Fotografica 07
December 14, 2007
| We already wrote about Spazio Forma in these pages. Some of you might remember we held a press conference over there in May (you have a very good memory!). Inaugurated in 2005, it is a space in downtown Milan entirely dedicated to the promotion and support of photography. Important expositions, seminars, workshops. The activities of Spazio Forma are varied. From 29 November to 2 December it hosted Fotografica '07, the first edition of an event organised in partnership with Canon and with the important support of MINI, that sums up perfectly what Spazio Forma is all about: an entire week dedicated to photography and accessible to anyone who loves it. The calendar of the event was dense and catchy. The main focus was on the "Award for Young Photographers" created to discover new talents like ITS#PHOTO does in the field, with a dedicated exhibition of this year's finalists. Another three extremely interesting exhibitions welcomed the visitors: "Beijing in & out" was the result of a full year's work in China's capital by 10 photographers from the Contrasto photo agency, and reported on several aspects of everyday life there. "Keep the Promise" showed pictures shot in 4 different countries (Brazil, Peru, Zimbabwe, India) by 4 students from the master's course in photography at NABA (Art Academy in Milan). The aim was to document the activities carried out in these countries by the humanitarian organisation CESVI. We'll talk about "Il Gigante e La Bambina" (The Giant and the Little Girl) later... |
Apart from the exhibitions, visitors had many other activities to choose from. There were meetings with renowned photographers like Bob Krieger, Ferdinando Scianna, Bruno Stevens, Spencer Platt and Guido Harari, who would tell the audience their story and their relationship with photography. Seminars where held on themes like "Travel Photography", "The Complicity Between Cinema and Photography" and "Photography in Newspaper". Daily workshops with professionals would explain the latest evolutions in digital photography. And if you were to arrive with your portfolio hoping to show your pictures to someone, three photo critics would always be there to welcome you, view your work and offer their comment. Not bad!Besides the pleasure of being guests at Fotografica 07, we had a precise reason for being there, and this takes us back to the exhibition we just hinted at before: "Il Gigante e La Bambina". Tuscany, GQ and MINI. Are these three clues enough? The exhibition showed the results of the tour in Tuscany in search of uniqueness ITS#SIX photo finalist Maria Giulia Giorgiani and photography icon Gianni Berengo Gardin (we wrote an article about it, remember? Here it is) did. We organised it in collaboration with MINI who provided a brand new MINI Clubman for the journey and GQ Italy magazine that published an exhaustive article with many of the pictures we then saw at Spazio Forma. |
 A get together with refreshments was organised to celebrate the inauguration of the exhibition and everyone involved in the tour was there, together with lots of press and a few TV networks. The exhibition was installed on the top floor of Forma, set up like a long black tunnel with photos hanging on both sides on two different levels. On the upper level you saw Maria Giulia's and Berengo Gardin's shots, and right under them photos taken by Alberto Novelli, freelance photographer who reported all of the "making of" situations during the tour. It was truly fascinating. Maria Giulia and Berengo Gardin have opposing styles. She shoots digital pictures which she then retouches using Photoshop to add romantic ghost-like entities. He always shoots on film and only black and white. He never used digital technology and never will. He documents reality as it is, adding nothing. He actually hates Photoshop especially when it is used to retouch reportage or documentary photos. Two completely different attitudes, two totally different generations, two ways of using reality. Hers were amazingly elegant dreams inspired by the Tuscan scenario. His was a stunning reportage of a land he loves, documenting what has remained the same and what has sadly changed since his last visit, many years ago. Maria Giulia Giorgiani has within herself the beauty of images that do not exist in the real world. Gianni Berengo Gardin has the strength of a person who screams the social problems of the world we live in. |
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Alberto Novelli's photos added yet another point of view. They showed the two photographers in the act of searching for the right moment to click the shutter. To add even more information, there was a short video of the tour projected in loop on a screen. In the end, just like a novel by Joseph Conrad, the same story was told by different narrators. A feast for the eyes. The place was packed with people, it was hard to even see the photos when everyone arrived. Standing in a corner we enjoyed the scene. We saw Maria Giulia "attacked" by journalists who wanted to interview her together with Berengo Gardin. We saw her answering the questions of Denis Curti (director of Forma, curator of ITS#PHOTO and mesmerising presenter of the meetings with the photographers) in front of an interested audience. We saw lots of interested eyes understanding what ITS is, who Maria Giulia is and what the reason of this project was. Once again we felt we did a good job. The best way to end such a day is a nice dinner all together, and it's exactly what we did. A long table was booked at a home-style restaurant just a few steps away. A small group made up of EVErs, people from MINI, people from GQ and Maria Giulia was seen leaving Spazio Forma late in the evening, headed towards the restaurant. If you were to enter that restaurant about two hours later, you would have been faced with a noisy and laughing dinner table. Around it, what seemed like old friends in a very relaxed mood eating delicious prosciutto ham and tasty plates of ravioli, drinking home made red wine. A director of a renowned magazine, a brand manager of a huge car company, photographers, journalists, and a small bunch of EVErs. No flashes, no cameras. Some memories need not be documented. |
