Matteo Campulla
Italian video artist
biography
Interview – 10 questions
29 June 2022
1. Tell me something about your life and the educational background
In order to tell you about myself I can tell you what I am now: I have just turned forty, I live in Milan and work mainly with videos. I have an artistic background, I attended the degree course in Electronic Music and New Technologies at the Music Conservatory of Cagliari and I trained as a television production technician in a Sardinian television where I worked for about ten years.
2. When, how and why started you filming?
I think it was the advent of digital editing that gave me the opportunity to start working with video. Only the idea would have been unthinkable when I was very young and without money. The language of television has always fascinated me, working on it has taught me a lot and given me the opportunity to confront myself and open up to different worlds and people. This gave me a totally different view of the reality.
3.What kind of subjects have your videos/films?
My works are an extension of my thinking, they allow you to see reality with my eyes. Video is made to fulfill our desire, it’s a smart consumer product – if the creator know what to do. It’s political, it’s taking a stand: whoever denies all this is only complacent to the established power. Be brave.
4. How do you develop your videos/films, do you follow certain principles, styles etc?
I read and write a lot before I start working on a new project. Then I read even more, study again and rewrite everything if needed. After all this I prepare the set, do the shooting, compose the music and sound and then edit all by myself. In the process of writing sometimes I compose the music too, everything can vary depending on the project.
5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.
Anything that can create a moving image and anything that can change it, no matter what I use. Be free.
6. What are the chances of new media for the genre videos/films in general and you personally?
I think that this hybridization between reality and virtual can give us a lot and the video will be more and more a cornerstone, even if it will change the function of the viewer. No longer just a spectator but also a co-author of an experience.
7. How do you finance your films?
Most usually by myself
8. Do you work individually as a video artist/film maker or do you work in a team? if you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
Now I work alone in every aspect of production. In the past I have collaborated with other artists and indeed, I find it very stimulating. There will probably be future collaborations, at the moment I am focused on a new work that I am developing on my own.
9. Who or what has a lasting influence on your film/video making?
On an aesthetic level I’m omnivorous and compulsive, I look at everything and I like to understand how it’s made. I am always studying. On a philosophical level I’m influenced by contemporary culture, music, death and everything that exist or not.
10. What are your future plans or dreams as a film/video maker?
To develop an increasingly complex language and to give something to others. To be free and to make others free. Am I asking too much?