DIS/CONNECTIONS – Always Online. Never Really Close.

DIS/CONNECTIONS is a contemporary group art exhibition that explores one of the most significant contradictions of our time: we are always connected, always reachable, always present online—but are we truly close to one another?

We live immersed in smartphones, social networks, notifications, and digital communication. We can talk to anyone, at any time and across any distance, yet we often struggle to truly meet, listen to one another, and build authentic relationships.

The exhibition invites artists to explore the subtle boundary between connection and isolation, presence and absence, real identity and digital identity.

Through different artistic languages, the artworks may explore:

• Loneliness in the digital age: being surrounded by contacts yet feeling alone.

• Online identity: the image we present to the world and who we really are.

• The body and technology: how digital tools transform our perception of ourselves and others.

• Contemporary relationships: connections that begin, develop, or end through a screen.

• Reality and the virtual world: the increasingly blurred boundary between what we experience and what we show.

• The connected city: spaces filled with people who, despite their physical proximity, may remain emotionally distant.

The title DIS/CONNECTIONS captures this very paradox: connection can bring us closer, but it can also create new distances. The prefix dis- suggests a fracture, an interruption, a separation; at the same time, the word evokes the possibility of rediscovering an authentic bond beyond the screen.

Art thus becomes a space for reflection and dialogue, capable of raising questions without necessarily providing answers.

The question at the heart of the exhibition is simple, yet relevant: are we truly connected, or are we simply always online?

With DIS/CONNECTIONS, Galleria Il Leone aims to invite the public to pause, observe, and reflect on how technology influences our lives, our emotions, and our relationships.

Because in a world where everyone can reach us, perhaps the real challenge is learning how to feel truly close to someone.