The Italy of Photographers. 24 Artists’ Tales

The Italy of Photographers. 24 Artists’ Tales
22.12.2018 - 16.06.2019

The Italy of Photographers. 24 Artists’ Tales is the first temporary exhibition specially developed for the M9 Museum by Casa dei Tre Oci – Civita Tre Venezie.

Open from Saturday 22 December 2018 to Sunday 16 June 2019, it is on the third floor of the museum complex at Via Pascoli 11 in Venice Mestre.

The exhibition is curated by Denis Curti and features 230+ photographs in a range of colour and black/white formats by 24 great Italian photographers. They narrate the 20th century in Italy in an ideal continuation of the multimedia story told in the permanent exhibition on the 20th century and all its changes on the first two floors of M9.

The photographers are Olivo Barbieri, Gabriele Basilico, Letizia Battaglia, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Carla Cerati, Luca Campigotto, Lisetta Carmi, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Mario Cresci, Mario De Biasi, Franco Fontana, Maurizio Galimberti, Arturo Ghergo, Luigi Ghirri, Mario Giacomelli, Francesco Jodice, Mimmo Jodice, Nino Migliori, Riccardo Moncalvo, Ugo Mulas, Fulvio Roiter, Ferdinando Scianna, Tazio Secchiaroli and Massimo Vitali – artists whose photographs have captured the 20th-century in stories that are the product of an original and consistent artistic project, transformed by the M9 Museum exhibition into an anthology of “visual readings” filtered via their personal visions. Their subjective angle interlinks with the objective vision of the 20th century offered by the permanent multimedia exhibition, where all the visitors can reconstruct and interpret the 20th century on their own terms.

Each photographer brings a specific project to the exhibition: Letizia Battaglia - Mafia in Palermo; Olivo Barbieri - Artificial Illuminations – Ersatz Lights; Gianni Berengo Gardin – Dying of Class; Gabriele Basilico – Milan. Portraits of Factories; Luca Campigotto - Venetia Obscura; Lisetta Carmi – Transvestites; Carla Cerati – Dying of Class and Mondo Cocktail; Giovanni Chiaramonte – Hidden in Perspective. Journey through Representation; Mario Cresci – Real Portraits. Tricarico 1967-1972; Mario De Biasi – The Fifties; Franco Fontana – Inventing Space; Maurizio Galimberti – Journey to Italy; Arturo Ghergo – The Stars from the Thirties to the Fifties; Luigi Ghirri – The Shape of Clouds; Mario Giacomelli – I Do Not Have Hands Caressing My Face; Mimmo Jodice – Views of Naples; Francesco Jodice – Postcards from Other Spaces; Nino Migliori – People of Emilia; Riccardo Moncalvo - Vacations; Ugo Mulas. Bar Jamaica; Fulvio Roiter – Around Neorealism; Ferdinando Scianna – Religious Feasts in Sicily; Tazio Secchiaroli – Tazio Secchiaroli and Federico Fellini; Massimo Vitali – Italian Beaches and Discos.

Completing the exhibition is a vast documentary archive on the photographers, consisting in a selection of approximately 100 books for free consultation and a rich array of video-interviews and documentaries.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a packed programme of fringe events. As well as containing the photographs, the catalogue published by Marsilio Editori features a foreword by Michele Smargiassi and an essay by Denis Curti, who also wrote the critical files.

M9 is a large Museum multimedia of the 20th century in the centre of a new urban-regeneration district and combines cultural and technological innovation with retail, entertainment and civic services.
It opens in Mestre on 1 December 2018 and is the flagship project of the Fondazione di Venezia, relaunching and developing mainland Venice. Polymnia Venezia, a special purpose vehicle of the Fondazione di Venezia, was responsible for the creation and development of M9.
Inspired by international urban-regeneration experiences, M9 features an innovative approach that sees the multimedia culture, sustainable architecture, technology, civic services and innovative retail forms coming together to generate employment, growth and wellbeing for all.

M9 – with architecture designed by Berlin office Sauerbruch Hutton – was presented at the Corderie dell’Arsenale in the FREESPACE exhibition, curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara for the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale (on until 25 November 2018). www.m9museum.it