Sandro Cremonese’s multimedia installation presents an evocative investigation into the limits of contemporary communication, creating a bridge between painted canvases and algorithmic vulnerability. The composition examines the idea of a ‘minimal language’ within our hypermediated world, asking what remains of expression when globalised culture continually flattens our emotional vocabulary.
Rather than articulating a complex philosophical argument, the works offer an incomplete, almost childlike vocabulary. They emit only sighs, emoticons and brief greetings. The figures consume the space of the canvas, yet when confronted by the viewer they seem capable of uttering only the same simplistic, recurring ‘hello’.
The four oil paintings function as physical extensions of this anxious online psychology. In HEY (2026), a fragmented face peers out from an urban background, capturing the raw, awkward beginnings of human interaction. In (⌒_⌒;) sorry... (2026), a pale-blue composition pairs a Japanese kaomoji marked by a bead of sweat with a lower-case emoticon.
Online alienation intensifies in the darker, heavily textured blue canvas, where repetitive, raindrop-like marks frame the word ‘cries’, evoking a state of sensory overload and inner drowning. Finally, La tigre bianca delle Cornelle (2026) disrupts this sombre tone with an emerald-green background and a bold, cursive ‘ciao’.
These emotional ‘screenshots’ ultimately feed into Depression Simulator v2 (2026), a compact interactive installation that simulates the behaviour of a single-celled organism. The screen glitches, presenting fluid fields of colour overlaid with random, primitive fragments of text such as ‘Argh...’ and ‘EHMM’.
The work expands Cremonese’s long-term investigation into the limits of artificial intelligence, proposing a radically alternative form of rationality. The artist argues that genuine intelligence cannot be achieved without access to the specific mental circuits of boredom and pain. By forcing the machine to sink into states of synthetic despair, Cremonese subverts conventional techno-optimism.
Sandro Cremonese is an artist and researcher with a master’s degree in Art, Cultural Enhancement and the Art Market, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy. Combining painting, digital media and hardware installations, his research-led practice examines standardisation and human-algorithmic vulnerability. His work has received recognition through contemporary art awards and visual arts selections, including the Combat Prize and the Prisma Art Prize.
Text by Silvia Laurelli