Collaboration/Matter
curated by Kublaiklan
“A photograph is a product of an encounter and the start of a conversation”
Daniel Palmer
An encounter and a conversation are the starting point of the 2019 edition of Speciale Diciottoventicinque, the project by Fotografia Europea dedicated to training young artists, divided into ten meetings over three months and ending with an exhibition. Participants took up the challenge to produce innovative photos, starting with the viewfinders on their cameras before stepping back to look at photography as a process and an opportunity for comparisons and exchanges.
The works on display are the result of a collaborative effort, a summary of a conversation that motivated the participants’ listening and relational skills, as well as their capabilities in interpreting and manipulating an image, reflecting on volume, three-dimensionality, and substance. The exhibition isn’t so much about the final product, but rather the process that created it: a collaborative and creative process that transcends individual authorship to instead focus on new collective perspectives.
The goal is to inspire a current and important reflection in a context that sees more and more photographers deciding to adopt collective approaches, leaving behind the conception that the photographer is a solitary figure and underlining the importance of complementary exchange. For this reason, the choice was made to tackle the theme of the 2019 edition of Fotografia Europea, Bonding. Intimacy, relationships, new worlds, not only from the point of view of the photographs in and of themselves, but more importantly, from the methodology of their creation.
Collaboration/Matter is the product of an encounter and the start of something. It is a reflection that transforms into something tangible, I into we: we as photographers, we as a collective, and most importantly, we as people who consciously interact with the society in which we live.
