September: best time to visit the Cortona On The Move international festival and to experience the sense of the visual narrative telling stories that are part of the event, Cortona has been known as a documentary photo festival for a decade, but just recently renewed its commitment, focusing on a broader variety of visual narratives telling stories of our world. “A world that in 2020 has to deal with new stories, new approaches, a new normal”, the festival organizers underline.
In March, Cortona On The Move decided to react to the situation caused by the COVID-19, and, in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo, festival’s main partner, gave rise to an ongoing permanent archive on the coronavirus pandemic: The COVID-19 Visual Project. A Time of Distance (covid19visualproject.org) as a collective historical testimony on the pandemic. “We were, suddenly, confronted with a New World….or at least an attempt to undertake and understand a possible New World Order. What we did understand, was this moment was quite unique in history, and we immediately felt the urgency to witness, record events and emotions in order to create a collective historical memory of it”, Arianna Rinaldo, the artistic director of the international festival says.
A selection of the Visual Project works, together with images from the open calls and archives of Esa – European Space Agency, are on stage in physical venues in Cortona. Among them, the works by Andrea Frazzetta, Alex Majoli, Simon Norfolk, Gideon Mende, Nanna Heitmann, Paolo Woods & Gabriele Galimberti, Luján Agusti & Nicolás Deluca, Edoardo Delille, Luis Cobelo, Daniel Etter, Daniele Ratti, Mattia Crocetti, Mattia Balsamini, Gaia Squarci, Michele Spatari, Serena Vittorini, Silvia Bigi, Mo Scarpelli, and Davide Bertuccio. The collaboration with ESA, European Space Agency, brings for the first time to the festival a particular visual language, that of the technology used in satellites. Franco Ongaro, head of Esa Estec says: “This exhibition shows our vision from space of the life on Earth and of the deep space. It’s a showcase of the beauty of the Universe, and even a useful tool“.
“The festival is in tune with Intesa Sanpaolo’s Progetto Cultura, which focuses more and more attention on photography and the world of images, to which the fourth venue of our Gallerie d’Italia in Turin will be dedicated”, Michele Coppola, executive director of Art, Culture and Historical Heritage at Intesa Sanpaolo, adds. “The year 2020 will leave an indelible mark on modern history and, once again, images will tell the next generation about the extraordinary moment we are living” Massimiliano Ceravolo, Professional Imaging & Marketing Director, Imaging Technology & Communication Group of Canon Italia, says. According to Gabriele Gori, general director of Fondazione CR Firenze, only rarely “visual narration has taken on such an important historical memory function”.
Some of the photographic proposals on show at Cortona On The Move 2020 were part of the Cortona Visual Narratives Scholarship project, which pertains to the activities network organized by the twinning project between both the Municipalities of Cortona and Reggio Emilia.
Cortona on the Move 2020 is organized and supported by the Cultural Association ONTHEMOVE, the Municipality of Cortona, the Region of Tuscany and the Fondazione CR Firenze.
The events, workshops and meetings with photographers are scheduled from 25 to 26 September 2020.
Paola Sammartano
Paola Sammartano is a journalist, specialized in arts and photography, based in Milan
Cortona On The Move 2020
July 11 until September 27, 2020
52044 Cortona (AR)
