PUBLIFOTO, FROM WAR TO THE MOON 1945-1969
Torino, 2022
Location
Gallerie d’Italia, Torino
Client
Intesa San Paolo
Year
2022
Design team
Sergio Bianchi with Fiorella Campodonico Roy, Mariangela De Meo, Silvia Perobelli
Photography
Vincenzo Labellarte
Alongside Paolo Pellegrin’s exhibition, the “S23 Room” hosts the Publifoto exhibition, which is part of the photographic archive of Intesa SanPaolo. It presents a major review dedicated to Italian photography ranging from 1939 to 1969: from the war to the moon.
Ideally, in addition to marking the chronological span covering the quarter-century from the end of the war to the moon landing, the exhibition – curated by Aldo Grasso and Giovanna Calvenzi – also identifies a precise media arc that begins with a lady listening to the radio while knitting and closes with the magical evening of summer 1969, when the whole world watches on television the greatest adventure in human history, a journey that contained the illusion that the world would change: finally, man sets foot on the moon.
The exhibition consists of unpublished images, often presented in the form of installations, which transform the space of the Gallerie d’Italia in Turin into a place of appearances, not simply of display.
The exhibition opens with a large mirror opposite a yellow wall, on which the first works are arranged. The main hall has its focal point in the large central table, specially designed for the exhibition, placed under a large ceiling mirror. On the four perimeter walls, the works are arranged chronologically, from war to the moon.
The large mirrors and the yellow color are designed to visually expand the space and reflect as much light as possible, given the lack of natural light in the different environments. This stylistic choice also aims to accentuate the contrast between the two installations. Paolo Pellegrin’s tones are dark, describing a space of introspection and reflection, in stark contrast with the colors of Publifoto, which are light and warm, narrating a space of history and information.
