In collaboration with the Municipality of Verona, EARTH Foundation presents Borgo Roma. Landscape in transition, exhibition dedicated to the eponymous unpublished project by Lorenzo Vitturi (Venice, 1980), one of the most influential artists and photographers on the national art scene, and supported by Photography Strategy 2023 of the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture.
Starting from the observation of the Borgo Roma district, urban area in which is located the iconic architecture of the Specialized Refrigeration Station “La Rotonda”, now home to the exhibition space of the foundation, Vitturi has generated a poetic mapping of physical places and social relations that mark the past and present history of the area.
Curated by Giangavino Pazzola, associate curator and head of research projects at CAMERA Centro Italiano per la Fotografia di Torino, in collaboration with Giulia Adami, curatorial project manager of EARTH Foundation, the exhibition includes more than thirty medium and large format colour photographs and installations that describe not only the materials and goods that symbolize the multiple economic and productive phases of the area, but also the testimonies that trace their social and cultural lifestyles.
Borgo Roma. Landscape in transition is an artistic project that not only reflects on the excellence and innovations of local production but also, and more generally, on urban transformations caused by migratory movements of goods and people in contemporary cities. The privileged vantage point is the district of Borgo Roma, beating heart of the post-war industrial Verona, now converted into a commercial and cultural center.
Landscape in transition takes shape from a long exploratory phase conducted directly on the field by the artist, with the support of anthropologist Caterina Borelli. After several visits during the winter months, during spring and summer 2024, Vitturi moved his study within EARTH Foundation and, through the collection of testimonies of the communities that animated and still inhabit the places, conducted a survey of the geographical area in historical key. Thus, starting from the neighborhood, the artist has elaborated the works on site articulating a narrative that touches universal themes and allows to trace similarities and assonances in all cities of the world, highlighting the potentialities, the complexity and limitations of urban transformation processes.
To make the account of Vitturi’s artistic practice more comprehensive, the exhibition also includes works from previous similar works in other world capitals.
With this project, in response to the call for proposals Photography Strategy 2023, the EARTH Foundation focuses its programming on reading the dynamics that stimulate the urban transformation of the city of Verona and Veneto, with the will to be an active part of this evolution alongside the communities that live in it and contribute to the enrichment of the artistic and visual heritage.