Olivo Barbieri

Olivo Barbieri (born 1954, in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna) is an Italian artist and photographer of urban environments.

He is recognized for his innovative technique creating miniature still photography[1] from actual landscapes by simulating shallow depth of field via the use of tilt-shift lens photography. Barbieri's technique simulates the shallow depth of field effect of macro photography by tilting the lens's angle to the back plane of the camera, which creates a gradual blurring at the top and bottom edges, or left and right edges of the filmed image. The technique is called selected focus and the effect is that a picture of an actual city looks like the picture of a model.[2][3]

Career

Barbieri began his career in photography studying at DAMS (Drama, Art and Music Studies) at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Bologna.[4] After 1971, his interest in photography grew and, initially, he focused his research on artificial lighting. In 1978, he took part in several exhibitions in Italy and also abroad. In 1989 he started to travel regularly to the Far East, particularly to China.

In 1993, 1995 and 1997 Barbieri exhibited his work at the Venice Biennale, among other international exhibitions, and in galleries and museums throughout Europe, North America, and China. In 1996, the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany, devoted a retrospective to his work, which has been collected by museums worldwide. In 1998 and 1999, his work was featured in two exhibitions at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.[5][6]

In 2003, Barbieri started the Site Specific project (photos and films) describing cities like Rome, Turin, Montreal,[7] Amman, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Siviglia, New York and others.[2] He has realised several 35mm films within this project:[8]

  • site specific_ROMA 04
  • site specific_SHANGHAI 04
  • site specific_LAS VEGAS 05
  • SEVILLA → (∞) 06
  • site specific_MODENA 08

Site specific_ROMA 04 was exhibited in 2005 at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, at the Hayward Gallery of London and at Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART).

Films

In 2005 he also started two series of movies called Seascape# and Riverscape#, which include:

  • Seascape#1 Night, China Shenzhen, 2005
  • Seascape#2 Castel dell’Ovo, Napoli, 2006
  • Rivescape#1, Night, China Shanghai 2007

Other movies realised by Barbieri are:

  • Beijing Sky, 2007
  • 5 Colori, 2008
  • TWIY, 2008
  • Tuscany in 6 pieces, 2010

Barbieri's films have been presented in the most important international festivals, including:[9]

Personal

He lives and works in Milan[citation needed].

Books

Several books and catalogues have been published on Barbieri's work, including:[9]

  • Paesaggi in Miniatura, Udine, 1991
  • Notte, Udine, 1991
  • Olivo Barbieri seit 1978, Museum Folgwan, Essen, 1996
  • Illuminazioni Artificiali, Milan, 1995, Washington, D.C., 1998
  • Notsofareast, Rome, 2002
  • Paintings, Florence, 2002
  • site Specific_Roma 04, Rome, 2004
  • site Specific_Las Vegas 05, Toronto, 2005
  • site specific_SHANGHAI 04, Bologna, 2006
  • site specific_NYC 07, Carpi, 2007
  • TWIY, Napoli, 2008
  • site specific_JORDAN 04, Genova, 2008
  • The Waterfall Project, Bologna, 2008
  • site specific_BEIJING 08, Alcamo, 2008
  • Site Specific, New York: Aperture, September 2013.[20]

Awards

Barbieri has won several awards and prizes for his work:[9]

References

  1. ^ "Artifical [sic] reality of Olivo Barbieri" Archived 26 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine. LUX Magazine. March, 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Site Specific – The Morning News". Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  3. ^ Fergusson, WM (9 December 2007). "Fake Tilt-Shift Photography". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  4. ^ a b "CRAF – Centro di Ricerca e Archiviazione della Fotografia" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  5. ^ Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA). "32 Italian Photographers: A Tribute to Phyllis Lambert". cca.qc.ca. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  6. ^ Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA). "Photography and Transformations of the Contemporary City: Venezia – Marghera". cca.qc.ca. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Olivo Barbieri: site specific _ Montreal 04 | Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)". 14 June 2010. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Sundance Channel – Site Specific: Olivo Barbieri". Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  9. ^ a b c "Olivo Barbieri Biography" (Word doc) (in Italian). Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  10. ^ "Barbieri at Locarno Film Festival". Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  11. ^ "Barbieri – International Film Festival Rotterdam – IFFR". Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  12. ^ "Wexner Center for the Arts: Film/Video – Olivo Barbieri". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  13. ^ "Olivo Barbieri – Sundance Film Festival". Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  14. ^ a b "2006 Winners – San Francisco Film Society". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  15. ^ "BAM/PFA – Film Programs: Haunted Cameras: Recent Avant-Garde Films Cinema 2006". Archived from the original on 25 July 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  16. ^ "BAM/PFA – Film Programs: Fugitive Prayers Cinema 2006". Archived from the original on 25 July 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  17. ^ "BAM/PFA – Film Programs: At the Edge: New Experimental Cinema 2007". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  18. ^ "MoMA FILM SCREENINGS: site specific_LAS VEGAS 05". Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  19. ^ "Programme Berlinale 2007". Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  20. ^ "Site Specific Olivo Barbieri – Aperture Foundation". Archived from the original on 25 November 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  21. ^ "2008 Award Winners". Retrieved 20 January 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  22. ^ "The Higashikawa Award". Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.