Trailblazing Movie Classic
Trailblazing Movie Classic
August 7, 2017
Guido Guidi, Millenovecentonovanta-duemilasei, 1990-2006
© Guido Guidi
The iconic film Il Deserto Rosso (The Red Desert), shot in 1964 in the industrial region around Ravenna, counts among the landmark works of Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni. The film received particular acclaim for its innovative use of colour. Just like Antonioni’s subsequent production, Blow-Up (released two years later), Il Deserto Rosso is filled with striking visual moments and artistic impulses that are also deeply relevant for the medium of photography. The group exhibition Il Deserto Rosso Now – Photographic Reactions to Antonioni’s Film Classics is dedicated to an exploration of these themes.
More than 30 artists (affiliated with the HGB University in Leipzig as well as the Italian photography initiatives Linea di Confine and Osservatorio Fotografico) have participated in the project. During the time from 2013 to 2017, each photographer visited the industrial region of Northern Italy to search for both physical and atmospheric traces of Antonioni’s masterpiece – with the aim of reinterpreting his complex visual world and the unique spirit of the 1960s from a contemporary point of view.
Il Deserto Rosso Now is a collaboration of the Photographic Collection/SK Stiftung Kultur in Cologne, the HGB University in Leipzig, the Linea di Confine in Rubiera and the Osservatorio Fotografico in Ravenna.
For further information visit: Die photographische Sammlung, Linea die Confine per la Fotografica Contemporanea and Osservatorio Fotografico
Guido Guidi, Millenovecentonovanta-duemilasei, 1990-2006
© Guido Guidi
Philipp Kurzhals, Ravenna revisited, 2016
© Philipp Kurzhals
Mako Mizobuchi, Farbige Gefühle, 2016
© Mako Mizobuchi