Alessandra Bello, Lido di Venezia, Nowhere Cities, 2012

Interview: Alessandra Bello

Born in Gemona del Friuli in Udine, Italy on 1985, Alessandra graduated in Master of Arts and in Science of Architecture at the IUAV, University Institute of Architecture of Venice. Attending a number of lessons by John Davies, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Diego Mormorio, Leonard Sussman and Guido Guidi, she was introduced by them to a more conscious way of taking photographs. From 2008 to 2011 she worked with Orch Studio of Fulvio Orsenigo and Alessandra Chemollo. In January 2009, she founded [ab] Alessandra Bello Photography, and now she is working as a freelance photographer of architecture and landscape. Published in numerous architectural magazines national and international, she participated in the 12th and 14th Biennale of Architecture of Venice and in the Triennale of Milan.

Alessandra Bello, Infrastructure, project Infrastructures, Nowhere Cities, 2012

Luca Curci – Your work has just been exhibited during MORPHOS – Sustainable Empires in Venice: can you talk about your personal experience in Venice with International ArtExpo?

Alessandra Bello – I had found International ArtExpo by accident, while I was researching on the web and I thought “Why not?”. My work has been chosen and now it’s exhibited at Palazzo Albrizzi. I was very happy to discover that my artwork was exhibited in a beautiful venetian salon during the Biennale’ Vernissage!

L. C. – Can you talk about the artwork you presented in Venice? How is it linked with the festival’s theme?

A. B. – The artwork that I presented in Venice talks about infrastructure. I think that this theme is very important in our societies because it is a hard sign in our landscapes. It is a connective tissue which combines different place and different stories. My artwork, without scientific attitude, analyzes Venetian infrastructure. It is very interesting to see how the modernity gets in the Venice story and this fusion create new equilibrium. Modernity, according to me, is not only synonymous of caos: there are a lot of ways. So here, I like to investigate these different ways with different possible points of view that can help us to reflect about our society and our landscape.

Alessandra Bello, Sacrario di Caporetto, project Great War’ Memorial, 2010

L. C. – What are you currently working on?

A. B. – I’m working on a lot of personal projects! First of all, from three years ago, I’m working on a big project about the Great War’ Memorial built during Fascism in Italy. Silent spaces, dense lands that had carved their story with able and wise architectural tools. Daniele Pisani, an historian of architecture, and me, for photographic part, have already prepared the book with our research. Another project talks about the fragmentation of the contemporary reality. It’s a very interesting and emotional work that I called Sight’s Blue Sense. These images creates a game between two reality: this makes new connections and new hybrid identities and the picture have an hypnotic character. Another project talks about Urban sprawl and nowhere cities. These works stem from my desire to express the urgent feeling of living in a unified reality, without facets, where architecture and the landscape merge into a single enormous uniform mass. I firmly believe that, despite everything, even in these places you can “pretend to see”, and it is precisely from this game that perhaps our cities and spaces can evolve into livable dwelling places. As a photographer of architecture and landscape I have decided to use my “talking” medium to tell the story of a place which should be multitude. An other project talk about the relationship between human houses and difficult landscapes.

Alessandra Bello, Sacrario di Cima Grappa, project Great War’ Memorial, 2011

L. C. – What is art for you?

A. B. – This is a very difficult question because I never wanted to define this concept with few words. I don’t know what art is! I know only that photography is one of the most important thing for me. I have fun with it, I reflect with it, I talk through it. I think through images, like Luigi Ghirri says. I hope to continue to grow by this way.

L. C. – What do you think about International ArtExpo organization?

A. B. – I felt good immediately with your organization because I was able to communicate with you clearly and speedily. I realized that I was talking with people who believed in the young artists.

L. C. – Do you think International ArtExpo organization can represent an opportunity for artists?

A. B. – Yes, I think. In Italy, at the moment, one of the most difficult things is to find low cost opportunities and events to participate and I think that International ArtExpo could be a great opportunity for young artists to be known.