Olivo Barbieri - Dolomites Project 2010 / Illuminazioni Artificiali - 1995-2011

1) ILLUMINAZIONI ARTIFICIALI, OLIVO BARBIERI

Milan: Federico Motta Editore, 1995.
First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Language: Italian
Text: Enrico Ghezzi
Condition: Excellent

Illuminazioni Artificiali is an important early photographic book by Italian photographer Olivo Barbieri, published in Milan in 1995.
The volume brings together Barbieri's exploration of artificial light and its transformative effect on the nocturnal urban environment. Rather than simply documenting illuminated cities, Barbieri creates photographs in which streets, buildings and urban spaces acquire an enigmatic, theatrical and almost dreamlike character.
Artificial light becomes a fundamental element of his photographic language, allowing familiar places to be transformed and encouraging the viewer to question the relationship between reality and photographic representation.
The book includes a text by Italian writer and film critic Enrico Ghezzi and represents an important stage in the development of Barbieri's distinctive approach to photography.
This is the first Italian edition, published in 1995. An English-language edition, Artificial Illuminations, was subsequently published by Smithsonian Institution Press in 1998.

2) DOLOMITES PROJECT 2010, OLIVO BARBIERI

Bologna: Damiani, 2011.
First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Language: Italian / English
Condition: Excellent

Dolomites Project 2010 presents Olivo Barbieri's distinctive photographic interpretation of the Dolomites, one of Italy's most recognizable mountain landscapes.
In this project, Barbieri moves away from the conventional representation of the mountains as sublime and monumental natural scenery. Instead, the Dolomites appear as extraordinary formations that seem simultaneously geological, architectural and artificial.
The photographs question the boundary between nature and artifice and reflect one of the central concerns of Barbieri's work: the ability of photography to transform perception and make familiar landscapes appear strange, ambiguous and unexpectedly constructed.
The project was presented at MART – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto in 2011 and was published by Damiani in Bologna.
The volume is an important example of Barbieri's later photographic research and his continuing investigation into the relationship between landscape, perception and representation.

Olivo Barbieri (born in Carpi, Italy, in 1954) is one of the most distinctive figures in contemporary Italian photography.
He began his photographic research in the 1970s, initially focusing on artificial illumination and the nocturnal urban landscape. His work developed around questions of perception, architecture, artificiality and the ways in which photography can transform the appearance of familiar places.
In 1984 Barbieri participated in Viaggio in Italia, the influential photographic project curated by Luigi Ghirri. During the 1980s and 1990s he travelled extensively, particularly in Asia, photographing rapidly changing urban environments.
From the 1990s onwards, Barbieri became known for his distinctive use of selective focus and, subsequently, for his aerial photography. His celebrated site specific_ project, begun in 2003, involved photographing cities from helicopters, transforming vast urban landscapes into images that can resemble miniature models.
His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Biennale and at major museums and institutions in Europe, North America and Asia.
Barbieri's photographic practice consistently explores the unstable boundary between reality and representation, creating images in which cities, architecture and landscapes appear simultaneously familiar and strangely artificial.
His major publications include Illuminazioni Artificiali (1995), Artificial Illuminations (1998), Dolomites Project 2010 (2011), and numerous volumes related to his site specific_ project.