Masbedo: our cinema, a visual novel

I.B.: Literature encompasses both the aphorism - which by analogy can be the quest proper to video art - and the novel. 'Arsa' is a novel. Literary language is an education.

N.M.: We have worked with Michel Houellebecq for five years, with Aldo Nove, Walter Siti. We come from a type of school where the narrative is already inside the image. We will continue 'making aphorisms', but in the meantime we are writing our third feature film.

The Masbedo's cinema as a new form. How much of this form is relation?

I.B.: We have always sought a relationship with the spectator. The spectator is a true pollinator, he is the one who, when faced with art, cinema, theatre, knows how to create those bridges that critics sometimes have difficulty building. This ability to pollinate is superior to that of those who produce content. The worlds of cinema, art, theatre, are very closed, it is very rare that they dialogue with each other. We put ourselves out of our comfort zone to measure ourselves against other worlds. Those who do so often pay a price, because these passages are anything but automatic. The spectator, on the other hand, has the freedom to do so.

N.M.: That of the spectator is a political and poetic action. "Arsa" is an imperfect film, which asks a lot of him: art, unlike cinema, needs error. The viewer here is in charge of the 'second montage', a journey into free associations. He has a great subjective responsibility, and the nourishment he derives from the film allows him to be a subject in the matter, not a passive user. One thinks of Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman (in 2007, with "July 30", the Masbedo pay homage to the two directors, who died on the same day, ndr): cinema is not a pastime, even if today it is increasingly seen as a linear product, which must be clear, with a script that leads from A to Z. It lacks the mystery of another kind of cinema, the anti-cinema.

Who, among the artists present at the 82. Venice International Film Festival (and others) in particular do you appreciate? .

I.B. and N.M.: Definitely Julian Schnabel (present at the Cinema exhibition with 'In the Hand of Dante', ndr), Laura Poitras ('Cover-up'; already Golden Lion in 2022 with 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed', ndr). And then Julian Rosenfeldt. In general we love artists who step out of their comfort zone, who experiment with new languages. Our nature is to bring our language not only into a specific space. Until a few years ago, if - as an artist - you set out to make films, you were sold out, you had lapsed into commercialism. Our strength will be to maintain this double track.

Masbedo's plans for the coming months, for next year?

I.B. and N.M.: We are now working on a project that will be exhibited by gres art 671 in Bergamo, in November; then it will be the turn of an installation in Gibellina - Italian Capital of Contemporary Art for 2026 - in dialogue with Adrian Paci. We will then make a major intervention at the Church of San Carlo in Cremona. We are also working on another top secret project, as well as the next film, which will have something in common with 'Arsa'. Which, for its part, has not yet finished its journey: it is in fact also present at the Anacapri Landscape Festival (from 7 September to 3 November 2025: here the Masbedo were winners of the first edition of the Jumeirah Capri Palace Prize, Travelogue section, ndr), before starting its international distribution.

What is the state of video art in Italy?

I.B. and N.M.: We are on the edge of the empire, but we fight: there are artists who have built their own territory. On this occasion we prefer not to name names, but we appreciate them very much.