reminded of Seneca’s ‘Per aspera ad astra’? That would be fine.

Carmela Loiacono – Looking to the future, what artistic projects or explorations interest you most? Are there new elements, themes, or materials you would like to integrate into your upcoming works?
Utaellamarie Peter – I have many thematic ideas that follow the path of surrealism. A figurative Surrealism that often takes a critical look at reality without losing the sense of humor – hard enough these days. That is my current focus. Other directions, such as the abstractions in the “bunt” series or the serie “Hybride”, are in the back of my mind and will surely resurface when the opportunity arises.