An art project by Barbara Sbrocca
Baci Sospesi
Baci Sospesi (Suspended Kisses) brings together those who can still feel. It invites us to recognise one another, come together. And act.
An international participatory art project created by Barbara Sbrocca, Baci Sospesi gives voice and form to empathy. Audio portraits, big red installations, handwritten messages and creative labs invite people to slow down, reach out, and recognise one another as equals.
Why Baci Sospesi exists
When a person is easily seen as a threat, a number, or collateral damage, we all are in danger. Our life becomes easier to dismiss.
Baci Sospesi creates time and space to listen, to care, to share feelings, thoughts, hopes and stories. It invites us to make ourselves visible, to recognise one another and come together under the same symbol of humanity and kindness: the red kisses of Baci Sospesi.
How you enter the project
Listen to a voice
Thirty-five people from different cultures, backgrounds and countries have entrusted Barbara with their stories of love and separation. Their anonymous audio portraits are freely available in Italian, English and Spanish. No faces, no names. A voice to listen to, a person to encounter.
Leave a message for a stranger
Beside moving water, in freely accessible places, the big red installations invite you to leave a message and take one. A phrase, a drawing, a poem. Something of yourself for someone you may never meet.
Send a bacio into the world
You can leave your message here too. A few words can travel far. Someone somewhere may read them and feel a little less alone.
What has already taken shape
The project began with voices and grew into installations in Passoscuro, Pioraco and Leiria, encounters in the UK, and Sprouting Labs in Leiria and Berlin. Each place brings new people, skills and possibilities into the project.
There are many ways to take part
There are no corporations behind Baci Sospesi. Just Barbara, its creator, and the people who have supported it along the way.
You can bring your ideas, skills, time or resources. Financial contributions help create new audio portraits, installations, labs and public encounters, and keep them freely accessible.
United hearts, under one flag
Our manifesto sets out what we stand for. The red kisses on our flag make us visible.
Let’s remind ourselves that we are not alone. In fact, we are the majority! Together, we can help build a culture in which care, empathy and belonging become the norm. And having a good heart is appreciated, not ridiculed.
Help bring Baci Sospesi to a new place
A museum, a school, a festival, a municipality, a community. Could you help bring an installation, a Lab or a public encounter to your part of the world?
Write to Barbara. Let’s spread some kindness. Together.