BASILICO, Gabriele (Milano, 1944 - Milano, 2013)Appunti di un viaggio 1969-2006

A collection of images ranging from the earliest, and almost unpublished, collections to the Milanese photographer's most recent and best-known collections. "Before devoting myself to the urban landscape, I was interested in photojournalism. I had reference points: the work of Bill Brandt or that of Eugene Smith'. Together with the more unusual collections, such as Glasgow, Dancing in Emilia and Contact, the city comes back in full force: the cities of the world portrayed by Basilico. Basilico's eye travels through European capitals, the most important ports of Europe, the post-war desolation of Beirut and the factories of Milan. "...the slowness of the gaze, in tune with the photography of places...: it is a philosophical and existential attitude through which one can attempt to rediscover a possible sense of the outside world." Basilico's images are complemented by an essay by Achille Bonito Oliva who comments on the Milanese photographer's work as "an act of visual and moral resistance at the same time that seeks to restore to things a statute of lasting reality against the fleeting moment of the simulacrum."