Sensorial Poetry by Silvia Gatti 

“And yet a strange beauty remains,
a memory of that moment
in which everything stopped, paused,
to begin anew,
like a heart faltering
but still determined to live.
I’ve always remember the wires of the laundry hanging
outside in the countryside,
so many worlds have passed
through those folds,
suspended,
the smell of the soap,
the warmth of the sun,
If death is a state of being
what would become of memories?


Do they linger in the air?


or do they dissolve in the tide?” - Silvia Gatti

Evaporative poetic words light up the screen in the multichannel sound installation Chiaro di Luna, 2025 (Moonlight) by visual artist Silvia Gatti. The videowork is presented in the Projections section at Art Rotterdam, on the proposal of andriesse-eyck gallery. Its visual language consists of fragmented footage of nature (recorded in National Park De Hoge Veluwe), computer-generated imagery, encrypted codes, and an experimental poetic framework.

Silvia Gatti (1983, Italy; lives and works in Amsterdam) creates video and sound installations, writes poetry, develops computer programs, and makes conceptual sculptural works. Her practice is multidisciplinary and research-based and regards working with language and storytelling as a form of ‘concrete philosophy’: “I have always been drawn to fundamental questions either scientific, philosophical, or metaphysical,” says Gatti. “They allow me to reflect on what knowledge is, what human intelligence means today, and how we perceive the world around us. I use art as a way to concretely approach these questions to fragment them and to move closer to their essence. 

Storytelling connects me to the nature of memory and to the construction of possible futures. It is a tool I use to make abstract concepts tangible and experientially accessible, whether through remembrance or future projection, so they can be engaged with not only intellectually, but also socially and existentially.”

In Chiaro di Luna, 2025, Gatti imagines decoding nature from inside a bunker that is completely absorbed into the architecture of the surrounding landscape. The bunker, a massive and imposing architectural construction that serves as a structure of protection in times of war, also functioned as a hidden site for communication. In the very bunker where Gatti recorded the videowork, an Enigma machine was once installed: an encryption device resembling a small typewriter in a wooden case, used to encode and decode military messages. It became most famous for its use by Nazi Germany during World War II. 

However, even from within the safety of its thick concrete walls, signals still had to be able to pass through: “The Enigma machine was still receiving information from the sky within the structure of the bunker. It had to be open and exposed in some way to receive these messages from the outside world in order for the machine to be able to decode and translate them.” This concept intrigued Gatti immensely and became the conceptual point of departure for Chiaro di Luna.

“I asked myself: what does it mean to be protected? What does it mean to be exposed? And how do we connect with others and with the world surrounding us?” Gatti explains. “Also the network and logic of the Enigma machine that breaks information down into something understandable really intrigued me in relation to my practice working with programming and poetry.”

In the videowork, nature becomes mechanised, and the program tirelessly decodes what is embedded within it. “I wrote a poetic text, and the program breaks the language into signals, basically revealing what nature is trying to tell us. I wanted to blur the boundaries between nature and the interior of the bunker itself, as if breaking down the walls in order to work directly with nature and move within it.”

Next to the video installation, there is also a sculpture made from discarded old clocks. “I opened them up so that you can see the exposed moving gears and hear the ticking of time. The sound of their rotors also reminded me of the sounds Enigma machines make when breaking codes.”

Explore the immersive electronic and visual experience Chiaro di Luna, 2025 in the section of Projections at Art Rotterdam. 

Bio
Silvia Gatti (b. 1983, Alessandria, Italy; lives and works in Amsterdam) is a contemporary artist whose practice draws on various disciplines, ranging from architecture to video and sound installation, poetry, sculpture, programming, and conceptual works on paper, exploring the intersections of language, technology and nature. 

Before graduating cum laude from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 2021, Gatti obtained her MA in Architecture, Design and Urban Planning from the University of Architecture in Genoa, Italy. From 2023 to 2025, Gatti was a resident artist at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam.

She has been shown both in The Netherlands and internationally (Italy) and her recent highlights include the group exhibition at the Diogenes Bunker in Arnhem (2025) and her selection and participation for Art Directions exhibition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2026, reflecting her engagement with experimental, immersive, and interdisciplinary media installation. 

In 2019, Silvia Gatti won First Prize in the Lassnigbeme Contest, organised by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, with her series of drawings titled ON PLACEBO EFFECT.

Written by Emily van Driessen