Modena dedicates an exhibition to Luigi Ghirri: more than 60 photographs, including unpublished

Modena commemorates the 30th anniversary of the death of Luigi Ghirri (Scandiano, 1943 - Roncocesi, 1992) with a major exhibition at the FMAV Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, scheduled from September 16 to November 20, 2022: titled Luigi Ghirri and Modena. A Journey Backwards, curated by Daniele De Luigi and set up in the Palazzo Santa Margherita venue, the exhibition is part of the Vedere Oltre project , a schedule of events celebrating the great Emilian photographer throughout 2022, 30 years after his death. The scheduled calendar of events is promoted by the city of Reggio Emilia together with Modena and Parma, and with the support of the Emilia-Romagna Region and APT Servizi Emilia-Romagna. The exhibition is in collaboration with Archivio Luigi Ghirri, Reggio Emilia.

Luigi Ghirri had a strong relationship with Modena, where he lived in his youth and shortly before his death: here the photographer studied, several of his relevant works were born in Modena (such as the famous series Breakfast on the Grass, a survey of urban greenery that Ghirri conducted in Modena and its province), and soon Ghirri became one of the landmarks of the local artistic culture, so much so that he was among the main promoters of the palimpsest of photography exhibitions that were held at the Galleria Civica in Modena between the 1970s and 1980s (for those times a program of exhibitions on photography was an innovative and experimental activity).

The exhibition, divided over four rooms, with a journey backwards through Ghirri’s career as the title itself suggests, presents more than sixty photographs from the Civic Gallery of the Municipality of Modena and from the photography collection of the Modena Foundation, both managed by FMAV. Following an inverse chronology, the itinerary starts with photographs from the second half of the 1980s from the Versailles and Il profilo delle nuvole series, fundamental to the history of landscape photography, and present in the exhibition because they inaugurated the Fondazione di Modena’s contamporary photography collection in 2009. There is no shortage of photographs of Modena’s artistic heritage and historic center executed for the Italian Touring Club and later incorporated into its publications, shots interpreting architecture by Paolo Portoghesi and Aldo Rossi. Also presented in the exhibition are some unpublished shots depicting Aldo Rossi’s famous “Cube,” or the Cimitero Nuovo di San Cataldo in Modena, designed in 1971. The exhibition ends with Breakfast on the Grass and other interesting photographs from the early stages of Ghirri’s career.

The itinerary is completed with volumes, photographs and archival documents, some of which have never been exhibited to the public and are the result of Daniele De Luigi’s new research, testifying to Ghirri’s cultural journey and the decisive importance of his activity exercised in Modena for the culture of photography in Italy: from the seminal collaboration with Modenese conceptual artists such as Franco Guerzoni, Carlo Cremaschi, Claudio Parmiggiani, and Giuliano Della Casa, to the pioneering activities in the publishing field, with the adventure of the Punto & Virgola, and also in the curatorial field, as a promoter, as mentioned, of numerous exhibitions of research photography at the Galleria Civica in association with Oscar Goldoni, at the time the true soul of the Modena institution, a contemporary of Ghirri whose 30th anniversary of his death also falls this year.

At the historical moment when the world was beginning to be confused with its representation and the civilization of mass media to alter our perception of reality, Ghirri began a relentless search for a new meaning to be given to the action of photographing, continuing to turn his lens to the everyday and seemingly banal that surrounds us to renew the ability of the gaze to generate amazement and enliven thought. His ability to anticipate many themes and research in contemporary photography has meant that in recent years Ghirri has been unanimously recognized as an undisputed master in the international arena.

The exhibition, the organizers explain, intends to restore in its context, through the heritage of works from Modena, the exceptional nature of the work of Luigi Ghirri, who was able to change the course of photography in Italy not only with the originality of his vision and thought, but also his passion for the photographic medium and his human qualities, thanks to which he was able to create a wide network of friendships and collaborations far beyond the field of photography.

The exhibition opens Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Full admission 6 euros, concessions 4 euros. Free admission on Wednesdays. During festivalfilosophy, Friday Sept. 16 and Saturday Sept. 17 the exhibition opens from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday Sept. 18 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Also during festivalfilosophy, admission is always free. For information: www.fmav.org

Modena dedicates an exhibition to Luigi Ghirri: more than 60 photographs, including unpublished

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.