Sophie Biass-Fabiani: In the comments you have been able to make about your work, you say that sometimes you are on the verge of voyeurism and that at the same time you seek a certain objectivity. But when we discuss with you, you are often quite critical of the habit people have to go to the beach.
Massimo Vitali: I am critical when I am not on my seven-meter-high scaffolding. When I am among people, this changes […] Voyeurism is normal, when we manage to see people’s lives, we can’t stop thinking, trying to understand what they’re doing and what they’re thinking. Indeed, what I’d like to do is to follow each of those people on the beach back to their homes, ask them questions, look in the fridge to see what they eat, see what they read, what kind of house they have, what kind of car, what they tell their children. Since I can’t do that –maybe one day I could, but I haven’t managed to do it yet– I imagine what they’re saying, thinking, what they have left at home, whether the woman who is with them is their wife or not, I think of little stories.People who look at my pictures should follow a path. And everything I do from a technical point of view is aimed at giving the viewer possibility to follow a narrative. Nothing has already been established, everyone can follow his own path, either good or bad, be interested in certain small details, a color, a facial expression, a small tear that has yet to fall […] There’s nothing spectacular, it’s an absolutely normal beach where nothing happens, although looking closely there’s always something happening. It’s always interesting. I had some friends who got on the stand and watched through the lens. In the camera, the image appears upside down, and after this little visual shock, they stayed maybe fifteen to twenty minutes watching and said: “But it’s better than television!” Of course, that’s life, and life is always better than television!
