Ragusa Photo Festival: A Look From The Mediterranean

Ragusa Photo Festival is an event dedicated to contemporary photography. A springboard for young photographers and a contemporary creativity workshop that takes place in Sicily, in the heart of the Mediterranean, between the historic buildings of Ragusa Ibla, one of the most beautiful Baroque towns of Italy. Since the first edition, in 2012, it succeeded in conquering a position in the panorama of events dedicated to contemporary research and topical photojournalism. The festival promotes a comparison on photography and its codes, on the training and the profession of photographer with authors, critics, photo editors and experts of international famous works. Exhibitions, workshops, portfolio reviews, screenings, introductions of artists, have the aim to involve and excite its audience.

The edition 2016 of Ragusa Photo Festival presents great news, starting from the dates (extended by a month) and new locations. In the beautiful baroque setting of Ragusa Ibla, will be open the doors of La Rocca Palace, Cosentini Palace and St. Vincent Ferreri Auditorium.

The rich cultural program will involve artists, experts, critics and cultural operators who will be present during the opening days, from Friday 22th to Monday 25th of July.
Exhibitions, workshops, portfolio readings, talks, screenings and much more, to promote, stimulate and share the art of photography with an audience interested in its various languages ​​and combinations.

The opening will be held the 22th of July; it will be the occasion to present the protagonists of the fifth edition and talk about “Sicilian Unfinished” with “Alterazioni Video”, a collective of artists, organizers of the workshop that anticipates the opening of the exhibition, from the 18th to the 21th of July; “It will be the Festival of participation”, as it explains Giorgio Barrera, the artistic director. “Who chooses to see Ragusa Photo Festival aimes to attend a cultural event which tells the multiple languages born from photography. Studying the issues related to the area, especially the Mediterranean way, through the methodology of the authors’ research is absolutely present but not granted”.

“Ragusa Photo Festival, at its fifth year, strengthens its identity and continues to tell the history of our land”, said Stefania Paxhia, executive director and creator of the RFF.

THE THEME
The local language
The aim of the 2016 edition is that of building a visual story of the Mediterranean which, through the different languages ​​of photography, can be able to show the cultural diversities to the changes taking place in the area. For us, the word “language” has a double meaning: of artistic expression but also of social expression, as it is a way to restore the messages that the area needs to communicate.

WORKSPOK
“Sicilian Unfinished: Planning the Impossible”, by Alterazioni Video
“Alterazioni Video” offers an intensive workshop of TURBO DESIGN dedicated to the “Sicilian Unfinished . From the 18th to the 21th of July, is possible to participate to the realization of a radical transformation action of the territory. Four days and four nights together producing drawnings, photographs, videos, interviews, sculptures, models and performance that will be exposed at Cosentini Palace. As in Sicily there is the highest concentration of unfinished works, “Alterazioni Video” aims to continue its research activity linked to Sicilian Unfinished in our hyblean area. After a careful reconnaissance of the unfinished works in the hyblean province, they has chosen the building that will be the main subject of the workshop: the “Palaroma” in Comiso.
Alterazioni Video ( www.alterazionivideo.com), is a collective of five artists (Paololuca Barbieri Marchi, Andrea Masu, Alberto Caffarelli, James Porfiry, Matthew Erenbourg) based in Milan and New York.

THE SELF–PRODUCTION OF A BOOK PHOTO, BY BRUNO CESCHEL 
–SELFPUBLISHBEHAPPY
On the 24th and 25 th of July, Bruno Ceschel, an Italian publisher who lives in London, founder of Self Publish, Be Happy, will hold, at the video library of the “Ancient Convent” hotel, in Ragusa Ibla, a two-day intensive course to learn to transform your photos into a genuine editorial project for distribution: producing and to publishing your own photo book quickly. This is also very useful to understand what are the best opportunities for the production, distribution and marketing of a photo book.
Bruno Ceschel is a writer, editor and teacher at the Camberwell College of Arts-University in London and at the Ecole Cantonale d’art de Lausanne.
SelfPublishBeHappy collects, studies and promotes self-produced photo books through a program of workshops, live events, off and online projects.

PORTFOLIO READINGS
As every year, the portfolio readings are open to professional photographers (and not only) to offer the opportunity to meet influential personalities in the field of photography and receive tips and suggestions. An opportunity to promote your work and develop your career as authors.
For the 2016 edition, the readers are: 1) Daniele De Luigi, administrator of the Town Gallery of Modena town; 2) Renata Ferri, chief photo editor for “Io Donna”,( a women’s review of “Corriere della Sera” and “Amica”, RCS editorial group”) and member of many juries of national and international photo awards; 3) the founders of “Micamera – lens based arts”, a gallery bookshop which is in Milan a reference point of national and international photographic publishing.

THE AUTHORS AND THE EXHIBITIONS
Olivo Barbieri participates with two films, Seascape # 2 – Castel dell’Ovo, shot digitally in Naples in 2006 with a prototype of a drone, and Sevilla → (∞) 06, also of 2006, but shot in 35mm.
To pay tribute to the Syrian city destroyed by Islamic militias but soon released, they will be showed some photos, taken in 1910 by Tony André, portraying Palmyra, city of Unesco, as they saw it the first Western archaeologists. The fund set up by the ICCD (Central Institute for Cataloguing and Documentation) consists of approximately 150 glass sheets 9×12 cm and includes images produced on the field together with the reproductions of other documents.
“From Dark to Dark “, by Moira Ricci, reinterprets and revisits the oral tradition of the “Maremma”, her homeland, calling it to life through the reconstruction by the images of some legends related to certain characters.
Nicholas Degiorgis, in his “Islam Hidden” project, documents the worship Muslim places in the north-east of Italy. The greek Nikolas Ventourakis is present with “The Banality of the Avante Garde”: that is, photos of a tourist area near Thessaloniki, in which the author shows the scars that the earth has suffered as a result of uncompleted projects.
The Collective is composed by: Arianna Sanesi, with “Liminal”, who tells glimpses of life of Salento boys; Ciro Cangialosi who discovered the visible signs that the war has left to everybody with the project “The Island of the Cyclopes”. The photographic work of Carmen Cardillo is a recognition, began in 2007, of the mouths of major Sicilian rivers. Umberto Coa describes the life of Sutera, a village almost completely abandoned in the province of Caltanissetta. Finally, the Grotta Azzurra in Capri lives on “Blue Imaginary”, the installation of Alice Grassi.
Finally, “Young Photo Hdemy” by the “Academy of Fine Arts” of Catania, with “CHAOS in LOGOS”, composed by the works of nine students of the Master Degree in Photography: Marco Calandra, Miriam Giovanna Carini, Francesco Di Giovanni, Roberta Wounded, Dafne Grasso, Enrico Gugliotta, Erica Maria Minni, John Daffodils, Sergio Pelligra.

TRIBUTE TO MARIO DONDERO
To remember Mario Dondero, one of the most interesting man of contemporary photojournalism, and affectionate supporter of Ragusa Photo Festival, on Saturday, the 23th of July, at St. Vincent Ferreri Church, there will be the screening of the documentary film “Quiet and chalk – travelling with Dondero”, by Marco Cruciani.

CIRCUIT OFF
“The photograph of the Territories and the City” is the title of the project by Santo Eduardo Di Miceli, produced by the Cultural Association PHOTO GRAPHIA, an open-air exhibition at the New Bridge of Ragusa. The exhibition was implemented by the Foundation of the Order of Architects of Ragusa. The project analyzes the cities and the territories through the eyes of ten photographers: Jade Alù, Sandro Bertola, Emanuele Canino, Domenico Cipollina, Riccardo Colelli, Santo Eduardo Di Miceli, Francesco Lantino, Benedict Tarantino, Elio Torrisi, Giuseppe Trotta.
The issues and the languages ​​used highlight a particular focus on a real identity crisis that cities and places are going through with respect to man’s ways of living.

GALLERY OWNERS SICILIANI COMPARISON
“Art Gallery owners militants between research and the market system. Four Sicilian stories” is the title of the talk curated by Helga Marsala, Sunday, July 24, at 19.30 in the St. Vincent Ferreri auditorium. A talk to more voices, to talk about the role of art galleries in Sicily, compared to the local context and to that Italian. Dialogue with the founders of the four main galleries of the island: the CollicaLigreggi from Catania; Laveronica, based in Modica; Francesco Pantaleone Contemporary art gallery, Palermo; and Rizzuto Gallery, Palermo.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE FIFTH EDITION
Giorgio Barrera lives in Milan. He is an artist who works with photography and video. He has won many awards, including the Baume & Mercier, Canon, Sony and FNAC awards. In 2009 he published his first book “Through the Window”, by Active Zone, followed in 2011 by “Battlegrounds 1848 to 1867”, published by Silvana Editoriale, and “Go in Peace”, published by Postcart, in 2014. Forthcoming, with Danilo Montanari publisher, it is a book of visual narratives. His work is present in many publications both in Italy and abroad, and it is part of public and private collections.
He collaborated with the IIC of Paris, Stockholm, Sofia, Helsinki and Toronto. Among his most significant exposures: “The sidewalk never ends”, at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001 and Les Rencontres d’Arles in 2003; In 2006, “Inventing Movements”, an “outdoor expo” in large format posters in the rest areas of A6 Highway Torino-Savona, and in 2007 a specific exhibition site for “European Photography” in Reggio Emilia. In 2009 he exhibited his works at the “Palazzo delle Esposizioni” in Rome; in 2011 appeared a public installation of the project ”Battlegrounds 1848 -1867” for CONTACT, the contemporary photography festival of Toronto. He recently exhibited the project “Go in Peace” at the ICCD of Rome, at the San Fedele Gallery in Milan and at the Diocesan Museum of Venice, as a side event of MIBAC Architecture Biennal. He is one of the founders of fotoromanzoitaliano.it: an artistic collective project on the use of the image today, winner of the Memory Beyond award. He also supports the artistic research with a lecturer and teaching activity at some Institutes of Florence and Milan.
www.giorgiobarrera.it.

Ragusa Photo Festival was conceived by Stefania Paxhia and produced by the CulturalAssociation Antiruggine, in collaboration with the Municipality of Ragusa, the sponsorship of the Free Municipal Consortium of Ragusa and the Chamber of Commerce of Ragusa.