The Fondazione MAST is presenting the works of the five finalists in the MAST photography competition on industry and work 2025 from 30 January 2025. The 8th edition of this photography competition, curated by Urs Stahel, features the following works: Felicity Hammond, Gosette Lubondo, Silvia Rosi, Sheida Soleimani and Kai Wasikowski. The exhibition in the MAST photo gallery will remain open until 4 May 2025 and admission is free.
The five finalists were selected from among 42 candidates aged under 35 from all over the world, each of whom developed an original and original project for the Fondazione MAST on the themes of industry and work. The jury, made up of Isabella Seràgnoli, François Hébel, Milo Keller, Michael Mack, Simon Njami, Alona Pardo, Giovanna Silva, Urs Stahel and Francesco Zanot, announced the winner of this year’s competition today, 29 January, at the opening press conference.
Urs Stahel explains: ‘The classic themes of industrialisation and industrial photography are factories, workers, machines, furnaces, the pouring of steel, assembly line work, and much more besides. Yet […] industrialisation is highly complex and goes much further, much deeper. It has become a new society, a new way of life, a new state of mind: a system that encompasses the whole of human existence.
Sheida Soleimani (Providence, Rhode Island, 1990): Flyways. Soleimani’s project seeks to identify different escape routes from a world that she believes is increasingly dominated by the destruction of all forms of life, human and otherwise. The images presented by the artist speak to us on two levels: the stories of the women driving the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ protest movement in Iran, and the plight of migratory birds injured in collisions with man-made buildings and structures.
Felicity Hammond (Birmingham, UK, 1988): Autonomous Body. Here the artist seeks to establish new links between the past and future of car production. The images created by Hammond explore and contrast current production processes, which are still dependent on nineteenth-century mining and industrialisation, with the latest advances in autonomous driving, which make cars increasingly independent of their drivers.
Gosette Lubondo (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 1993): Voyage imaginaire III. Through a series of photographs of the colonial industries of Lukula, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the artist delves deeper into the history and collective memory of her country. Mainly specialised in timber production, these sites were the nerve centres of the local economy.
Silvia Rosi (Scandiano, Italy, 1992): Kɔdi. The title of this series refers to the Togolese word for ‘code’. The work presented by Rosi comprises a series of portraits and self-portraits inspired by the stories of the ‘Nana Benz’: powerful women from Lomé, Togo, who controlled the trade in wax-printed fabrics and played an important role in winning independence from the colonial powers.
Kai Wasikowski (Gadigal Land / Sydney, Australia, 1992): Bees and the ledger. Wasikowski’s work explores how, for a variety of reasons, migration often leads to the dissipation of professionalism: professional experience accumulated in the country of origin is not recognised in the new country, resulting in a direct loss. This research begins with her grandmother, who immigrated to Australia from Poland in the 1970s.
30 January – 4 May 2025
Fondazione MAST
Via Speranza, 42, Bologna
Information
Fondazione MAST
Via Speranza, 42, Bologne
January 30, 2025 to May 04, 2025
