GEOGRAFIE PRIVATE

“In the long-standing analogy between body and city, the former has typically served as a model for interpreting and designing the latter, seen as an “organism” or an “extension” of humans. Within this analogy, the human body represents itself as an individual within a web of social relations and spaces.

 

David Capuano, supported by the sound design of F. Is for Fuzz, reverses this perspective in a video work that imagines the interior of the human body through the lens of a city.
The body is seen as a space of identity, a “private geography” of relationships, processes, and functions, with its own economy and governance. It is a place of political choices, power dynamics, movements, and pauses—an instrument for measuring time. Just as cities change, so do bodies, which bear the marks of life passing.

Capuano focuses on two individuals undergoing gender transition—a radical change that mirrors the continuous transformations in bodies and cities. The work blurs the poetic and technical, using macro lenses, contact microphones, and digital textures to analyze and scan bodies, similar to architectural and urban mapping.

The analogy between body and city is evident in the formal aspects: sounds reminiscent of urban noise, veins as streets, skin as terrain. Like urban paths offering incomplete views, the exploration of these bodies provides fleeting sensations and abstract forms, reflecting the deep, vertiginous nature of change.”

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​Kevin McManus, Art Critic

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RESEARCH
In our research, we delve into the profound analogy between the body and the city. The city, without human presence, remains inert, like a static museum. It is only through individuals—each a fragment of a larger whole—that the city becomes vibrant and alive, transforming into a dynamic organism.

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These individuals, with their stories, passions, and actions, define the spirit and essence of the city. Every day, as we immerse ourselves in this shifting landscape, we witness a place that lives and breathes, constantly evolving.

But just as we inhabit the streets and squares of the city, we also inhabit our bodies. Our bodies, much like a city in miniature, are microcosms of constant activity and transformation. The network of cells and tissues mirrors the intricate web of urban streets, keeping us in perpetual motion, a cycle of continuous change and evolution. The arteries of our being function as highways through which our emotions, desires, and sensations flow. In this way, the city of our solitude becomes a collective, vibrant space when we are in the presence of others.

We, as inhabitants of both urban and corporeal worlds, witness the flow of time and destinies, aware that we are both spectators and creators in this eternal process of transformation. Our aim is to shape and understand the city we inhabit, whether it is made of brick or flesh, right down to the final transformation of matter and form.

To achieve this, we have chosen to collaborate with two individuals undergoing significant gender
transitions, using their journeys as a way to explore the body as a site of “mutation” and earthly transition.

Our exploration goes beyond the superficial definition of gender change, venturing into a deeper and broader investigation of the body and identity as ever-evolving terrains. We aim to move beyond the purely biological aspect of gender transition to view the body as a constantly shifting landscape, a site of exploration and transformation. This project seeks to break stereotypes and expand our understanding of the human body and identity.