An exhibition in Pordenone on Italo Zannier, photographer who was awarded the first chair of the History of Photography in Italy

At the Harry Bertoia Gallery in Pordenone is running until May 4, 2025 the exhibition Italo Zannier - Io sono io. Photographer in history and historian of photography, curated by Marco Minuz and Giulio Zannier.

Italo Zannier (Spilimbergo, 1932) is a prominent figure on the Italian cultural scene: intellectual, lecturer, exhibition curator, collector and photographer. He was the first to obtain a chair in the History of Photography in Italy, making a decisive contribution to the recognition of the discipline in our country. For the first time, in this exhibition that aims to explore precisely the variety and depth of his commitment and passion for photography, the many activities Zannier carried out throughout his long career are brought together.

The exhibition traces his main experiences, starting with his participation in the neorealist movement. A great lover of cinema, he initially tried his hand at short films in Super 8, and then devoted himself entirely to photography.

In 1955, Zannier drew up the manifesto of the Gruppo friulano per una nuova fotografia (Friulian Group for a New Photography), which included photographers of the caliber of Carlo Bevilacqua, Toni Del Tin, Fulvio Roiter, Gianni Berengo Gardin and Nino Migliori, as well as his fellow citizens Gianni and Giuliano Borghesan and Aldo Beltrame. This group is among the first in Italy to propose innovative photography, going beyond the aestheticization of the shot and focusing on experimental and analytical research.

Zannier’s photographs are distinguished by their “critical narrative,” which emerges from the characters, environments and objects immortalized, revealing also a deep attention to the social dimension and places. This approach finds expression especially in the field ofarchitecture, where Zannier documents the Friulian territory, suspended between tradition and change. His images bear witness to the life of an entire community, capturing its transformations over time.

Emblematic is his series of diachronies, concluded in 1976, in which Zannier returns to shoot in the same places and with the same parameters as twenty years earlier, highlighting the passage of time. These works acquire even greater value because of the earthquake that subsequently destroyed many of the places photographed.

His relationship with architecture also extends through collaborations with important magazines such as Il Mondo, Comunità, Casabella and Domus. Since 1971, Zannier has been the first in Italy to teach History of Photography in an academic setting, holding positions at IUAV and Ca’ Foscari in Venice, at Dams in Bologna, at the Catholic University of Milan and at other Italian universities. In addition to his teaching activities, Zannier has published numerous books, essays and articles, collaborating with specialist magazines such as L’Architettura “chronicles and history,” Camera, Photo Magazine and Fotografia Italiana - Il Diaframma. He has also been editor of important publishing series, such as Fotologia “Studies in the history of photography” and Fotostorica “the archives of photography.”

After more than 30 years, Zannier returns to photography with renewed enthusiasm, focusing on themes related to globalization and the standardization of contemporaneity, as in the Veneland project.

The exhibition also analyzes his prolific nonfiction production, with more than six hundred works, and his role in curating exhibitions, including the photographic section of The Italian Metamorphosis exhibition at the Guggenheim in New York (1994) and The I and its Double at the Venice Biennale. Also celebrated is his impressive publishing project Coste e Monti d’Italia, supported by ENI, which resulted in nine volumes between 1967 and 1976.

The exhibition is sponsored by the City of Pordenone, has the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and the support of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

An exhibition in Pordenone on Italo Zannier, photographer who was awarded the first chair of the History of Photography in Italy

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