Veggenti (Seers). New Visual Research on the Italian Landscape

Photographs by
Mattia Balsamini, Luca Boffi, Calori&Maillard, Andrea Camiolo, Marina Caneve, Federico Clavarino, Tomaso Clavarino, Nicoletta Grillo, Jacopo Rinaldi, Caterina Erica Shanta

Curated by Matteo Balduzzi

A new generation of young photographers is invigorating the Italian visual arts scene, experimenting to redefine and transform the contours and content of Italian landscape photography. With curiosity, expertise, and a desire to use photography as a versatile tool, these artists blend it with other artistic languages and codes, such as painting, writing, video, performance, and music, creating hybrid works enriched by new technologies. This creative process has given birth to a continually evolving imagery, deeply immersed in contemporary urban landscapes and the anthropology of places and their inhabitants.

The exhibition, Seers. New Visual Research on the Italian Landscape, curated by Matteo Balduzzi, will be hosted in the prestigious spaces of the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Cinisello Balsamo, Milan, from December 15, 2024, to March 30, 2025. For the first time, over 70 photographs representing the award-winning projects (10 winners) from the open call Italy is a Desire, launched in May 2023 by the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture and Mufoco, in collaboration with the Alinari Foundation and the Scuderie del Quirinale, will be on display. These works have become part of the Mufoco collection:

•His Special Darkness by Mattia Balsamini

•Nocturnal Murmur by Luca Boffi

•Diving into Poetry by Calori & Maillard

•For a Possible Landscape by Andrea Camiolo

•Surface Deep by Marina Caneve

•Via Spaventa by Federico Clavarino

•Padanistan by Tomaso Clavarino

•Spark by Nicoletta Grillo

•Untitled by Jacopo Rinaldi

•The Starry Sky by Caterina Erica Shanta

Davide Rondoni, President of the Museum of Contemporary Photography:

“This project, strongly pursued by Mufoco, complements—more as an echo, a relaunch, a bridge—the grand exhibition conceived with the Alinari Foundation, Italy is a Desire, the most comprehensive exhibition on the Italian landscape of our time, presented at the Scuderie del Quirinale. This echo has brought surprises, unease, and visions through the works of the ten selected artists. The subject does not exhaust itself; the gaze does not falter; the landscape does not age. One of photography’s tasks is to bear witness to the paradoxical rejuvenation of the world’s most depicted landscape.”

Gabriella Guerci, Director of Mufoco:

“We are proud that the efforts of public institutions like DGCC and Mufoco, both committed to promoting contemporary photographic culture through commissions, with a particular focus on young artists and advanced visual languages, have resulted in the inclusion of these significant new works in the Museum’s collection, contributing to the enrichment and modernization of the public photographic heritage.”

Matteo Balduzzi, Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Photography:

“The expansion of photography—perhaps better termed as extension, a concept also with geographic and spatial connotations—proves capable of accommodating new and diverse forms of representation. It revitalizes and redefines, often from alternative perspectives, the idea of the landscape with a freshness that can be surprising. The heterogeneous visions and techniques presented in the exhibition explore the entire national territory, creating a multifaceted fresco that, through the categories of art—those of aesthetics, symbols, and metaphors—maintains the capacity to influence the collective imagination. It reaffirms the belief that visual representation as a medium for engaging with the world retains significant cultural weight and civil efficacy.”

The exhibition offers a captivating array of narratives and stories through images dedicated to the Italian landscape—its places, daily lives, rituals, inhabitants, towns, urban spaces, domestic work, industrial areas, migrations, and borders. These works, imbued with the subtle unease of our times, present a visual journey from the Po Valley along the SS11 highway, through Milan’s streets and the factories of Sesto San Giovanni, ascending the mountains of Varese province, moving through Veneto to the Asiago Plateau, and continuing to the banks of the Secchia River, the Madonna della Bruna festival in Matera, the cliffs of ancient Roca in Salento, and Sicily’s inland areas.

Innovatively crafted images, photographs, and videos showcase the vibrancy and diversity of visual languages employed by young photographers immersed in contemporary life. These works offer an active, engaged, and eclectic interpretation of the constantly changing Italian landscape, exploring the relationships between experience, imagery, and technology in a mass society.

Accompanying the Exhibition

The publication of the exhibition catalog, Seers. New Visual Research on the Italian Landscape, includes introductory essays by Mufoco President Davide Rondoni, Director Gabriella Guerci, and curator Matteo Balduzzi. Published by Skinnerboox and designed by Sonnoli Studio, the catalog (24 x 33 cm) not only features the photographic works on display but also includes working materials (images, notes, documents, reflections) shared by the artists, offering a broader understanding of their research processes.

The exhibition and catalog have been realized with the support of Regione Lombardia and Fondazione Cariplo.

The Ten Winning Projects:

•Mattia Balsamini (Pordenone, 1987)

His Special Darkness

This project comprises thirteen landscape photographs and thirteen individual portraits, exploring the identity of northeastern Italy, particularly the Veneto region, which has undergone significant cultural and social transformations over the past fifty years. The work intertwines documentary photography, personal relationships, and visual experimentation with technology, utilizing both analog and modern techniques.

Proseguo con la traduzione dei dieci progetti vincitori e le descrizioni delle opere presenti nella mostra.

•Luca Boffi (Modena, 1991)

Nocturnal Murmur

This project focuses on the poplar groves along the Secchia River in the province of Modena. Through a fixed CCTV camera, Boffi captures fundamental themes related to the transformation of the landscape and the passage of time. The result is a series of concise and rhythmically structured images, characterized by a strong conceptual framework.

•Calori&Maillard (Milan and Bologna)

Diving into Poetry

This photographic project addresses universal themes linked to the landscape and existence, featuring the sea, geology, and life’s cyclical nature. Using the divers of the Grotta della Poesia (Poetry Cave) in Salento as both location and metaphor, the work merges specific elements into a symbolic and poetic reflection on broader existential ideas.

•Andrea Camiolo (Leonforte, Sicily, 1986)

For a Possible Landscape

Camiolo explores the very notion of landscape starting from the seemingly unremarkable hilly terrains of Sicily’s interior. Through a process of examination and reevaluation, he challenges traditional modes of landscape representation, producing delicate, coherent variations rich with references to the history of photography and art.

•Marina Caneve (Belluno, 1988)

Surface Deep

Caneve develops a collaborative dialogue with the Lusiana Conco community on the Asiago Plateau, engaging a group of local adolescents in her artistic practice. The images reflect a rigorous documentary approach, highlighting multiple perspectives and creating a fertile exchange between the artist and her subjects.

•Federico Clavarino (Turin, 1984)

Via Spaventa

Set in Milan, this series juxtaposes modern urban issues like social housing and iconic architectural works with the everyday, often enigmatic, configurations of urban spaces. The photographs are strikingly unsettling and mysterious, prompting a reexamination of the city’s dynamics.

•Tomaso Clavarino (Turin, 1986)

Padanistan

This expansive project surveys the vast and complex Po Valley region, creating a visual narrative that conveys a sense of disorientation and fragmentation. Using a straightforward, detail-oriented approach devoid of rhetoric, the work documents a journey along the Strada Statale Padana Superiore 11, revealing both internal and external landscapes.

•Nicoletta Grillo (Milan, 1983)

Spark

Grillo’s work interweaves the architecture of Sesto San Giovanni’s factories with her personal and familial memories. Through a poetic and symbolic language enriched by performative elements, the project addresses universal themes such as labor, health, and the influence of industry on domestic life.

•Jacopo Rinaldi (Rome, 1986)

Untitled

Rinaldi’s video project revolves around the Campo dei Fiori broadcasting station on Monte Tre Croci near Varese. The work evokes the unseen yet essential aspects of the landscape, delving into old and new technologies, telecommunications, radio frequencies, and the transmission of data and knowledge.

•Caterina Erica Shanta (Pordenone, 1985)

The Starry Sky

Shanta captures the papier-mâché floats destroyed during Matera’s Madonna della Bruna festival, transforming them into a collective photogrammetric explosion of images. This innovative approach highlights the relationship between experience, imagery, and technology in mass society, while addressing broader themes of cultural identity and collective memory.

Exhibition Hours

•Dates: December 15, 2024, to March 30, 2025

•Open: Wednesday–Friday: 4 PM–7 PM; Saturday–Sunday: 10 AM–7 PM