In Prato, a photography festival explores the theme of conflict

Tdecorates this year as well FORthe photographic exhibition designed and curated by the independent team of photographers and visual arts scholars Sixteen of Prato. On Friday 21 July, the spectators will be guided from 20:00 to photographic exhibitions, talks and screenings inside the Saletta Campolmi and the external spaces of the Lazzerini Library. Here’s why you should join

The theme chosen for this sixth edition of ULTRA is CONFLICT: through the gaze of Italian and international photographers, Sedici wanted to draw attention to the theme of conflict, a figure that characterizes this very uncertain and irreconcilable present of ours.

Jean-Marc Caimi / Valentna Piccinni, The Fighters of Maidan
Jean-Marc Caimi / Valentna Piccinni, The Maidan Fighters

Hence the choice to host four exhibitions exploring events in Ukraine, Iran, but also in Italy: the Italian-French duo Jean-Marc Caimi / Valentna Piccinni presents the work The Maidan Fighters, showing the protagonists of the Maidan Square protests in Kyiv in 2014, events that are the starting point of the current war in Ukraine. Dutch photographer Marinka Masséus with Hidden no more | Woman Life Freedom | Iran Instead, it reinterprets one of the symbols of the Iranian regime’s repression against women: the hijab. The Iranian women depicted discarding their veils, a gesture that became even more important after the Mahsa Aminia symbol of the violent protests still ongoing in Iranian society.

Marinka Masséus, Stealthy no more |  Woman Life Freedom |  Iran
Marinka Masseus, Hidden no more | Woman Life Freedom | Iran

Photographer Massimo Berruti brings the project Epidemic, which focuses on the complex health and environmental conditions of the community living in a vast area between Naples and Caserta, unfortunately known as the Land of Fire. Finally, the duo Giulia Piermartri / Edoardo Delille with the project Atlas of the New World chose to photograph what will be the landscape of some of the places most subject to morphological upheavals. Following the climate data of the United Nations, Delille and Piermatri use a special projector that allows them to superimpose the catastrophic vision of our planet’s near future on the real picture.

Giulia Piermartri / Edoardo Delille, Atlas Of The New World
Giulia Piermartri / Edoardo Delille, Atlas of the New World

In addition to these four exhibitions, which you can visit until July 30, in the outdoor spaces next to Saletta Campolmi, there will be Clash with your monster, a site-specific performance installation curated by Anita Scianò. The installation offers a physical and sensory experience: a camp scene immersed in semi-darkness invites viewers to plunge into the unknown and come to terms with their own inner monsters.

On Friday 21 July, authors Jean-Marc Caimi, Valentna Piccinni, Edoardo Delille, Giulia Piermartri and Massimo Berruti will be present at the event and will host talks during the evening, in the outdoor piazza of the Lazzerini Library, from 9.30pm. m. .

It will also be possible to dine on site, thanks to the partnership with Schiaccino, from 20.30. ULTRA // CLASH is an event that is part of Prato Estate 2023, a project of the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Prato, created in collaboration with Consenso Brand and DHG Dyeing House Gallery. Entry to all events is free until seats are sold out.

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