The exhibition Italy is a Desire is underway at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome. Photographs, Landscapes and Visions (1842-2022). Six hundred works exhibited until 3 September, to tell the story of the peninsula in all its complexity, the landscape, society and its transformations in almost two centuries.
Italy is a wish
In the beginning it was the landscape as an element of identity and it starts from the pink, from the sunset on the spiers of the Milan Cathedral, from the nuance of the prints for a reproduction of Piazza San Pietro. From the nuanced Florence of Leopoldo Alinari as he recounts it in 1860 and up to the acid colors of the ascetic boulders, in Zen levitation, created with artificial intelligence. in between 180 years of photography. Thanks to the amazing collections Alinari and Mufoco “the Stables are taking up the tradition of dedicating an important exhibition to photography – explains the president of the Mario De Simoni Stables – a tradition that returns in a big way because the theme is big and the institutions involved in the project are big, i.e. Alinari and the Museum of Contemporary Photography”.
The theme, he adds, "is that of the transformation of the Italian landscape from 1842 to 2022, 180 years of history that underline the value of this medium of expression. It is a journey through time, a journey through Italy, a journey through the history of photography from the first daguerreotypes that are just three years after the birth of photography in 1839 and up to theartificial intelligence“. A story therefore, accompanied by large panels that explain its path exhaustively: “After Covid, we need to aim for projects of uniqueness and variety to attract the public and the Scuderie have happily taken this path and will do so in the future. The next appointment - adds the president - will be with the exhibition dedicated to the centenary of Italo Calvino. A literary exhibition, after those on Ovid and Dante which have had extraordinary success".
Two centuries told with images
Italy is a Desire. Photographs, Landscapes and Visions (1842-2022) is structured according to a chronological itinerary with the photographs of the family members on the first floor of the Stables Alinari Archives and on the second floor, in continuity, the works of the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Photography: from classicism to experimentation. “From the landscape of Grand Tour we move on to the urban landscape, at first the human element is marginal also for technical reasons, because moving subjects could not be portrayed, then it gradually becomes more central.
From the 50s and 60s photography became a social investigation“, underlines De Simoni again. Path which obviously does not claim to be exhaustive, but which brings to the attention of the public some of the most important Italian photographers such as Luigi Ghirri, Letizia battaglia, Carla Cerati, Uliano Lucas, Federico Patellani, Mario Cresci. Franco Fontana, Mario Giacomelli, Gabriele Basilico, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Guido Guidi, Paola De Pietri, Fischli and Weiss, Francesco Jodice, Massimo Vitali, Thomas Struth. A path of great importance to regain possession of an art that is not only aesthetic but also a social and knowledge battle.
(Source from Agenzia Ansa texts/Images from the Scuderie del Quirinale Facebook page)
