Photofestival 17TH, Milan’s art photography festival, goes on in November and beyond. Photofestival’s itinerary spreads throughout the territory, covering the metropolitan area of Milan and some neighbouring Lombardy provinces. In its previous 16 editions, Photofestival gave life to 1650 exhibitions by 1600 Italian and international authors and involved 707 different exhibition spaces. It managed to engage photographers and visitors offering the opportunity for outreach and communication on photography and visual culture.
The theme for Photofestival 2022, with its 153 exhibitions, is New Beginnings from Images. Investigations into Reality and the Inner Gaze, which invites people to think about the crucial role of photography in our lives and to explore the complex reality that surrounds us. “Indeed, images can project us into a new dimension of which we had perhaps forgotten the importance: that of the creative will that gives meaning to life. In other words, normality”, as Roberto Mutti, director of the festival, says.
Several projects are on show until January. Among them, there is On which shore is happiness? Modernity and nostalgia in Tiziano Terzani’s Asia. On show there are the photographic works of the journalist and writer Tiziano Terzani accompanied by his words. Curated by Nicole Pecoitz, it’s on at Oxy.gen, a special location with futuristic architectural lines floating in the middle of a pond, in Bresso. The exhibition conveys both the legacy of one of the keenest observers of our time and a message to humanity: if we do not want to succumb to a materialistic future, we must look within ourselves. In 1993, Tiziano Terzani, who used to be a correspondent for Der Spiegel in Bangkok, decided to hearken to a prophecy he received in Hong Kong in 1976. He then began that very journey “without wings”, which was then transferred in his book A Fortune-Teller Told Me. It was a warning not to fly for a year that turned into a precious opportunity. Travelling once again brought with it the sense of expectation (as was the case at the beginning of the 20th century): frontiers, slow ships, trains and meetings with soothsayers, astrologers and meditators not to discover one’s future, but to keep alive an endangered past. At the heart of Terzani’s narrative (as a photographer, writer and observer) there is a contradiction: on the one hand the celebration of the beauty of a still ancient continent, Asia, and on the other the lament and nostalgia for its dissolution in the rush towards westernisation. The exhibition, made possible thanks to Angela Terzani Staude, Tiiziano’s wife, has the aim to bring out the images by Terzani conserved at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venezia and, for the first time, shown as an exhibition.
To know the complete calendar of the Photofestival, you can browse www.milanophotofestival.it.
Anyway, among the many exhibitions, we mention a few. Like The Memory Keeper by Nicolò Quirico (it is on in Malgrate, near Lecco). It’s based on research that focuses on memory and history. The photo shoot, disassembled and reassembled, is printed on a collage of vintage book sheets. The basilar elements of this work are the city and its architectural volumes, and the books, whose text make up the texture, telling the tale of the events of the past.
50 Years of Reportage, by Nino Leto is on at FCF Gallery in Milan. Leto, who is an attentive witness to world events, since 1979 has been photographing the hottest crises and war fronts. His images bear witness to different cultures, forcing thought to abandon certainty.
Palazzo Castiglioni in Milan, hosts Exhibiting Beauty. As photography enhances what usually remains most hidden at first glance, three professionals Loredana Celano, Nicola Galli, Roberto Rognoni, interpreted the architectural spaces and the historic collection of MUMAC, Museo della Macchina per Caffè (Gruppo Cimbali), emphasizing the history, style and design.
And, those who want to explore the wonders of the underwater environment, can visit The Wonders of the Underwater World by Lorenzo Terraneo at the Spazio Andrea Dall’Olio, in Milano.
Promoted by AIF – Associazione Italiana Foto & Digital Imaging, Photofestival is organized under the Patronage of the Municipality of Milan and the Lombardy Region and in collaboration with Confcommercio Milano.
Paola Sammartano
Photofestival 17th
From September 14, 2022, to January 31, 2023
Milan and its hinterland
Italy
www.milanophotofestival.it
