Ministry of Loneliness

Building on an exploration of the Ministry of Loneliness – established in 2018 in the United Kingdom and replicated in 2021 in other countries such as Canada and Japan – Ministry of Loneliness develops a reflection on the political and social structures shaping the emotional state of loneliness and its perception in contemporary neoliberal society.

The work stems from extensive research carried out in different contexts, including Italy, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom developed through various residencies, workshop and situated experiences supported by international art institutions and universities. It resulted in a series of interrelated works, which can be presented autonomously or as clusters within site-specific displays.

Among the project's body of work:
A multi-channel non-fiction film (Ministries of Loneliness) which juxtaposes different materials collected during the research, from parliamentary archives to scientific and narrative literature, from direct and indirect experiences and testimonies, including an original soundscape by the composer Renato Grieco; A series of thermal portraits printed on cotton paper and mounted on aluminium (Cold As You Are) providing an emotional reportage of places, bodies, and situations encountered during the research; 130 ceramic works (Loneliness Scales) that materialise and monumentalise the Loneliness Scale, a scale developed by the University of California in 1978 to assess the level of loneliness of a given subject and which is still used by governments today, employed as a critical tool for public workshops held during the research.

A first presentation of the project took place at ICA Milan in 2023. It took the form of a transmedial installation in an environment inspired by the Japanese government's Office of Policies on Loneliness and Isolation. A second and more extensive exhibition of the work was realised for the Italian Pavilion at the 15th Gwangju Biennale. Several publications including a book and a vinyl record have been produced in relation to the project.

Loneliness Scales, Decal and graphite on ceramic. 30 × 33 × 1,5 cm each. 2023-2024

Installation view at ICA Milano, 2023. Courtesy the artist and Fondazione ICA Milano. Photo credits Diego Mayon

Ministries of Loneliness, Stills from the screening version of the video, 2023

Ministries of Loneliness, Monochannel screening. Fondazione Prada, Cinema Godard Milan, 2023. Photo credits T-Space

Installation views of Ministry of Loneliness: Premise, Jupiter Woods, London, 2022. Photo credits Todd&White

Ministry of Loneliness's research board on the Jupiter Wood online platform [Link]

The Ministry of Loneliness project was supported by the Italian Council (2021), Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity, Italian Ministry of Culture and Outset Partners, Jupiter Woods, Magazzino Italian Art, Institute for Social Ethics and the Institute for Religion and Culture at Nanzan University, Italian Embassy in Tokyo, ICA Milano, IIC Seoul and Seoul Institute of the Arts. 
The film Ministries of Loneliness is co-produced by Careof in the context of the 10th edition of ArteVisione award. The exhibition display at ICA Milano was realised in collaboration with Studio GISTO.