IRREGULAR WORKSHOP
"LAB\per un laboratorio irregolare" is a masterclass held by Antonio Biasiucci and born spontaneously out of the artist’s encounter with a group of young photographers in December 2012. Through biweekly meetings and absolutely free of charge, Biasiucci followed them for approximately two years in the discovery of their own artistic path, guiding each one in the production of a personal project.
The experience arose from the need to create a space for young artists. The fundamental idea is about transmitting a method of training constant critical analysis of one’s work. “The masterclass — writes Leo De Berardinis quoting Antonio Neiwiller, Biasiucci’s friend and inspiration — is the stimulus to tickle the internal strings of thought and emotion, so they become pure and bare epiphanies.”
A masterclass becomes meaningful only because of the in-depth approach it purports: in this sense, the photographer’s mentorship eschews technical content encouraging instead different personal paths of visual research and identifying defining images which will guide the young photographer’s work, beyond mere artistic gimmick. The lab prompts its participants to look inside themselves, thus generating different points of view: eight heterogeneous project, guided by a single method.
LAB is dedicated to the city of Naples, to its citizens, to the relationship between the new generations and contemporary culture.
The goal is to repeat the experience so that it becomes a well-established reality inside and for the city. Every step of this path, from the creation of the project, to the making of a portfolio, from the setting up and organisation of the exhibition, to the printing of the catalogue, constitutes a part of the masterclass.
ANTONIO BIASIUCCI
Antonio Biasiucci was born in Dragoni (Caserta) in 1961. In 1980 he moved to Naples, where he started a project on the spaces of the urban suburbs, developing research on personal memory, photographing rituals, environments and people of his native country. In 1984 he began a collaboration with the Vesuvian Observatory, undertaking a large project on active volcanoes in Italia.
In 1987 he met Antonio Neiwiller, actor and theater director: the two collaborated until Neiwiller's death in 1993. His research is rooted in the culture of southern Italy and has developed, in more recent years, on a journey through the primary elements of existence. He has received numerous awards, including, in 1992, the “European Kodak Panorama” award in Arles; in 2005 the “Kraszna / Krausz Photography Book Awards”, for the publication of his book Res. Lo stato delle cose (2004) and, in the same year, the “Bastianelli Award”. His work by him has been exhibited numerous times in solo and group exhibitions, in national and international festivals and fairs. He has collaborated on several editorial projects, such as those for the Neapolitan publishing house L'Ancora del Mediterraneo (from 2000 to 2004).
In addition, he has taken part in significant cultural initiatives of a social nature. Many of his works by him have been acquired by museums and other institutions as part of their permanent collections, in Italy and abroad: National Institute for Graphics, Rome; MAXXI, Rome; PAN Palace of the Arts, Naples;
MADRE - Donna Regina Museum of Contemporary Art, Naples; Naples Metro; Civic Gallery of Modena; Villa Ghirlanda Museum of Contemporary Photography, Cinisello Balsamo (Milan); Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation for Contemporary Art, Guarene (Cuneo); Banco di Napoli Foundation; Banca Unicredit Collection, Bologna; Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; Château d'Eau, Toulouse; Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne; Center de la Photographie, Geneva; Banca del Gottardo Foundation, Lugano; Center Méditerranéen de la Photographie, Bastia; Galerie Freihausgasse, Villach (Austria); Departamento de investigación and documentación de la Cultura Audiovisual, Puebla (Mexico); Mart, Rovereto.
