From April 26th to June 9th get back to Reggio Emilia The European Photography festival 2024 and together with the institutional exhibitions the projects of the Circuit OFF, the collective and widespread event created by citizens who, in agreement with each other, take action, set up exhibitions, organize meetings, propose events, enriching the festival and dressing every corner of Reggio Emilia and its province with photography.
This year they can be admired as many as 260 photographic exhibitions outside the official locationsof which 150 in the historic center, over 60 outside the walls and 40 in the province, therefore neighborhoods, schools, public or private spaces, areas known or protagonists of urban regeneration processes.
“The OFF Circuit of Fotografia Europea is an extremely important occasion for our city”, states the mayor of Reggio Emilia Luca Vecchi. “In fact, this is the moment in which photographers, mainly from Reggio Emilia but not only, exhibit their works through a virtuous model that brings together the streets and squares, courtyards and private residences, right up to commercial establishments. In those days it can rightly be said that the city transforms, meets, discusses, gets to know and recognizes itself. I wish all the protagonists of the OFF Circuit good work, underlining their protagonism which, in recent years, has never failed”.
“The OFF Circuit is born”, declares the Councilor for Culture Annalisa Rabitti, “from the idea of taking photography out of traditional places and of strengthening the link between the city and culture through the valorization of citizen protagonism. It is an exhibition within an exhibition that brings together, year after year, more and more proposals, often of the highest level between tradition and innovation, photography and video. A success for the whole city which is experiencing strong interest from operators as well as the public, arousing the admiration of even internationally renowned curators.”
“Every year the Circuit OFF,” he adds Davide Zanichelli, “is proposed, not only to the Festival visitor but also to all the citizens of Reggio, as an inexhaustible reserve of cultural proposals and powerful civic energies. Going beyond the borders of the historic centre, for some years now there has also been an increase in places and events outside the walls and in the province, from the mountains to the Po, with a growing desire for participation that transforms this event into a great party”.
Year after year the OFF Circuit renews itself, embracing new associations, weaving new collaborations, setting up projects that not only increasingly push the independent section of the festival to leave the city walls towards a national context, but also to open up places that are usually inaccessible.
This is the case of the very central one Former Aciwhich opens to the public to become the place of Visions Offthat is, the place where the projects that fully demonstrate the complex identity of the spirit of the OFF Circuit are exhibited: the city’s commitment to international cooperation, the attention to the most vulnerable groups, the telling of its own sporting history as well as the new production by Luana Rigolli, winner of the previous edition of the OFF Circuit (Max Spreafico award).
Here there is an exhibition dedicated to the project Pre-texts created in collaboration with the Reggio Emilia Penitentiary Institute, the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and in particular thanks to the availability of the director and the functions of the Educational Area of the same Institute. Inside the exhibition it will be possible to find the results of this laboratory journey in which the prisoners, accompanied by Sara UboldiISPC-CNR researcher, and from the Education and Accessibility Projects Department of Palazzo Magnani Foundationproduced textual and visual works which then became a source of inspiration for the photographer from Reggio Emilia Laura Sassi.
E35 Foundation returns in this edition to promote the project Nuvolicadira, created in collaboration with the various cities in the world twinned with Reggio Emilia, to deal with the theme of the delicate relationship between man and nature. Continued Children of a lesser god a project in which the photographer Roberto Brancolini documents, thanks to the support of DCI international and YMCA East Jerusalem, the terrible reality of many Palestinian minors arrested by the Israeli army. The exhibition was made possible thanks to the support of the Center for Human Rights of the University of Padua.
Foreigners it is the project of Fabio Vighi organized by the non-profit association Let Children Be Children. The title refers to the echo of the voices of children who run towards you along the streets of Ethiopian villages, it is the story of a journey, a physical and internal journey of a group of people driven by the belief that it is possible to create a bridge between cultures and spread the concept of global citizenship education.
Still at the Ex Aci, the shots of Luana Rigolliwinner of the 2023 OFF with the project Black Islesin which the artist shows shots from the last seven years in which the protagonists are the Italian volcanic islands with their colors, their vegetation and the people who live there.
It will also be possible to see the joint work of the students of the IEFC photography institute of Barcelona and two third classes of the Multimedia course of the Liceo Chierici of Reggio Emilia.
There Reggiana Basketball showcases its best shots to celebrate 50 years of effort and success since its foundation. An important and meaningful goal, achieved by lifting trophies, filling sports halls and sharing all the joys and emotions of basketball with the entire city. The exhibition, organized by the Club in collaboration with its official photographer Enrico Rossirecounts some of the most iconic moments experienced by the company from 1974 to today.
Wanting to talk about some of the places where the OFF circuit has set up the myriad of exhibitions that the visitor can find in the city, we can start from the inevitable AteliersViaduegobbitrewhich this year participates with 17 exhibitions of as many artistsAlfredo Anceschi, Enrico Barbieri, Maddalena Barletta, Marco Cattani, Luca Cavazzuti and Andrea Coroiu, Comò Studio Creativo, Marco Errani, Ermanno Foroni, Marco Menditto, Anna Parisi, Sara Passerini, Francesco Soncini, Collettivo Stenopeiche, Vittorio Vizzini Spore, Elena Zanfanti Fango, Andrea Zannoni, who discussed the theme of this nineteenth edition, Nature loves to hidethe. Furthermore, the Workshops host the exhibition Pictures of Syria, where shots by Syrian photographers who captured moments of daily life in today’s Syria will be exhibited.
The. also returns neighborhood of via Roma, with 14 exhibitions that animate one of the key streets of the OFF Circuit. Once again the organizers ofVia Roma Zero Association they interpreted the theme of European Photography in an original and innovative way, comparing photographers and artists who work with collage and seeking a union not only between the arts but above all between people.
Another space protagonist of the OFF Circuit in the historic center this year is theIsolated San Roccoin which residents and shopkeepers wanted to take advantage of the presence of an exhibition on the institutional circuit, the one dedicated to the Diciottoventicinque Special, to set up new works in the shops under the large portico.
Among the projects that can be visited, however, outside the historic center, we remember the five set up near Innovation Parkincluding some spaces that are protagonists of the urban regeneration of this neighborhood, therefore the Shed 17, the Tecnopolo and the Officine Credem space.
The Mauritianinstead, in the suggestive environments of Palazzo Vecchiohe proposes Atlas/Matter and Spiritan exhibition that brings together photographic works, sculptures and drawings and offers a high-quality and multi-faceted artistic journey, which does not ignore the historical and naturalistic context of the Mauriziano Park.
The schools also joined the collective event par excellence of Reggio Emilia, with OFF Schoolthe section aimed at schools of all levels in Reggio Emilia and the Province. There are approximately 23 projects presented by the schoolscurated by the kids themselves and displayed in various ways: in the corridors of schools, in dedicated locations around the city and again in a city-wide poster campaign, which will give visibility to the commitment of young students in reflecting on the photographic medium and on their interpretation of this year’s concept.
He’s back too Special Samuela Solfitti, thanks to the collaboration with the Educational Workshop Service of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, UOC Youth Participation and Wellbeing. Now in its fourteenth edition, the competition, linked to the memory of Samuela Solfitti, pedagogical coordinator of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, is aimed at secondary school classes enrolled in OFF@School. From the images presented during the registration phase, 24 shots will be selected which will then be exhibited in an exhibition set up at the Chiostro della Ghiara during the 2024 European Photography Festival.
The magnetism of the OFF Circuit goes beyond the confines of the city and extends to the province with widespread membership of local authorities and associations, as well as numerous photographic clubs and collectives. This is the case of the exhibition hosted at Exhibition Galleries of the Princes’ Palacein Correggio, a true photographic journey dedicated to Luciano Ligabue where the photographer Jarno Iotti talks about Liga in the twenty years or more spent together “on and off the stage”. And again the Municipal Library of Novellara, the Municipality of Gattatico, the exhibition set up in the Civic Hall of the Municipality of Campagnola Emilia, Palazzo Bentivoglio in Gualtieri or the collective exhibition exhibited at the Spazio Fuori in Cavriago. These are just some of the venues and entities in the area that are preparing to host exhibitions. Thanks to this participation, a lively relationship is being established between the capital and its province, creating a territorial network that is transformed into socio-cultural development and promotion of the territory.
Night OFF: the program for May 4th
All the protagonists of the OFF Circuit will meet to celebrate this edition during the OFF Night on May 4th, an evening entirely dedicated to the network of collaborators, exhibitors, photographers, organizers and citizens, who have built the Circuit around the institutional event of European Photography. It starts at 5pm from the Ex Aci, in via Secchi, for the presentation of the exhibition Nuvolicadiraorganized by the E35 Foundation.
At 6.30pm the marching band will leave from Via dei due Gobbi Bandakadabra which will cross the streets of the center and some identifying spaces of the OFF with the overwhelming music of the group and its entertaining comic-theatrical performances until arriving in Piazza del Popol Giost. The awards ceremony for the winner of the 2024 edition of the OFF Circuit will take place here at 8pm. A specialized jury, chaired by the artistic director Walter Guadagniniwill select the most interesting works and will award the most deserving personal or collective project the Max Sperafico Award (in memory of the historic collaborator of the Festival). The winner will be able to develop a new exhibition and exhibit it during the next edition of the European Photography OFF Circuit in 2025.
Like every year, also in 2024 the OFF Circuit presents itself as a reservoir of energy and cultural ideas which, starting from the center of Reggio, spreads towards the province, fueling that desire for participation that transforms this event into a great party.
edited by Paolo Bongianino
Tags: Circuit European Photography April June Reggio Emilia
