Matteo Nasini on Sound Art, Dreams, and the Milky Way

Matteo Nasini (Rome, 1976) discusses his artistic practice spanning sound, science, and technology in an interview tied to the third edition of Visioni Diacroniche, a series organized by Fondazione Riccardo Catella with BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano and Volvo Studio Milano, curated by Francesca Colombo and Ilaria Bonacossa. Nasini, a sound artist with a classical music background, explores the origins of sound through projects like Splendore neolitico, which uses 3D scans to reconstruct ancient instruments from fossil bones. His work Sparkling Matter investigates consciousness and dreams: he records people's dreams and performs Sleeping Concerts, where a sleeping person's brain activity is transformed into real-time sound via EEG, with REM phases generating 3D-printed porcelain forms. Another project, Welcome Wanderer, uses the ESA's Gaia DR2 star catalog (4.5 billion stars) to translate star motion into sound: a software recognizes stars overhead and triggers vocal samples based on distance, size, and heat, creating an ephemeral composition. Nasini reflects on the role of the artist today, suggesting art can be an experimental ground exploring alternative dynamics, and notes that in his performances, the sleeper or the star becomes the performer, diffusing authorship.