Luigi Ghirri. Photography Lessons
Project, Exercises and Variations. Luca Capuano and Stefano Graziani

From 24 April 2025 to 1 March 2026 the Palazzo dei Musei in Reggio Emilia presents Luigi Ghirri. Lezioni di fotografia // Progetto, esercizi e variazioni. Luca Capuano e Stefano Graziani [Luigi Ghirri. Photography Lessons. Project, Exercises and Variations. Luca Capuano and Stefano Graziani], an exhibition curated by di Ilaria Campioli which is inspired by the lessons that Luigi Ghirri gave at the Università del Progetto (Design University) in Reggio Emilia from 1989 to 1990. Taking a design-based approach and seeking to comprehensively redefine the role of those working in the field of images, the course gave Ghirri the chance to tackle topics that had always been pivotal.
The exhibition is also an opportunity not only to present several works (54 photographs) that Luigi Ghirri was working on during his teaching years, but also to reflect on the links between teaching and artistic practice, the processes of knowledge mediated by images and, in particular, the creative ones.

Rather than following a linear path, in his lessons it felt more like Ghirri was drawing a map and allowing 'everyone to find their own way". In Luigi Ghirri's Photography lessons, the interest in drawing attention to the environment in its complexity is evident, a kind of caring action towards the world starting from its representation. As well as looking back at his own work and the history of images, he led practical exercises covering a number of subjects.

Luca Capuano and Stefano Graziani's main focus is on these very 'assignments'. As well as Ghirri's lessons, the two artists examine the tradition of including training and exercises in the creative and teaching process, as espoused by figures such as John Baldessari, Sol Lewitt, Yoko Ono and Georges Perec. In addition, Capuano and Graziani looked through Luigi Ghirri's life and work, exploring both his home and his archives, and using photography for the purposes of practice, study and reactivation. The same section reveals the results of a workshop run by the two artists for a group of students from the Higher Institute for Artistic Industries (ISIA) in Urbino, which looked into the topics raised by the exhibition.
The third section takes a look at the role that the medium has performed in schools and academies ever since its earliest days, using an invaluable selection of 73 historic photographs from the collections of the 'Gaetano Chierici' artistic high school in Reggio Emilia, the majority of which have never gone on public display. In these settings, photographs are more than just sources of visual information about important works, monuments and architecture. They are tools that have been put to practical use, with visible traces of gridding and reworking, not to mention sketches and notes. This evidence of constant mediation and transcription highlights what Monica Maffioli calls the 'dual existence' of photography and its 'authorial, material, ambiguous and troubling' characteristics.

The Exhibition Luigi Ghirri. Lezioni di fotografia // Progetto, esercizi e variazioni. Luca Capuano e Stefano Graziani is promoted by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia (Civic Museums, Panizzi Library) in collaboration with Luigi Ghirri Foundation, ISIA Urbino and "Gaetano Chierici" High School of Art.
Realized thanks to European Funds from the Emilia-Romagna Region with Art Bonus contribution from IREN.

LUIGI GHIRRI
Luigi Ghirri (Scandiano, 1943 - Reggio Emilia, 1992) is considered one of the most important European photographers of the twentieth century. His work deals with the rules of photography: his images are not acts of mimesis or mere reproductions, but ways of exploring reality, emphasising the fictitious nature of vision and representation. The roots of his figurative art lie in twentieth-century movements, from Dadaist objet trouvé to conceptual art, right up to American Pop Art, while in the field of photography, his reference points are photographers from the American and French schools. Alongside his tireless exhibition work, Ghirri conducted major cultural promotion initiatives, including projects for the publishing company Punto e Virgola. He also organised exhibitions such as Iconicittà (1980), Viaggio in Italia (1984) and Esplorazioni sulla via Emilia (1986): milestones in the history of contemporary Italian photography that put it at the heart of a lively debate.... read the rest of the article»