Marinella Senatore on Community and Participation During COVID-19

In an interview with Artribune, Italian artist Marinella Senatore reflects on how the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have reshaped her participatory practice. She draws parallels between the empty streets of quarantine and her 2018 performance "Palermo Procession" for Manifesta 12, where citizens leaned from balconies to watch a parade. Senatore argues that the crisis confirms her long-held belief that people need community. She is reactivating pre-existing digital platforms—Estman Radio (a web radio created in 2011) and the School of Narrative Dance online (a 2018 project sponsored by Oviesse and commissioned by the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation in Venice)—rather than creating new digital surrogates. She is also developing a participatory sound archive for the Biennale in Brazil. Senatore criticizes the art world for ignoring popular audiences and warns that if the system returns to business as usual after the pandemic, art will lose its relevance. She calls for sustained support for artists as workers.