IMAGES
    WORDS
Mark
   IMAGES
    WORDS
Mark
BIO

Luca Massaro (Reggio Emilia, 1991) is an artist and photographer working with Images and Words. He studied Literatures and Communication at Università Cattolica Milano and Université Paris Sorbonne. His projects have been published internationally (Aperture, Art Paper Editions, i-D, FOAM, MOUSSE, M Le Monde, Danilo Montanari, Purple Magazine, Skinnerboox..) and exhibited in collective and solo exhibitions: among others, the Italian Cultural Institute (Montevideo), Viasaterna (Milan), MBAL (Le Locle), Gibellina Images (Gibellina), Kunsthaus Pasquart (Biel/Bienne), PhMuseum (Bologna), MAR Museum (Ravenna), Museo Degli Eremitani (Padova), BACO Contemporary Art (Bergamo), Peckham 24 (London), Matèria (Roma), Printed Matter (New York), Photo Weekend (Dusseldorf), Triennale Museum (Milano), Palazzo Del Governatore (Parma Europe Culture Capital), Fotografia Europea Festival (Reggio Emilia). His work is present in private and institutional collections, such as MBAL Museum, Regione Emilia Romagna Arte Contemporeanea, Benetton Foundation (Nascimben Prize), Fondazione Orestiadi, Istituto Italiano di Cultura Montevideo, and recently won the public commission Triennale Museum x Gibellina Images.
From 2020 he is represented by Viasaterna. The monograph "Dizionario Vol.1" (2012-2022), published in February 2023 by Art Paper Editions has been exhibited and featured internationally and was selected among the best PhotoBooks of 2023 for i-D UK, at Photo España and at Les Rencontres d’Arles.

STATEMENT

My work focuses on the invisible space that separates an image from its caption, photographs from words, in their different forms of production, translation and transmission.

My process always starts from words and photographs, often resulting in paintings, sculptures, artist books, and public installations. I’m interested in the intrinsic duality of the photo-graphic medium, and its tie to the performative construction of identities. I’m looking for possible convergences between the new uses of photography, the creation of a cohesive body of work and its decontextualization by internet distribution and immediacy, in the long tradition of image-text interplay in the history of arts.

Through advertising techniques of manipulation borrowed from the urban and online accelerated mediascape – as the proliferation of backlit devices, the repetition of graphic logos and leitmotifs –, my work is an open research on the paradoxes of language, a portrait of the conflicting hybridization of iconotexts today, questioning the cultural, social and political value of the images that stick to our psyche and shared worldview.



ARTIST BOOKS
        MONOGRAPHS

Dizionario Vol.1 - Art Paper Editions, 2023
Vietnik - Gluqbar Editions, 2019

Foto Grafia - Danilo Montanari Editore, 2015


        ZINES

Paintings - Emic Units, 2023
L'Aquila e La Rana - Gluqbar Editions, 2014
Ukiyo-e - Edizioni PulcinoElefante, 2014
Ukiyo-e - BooksOnLine.fr, 2013




PUBLICATIONS
        PRINTED COLLECTIVE BOOKS

Metafotografia Vol.2 - Skinnerboox
222 Artisti Emergenti Su Cui Investire 2021 - Exibart Edition
Looking On - MAR Museum 
2016 Sulla Nuova Fotografia Italiana - Viasaterna (curated by Fantom)


        MAGAZINES

Aperture, C41, D La Repubblica, FOAM, Flash Art, M Le Monde, Purple Magazine, Rivista Studio, Rolling Stone, Sali & Tabacchi, Vogue


        ONLINE PUBLICATIONS

AnOther, ATP, Bullett, Creative Review, Dazed, Domus, Doppiozero, HERO, i-D UK, MOUSSE, Rolling Stone, SPBH, W Magazine, YET, Zero..




EDUCATION

Degree in Literatures, Communication, Media at Università Cattolica Milano and Université Sorbonne Paris IV
Thesis: “Foto Grafia - il rapporto tra immagine fotografica e parola nell'era contemporanea, dalle arti visive alla comunicazione”





SELECTED COMMISSIONED WORKS

A Cold Wall, Adidas, Alla Carta, C41, Dazed, D La Repubblica, Gucci, GQ, i-D, M Le Monde, Max Mara, PIG, Purple Magazine, Retrosuperfuture, Rivista Studio, Rolling Stone, Sali & Tabacchi, Vice, Vogue, W Magazine



SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024

Finale - Centrale Festival Milano (curated by Luca Panaro)
A Spasso - Kunsthaus Pasquart Biel/Bienne

Milano - Viasaterna x Volvo Studio Milano


2023

Agorà - Gibellina Images x Triennale Milano, Sistema delle Piazze, Gibellina (with Anna Merci)
captionthis - Ph Museum Photo Days Festival
Dizionario Vol.1 - Studio Blanco Reggio Emilia
Duetto - Viasaterna Milano (with Giuseppe Chiari)


2019

See Both Sides - Viasaterna Milano
The White Room The Black Room - Spazio Duale Roma
Darkroom - Centrale Festival (curated by Marco Paltrinieri)


2018

Vietnik - Chiostri di San Domenico Reggio Emilia

Comme des Grenouilles - Edicola Radetzky Milano
La Tendenza - Marsèlleria Milano


2017

Seeing Double - Metronom Modena


2015

Foto Grafia - F4 Festival Treviso
Quasi-Quasi - Matèria Gallery Roma



PRIZES / RESIDENCIES

Prix Du Livre 2023 Shorlist – Les Rencontres d’Arles 2023
Best PhotoBooks of 2023 Photo España
PhMuseum Days 2023 Recipient
Triennale x Gibellina Images Public Commission 2022
Energie Diffuse Grant Reggio Emilia 2019
Giovani Artisti Italiani - Fotografia Europea, 2016
Portfolio Review Düsseldorf - Shortlisted, 2016
Premio Nascimben - Winner U25 Prize, 2014



COLLECTIONS

MBAL Museum
Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Montevideo
Collezione Regione Emilia Romagna Arte Contemporanea
Fondazione Benetton
Fondazione Orestiadi
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Yale Library
Getty Library
Private Collections
Enquire @ Viasaterna



TEACHING / WORKSHOPS

University Lecturer at Istituto Marangoni Milano 
University Ravensbourne London visiting professor
IED University visiting professor

In conversation with Giada Biaggi - Volvo Studio Milano
Triennale Museum - Art Paper Editions
Triennale Museum - Workshop Fotografia Spazio Pubblico
Triennale Museum - Tonight We Are Young
Gluqbar Studio Talks - Various Workshops
Roche Portrait Photography - Milano
Workshop Immagine-Parola - Istituto Italiano di Cultura Montevideo
Captionissima Viasaterna - in conversation with Federica Chiocchetti
Vietnik Workshop & Book Launch - Chiostri Fotografia Europea
LiveStudio #3 - Galleria Civica Modena x Metronom
2016 - On New Italian Photography / Publishing - Viasaterna Milano
The Life of Vietnik - NRW-Forum Düsseldorf
Foto Grafia - Università de L'Aquila
Foto Grafia - Urban Center di Nuoro






SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025

Viasaterna 10th Anniversary
Agorà @ Spazio Shed Schio


2024

Fondazione Fabbri - Villa Brandolini (curated by Carlo Sala)


2023

Driving Energy - Palazzo Delle Esposizione Roma (curated by Marco Delogu)
Prix Du Livre 2023 Exhibition - Les Rencontres d’Arles
Best PhotoBooks of the Year - Photo Espana Festival Madrid
Le Plaisir Du Texte - MBAL Musée des Beaux-Arts Le Locle (curated by Federica Chiocchetti)


2022

Emergenze Contemporanee - Museo della Città di Rimini
Abbecedario Fotografico - Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì
Overview - Viasaterna Milano


2021

Istituto Italiano di Cultura - Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Montevideo Uruguay
Photo London 2021 Viasaterna Artsy Digital Booth
Abecedario d’Artista - Palazzo del Governatore Parma


        2020

Photo Open Up - Museo Degli Eremitani Padova (curated by Carlo Sala)
Metafotografia - BACO Arte Contemporanea (curated by Mauro Zanchi & Sara Benaglia)
Spazio Libero - Public Billboards Reggio Emilia (curated by Ilaria Campioli & Daniele De Luigi)


2019

Printed Matter Inc. x Vietnik - Printed Matter, New York
Centrale - The Others Fair Torino (curated by Luca Panaro)
Future Shock - Fonderia Napoleonica (curated by Francesca Marani & Marco Gehlhar)
Dancing in Peckham - Peckham 24 (selected by Photoworks UK, Webber Gallery & Der Greif)

Looking On, Sguardi e Prospettive sulla Nuova Fotografia Italiana - MAR Museum (curated by Federica Chiocchetti & Osservatorio Fotografico)


2018

Confotografia - Triennale di Milano
Mōmentum - Minimum, Comodo64 / Nesxt / Torino
Comrade Animal - Villa Vertua Milano

(Gluqbar – curated by Parasite 2.0)

Telemarket, Gluqbar - Photo Week Milano

Mōmentum, Mo[t]us Operandi - Manifesta collaterals, Palermo

Retina - Gluqbar, Milano


2017

Finissage - Twenty14 Contemporary, Milano
Narrativa / Visual Essays - Twenty14 Contemporary, Milano
Premio Francesco Fabbri - Villa Brandolini, Pieve di Soligo


2016

Sideways - Palazzo Casotti Fotografia Europea Festival Reggio Emilia (curated by Daniele De Luigi & Ilaria Campioli)
2016 On New Italian Photography - Viasaterna publishing selection (curated by Fantom)
Last but not least New Italian Photobooks - JEST Torino


2015

Little Big Press, FotoGrafia Festival - MACRO Roma (curated by Tre Terzi)
On Landscape #2 - Matèria Gallery Rome (publishing selection)


2014

Confotografia Travelling exhibitions - Urban Center Bologna, Scuola Architettura Siracusa, Biennale Spazio Pubblico Roma
Uno Sguardo Lento - MIA Fair (curated by Danilo Montanari)
Premio Nascimben - Fondazione Benetton Treviso (curated by Carlo Sale and Gianpaolo Arena)
Confotografia - SI Fest #23 Savignano
Fotografia e Parola Premio Prina - Triennale Milano
Ukiyo-e - Galerie du Point Ephémère, Paris


CREDITS