Rebecca Moccia, 'Nostalgism'

Rebecca Moccia’s Nostalgism is a new multidisciplinary project exploring nostalgia as a characteristic of contemporary anxiety, and its instrumentalisation through neoliberal socio-economic systems. This research continues from Moccia’s long-term work, Ministry of Loneliness, which similarly investigates the political context of psychological and emotional states of being. The origins of nostalgia mirror the emergence of Western modernisation and the onset of the Industrial Revolution. Its connection to feelings of homesickness began to also represent a longing across physical and temporal spaces for those separated from their homelands through migration, labour and military service. Setting aside sentimentality, Moccia exposes how nostalgia is exploited to govern and direct emotions by evoking an idealised past and driving nationalistic and ideological interests.

Rebecca Moccia’s recent exhibitions include Panorama, Pozzuoli (2025); Italian Pavilion, 15th Gwangju Biennale (2024); Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon (2024); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene (2023); Mazzoleni, Turin (2023); ICA Milano (2023); Jupiter Woods, London (2022). Rebecca Moccia is an inaugural PhD Researcher in Visual Arts and Creative Practices at Naples Academy of Fine Arts, and Co-founder of Art Workers Italia.

This exhibition is in partnership with Careof, Milan. Moccia’s new moving image work is produced by Careof, in collaboration with Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Collezione Agovino, WHITESPACE Projects Napoli, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Dublin.

Rebecca Moccia's exhibition Nostalgism takes place at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios 15 May -28 June 2026.