Publishing and Landscape: Contemporary Photography as Research #3: Atlas of the Po Valley Classics
27.10.2021, 6:00 pm
The Benetton Foundation, in collaboration with Lab27, presents a first cycle of three public talks, curated by Steve Bisson and Patrizia Boschiero, dedicated to exploring the possible dialogue between landscape and contemporary photography.
At the heart of the discussion are three editorial case studies that have examined, through distinct methodologies and styles, the territories, histories, and visions of Northern Italy. These landscapes are sometimes marked by contradictions and environmental degradation, yet they are also rich with potential for creative actions connected to observation and its reception.
On Wednesday, October 27 at 6:00 PM, Atlante dei Classici Padani (Atlas of the Po Valley Classics, Krisis Publishing, 2015) will be presented. As the most extensive project within which it is included—Padania Classics—this book offers a geographical and existential journey into what we have become, a photographic and editorial survey supported by performative actions, conceived by the artist Filippo Minelli.
Born in 2010 and initially circulated online via Tumblr and Facebook, and later through the website padaniaclassics.com, the project redefines the narrative and perception of a conflict-laden geographical area. Here, the boundaries that politics attempts to draw also become existential limits—of belonging or rejection—while thousands of images of Northern Italy offer a historical vision of the years of the economic boom, which arguably came to an end with the 2008 crisis.
Starting from the idea that we are the landscape, the project catalogs all the “classics” forming the daily visual horizon, deliberately excluding natural scenery, historic buildings, and post-war residential architecture up to the 1970s, in order to showcase exclusively the contemporary landscape, characterized by a mix of residential, productive, commercial, and recreational elements. The images are part of a continuously updated archive and were all shot from a height of 3.20 meters to simulate the detached perspective of Google cars, which map the territory in a brutally impersonal manner.
Publishing and Landscape: Contemporary Photography as Research #3: Atlas of the Po Valley Classics
27.10.2021, 6:00 pm
The Benetton Foundation, in collaboration with Lab27, presents a first cycle of three public talks, curated by Steve Bisson and Patrizia Boschiero, dedicated to exploring the possible dialogue between landscape and contemporary photography.
At the heart of the discussion are three editorial case studies that have examined, through distinct methodologies and styles, the territories, histories, and visions of Northern Italy. These landscapes are sometimes marked by contradictions and environmental degradation, yet they are also rich with potential for creative actions connected to observation and its reception.
On Wednesday, October 27 at 6:00 PM, Atlante dei Classici Padani (Atlas of the Po Valley Classics, Krisis Publishing, 2015) will be presented. As the most extensive project within which it is included—Padania Classics—this book offers a geographical and existential journey into what we have become, a photographic and editorial survey supported by performative actions, conceived by the artist Filippo Minelli.
Born in 2010 and initially circulated online via Tumblr and Facebook, and later through the website padaniaclassics.com, the project redefines the narrative and perception of a conflict-laden geographical area. Here, the boundaries that politics attempts to draw also become existential limits—of belonging or rejection—while thousands of images of Northern Italy offer a historical vision of the years of the economic boom, which arguably came to an end with the 2008 crisis.
Starting from the idea that we are the landscape, the project catalogs all the “classics” forming the daily visual horizon, deliberately excluding natural scenery, historic buildings, and post-war residential architecture up to the 1970s, in order to showcase exclusively the contemporary landscape, characterized by a mix of residential, productive, commercial, and recreational elements. The images are part of a continuously updated archive and were all shot from a height of 3.20 meters to simulate the detached perspective of Google cars, which map the territory in a brutally impersonal manner.
