Between the chronicle of a recent past and current events, “ Italia in-waiting. 12 photographic stories ", from 15 October to 8 January at Palazzo da Mosto in Reggio Emilia , tells of an Italy suspended, banned, transformed by an exceptional and - hopefully - unrepeatable occasion, the first lockdown caused by Covid: once different where even the space, the architecture and the environment become "other" when man does not live in them. A story that develops through the visions and sensitivity of as many great photographers: Olivo Barbieri, Antonio Biasiucci, Silvia Camporesi, Mario Cresci, Paola De Pietri, Ilaria Ferretti, Guido Guidi, Andrea Jemolo, Francesco Jodice, Allegra Martin, Walter Niedermayr and George Tatge . The exhibition, curated by Margherita Guccione and Carlo Birrozzi, is promoted by the Ministry of Culture, the General Direction of Contemporary Creativity, the Central Institute for Catalog and Documentation and the Palazzo Magnani Foundation , in collaboration with the Maxxi Foundation .

In a unique, silent, almost unreal scenario, the photographic stories tell stories of an extraordinary world, they are sequences of unexpected and unnatural visions that mix places of the Italian cultural heritage and the intimate and mental space of the authors: landscapes and squares, horizons and public spaces, works of art and everyday objects. Far from the stereotypes of the beautiful country, these images speak of bewildered landscapes that marry sublime beauty with the perception of a profound crisis, where emptiness and the absence of human life correspond to the luxuriant nature that progressively fills urban spaces.

They are partial, subjective stories, which introduce us to new points of view, modifying the usual narrative poetics of physical space. The artists involved are recognized interpreters of photography, of different generations and attitudes, who have developed through their research a vocation to listen to places and collective heritage. For this reason, the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and for Tourism, through the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity, decided to call them to reflect with a project focused on the exceptional condition of Italy in the months of March-May 2020, at the aim to create a choral and polyphonic story, ranging between different languages and modes of expression. Olivo Barbieri , for this investigation-story, chooses the Camera degli Sposi, a visual machine of excellence for the innovative experimentation of perspective, to conduct his reflection on the mechanisms of perception and the system of representation. Guido Guidi , on the contrary, addresses the minimal landscape of everyday life: giving equal value to the monumental and the ordinary, Guidi restores negligible details of reality to our gaze, charging them with renewed sense and lightness.