Realismo infinito

A substantial monograph published to accompany the exhibition by Giovanni Chiaramonte “Realism infinito”, promoted by the MIA Foundation of Bergamo and presented at the Complesso Monumentale di Astino from 10 June to 30 September 2022.

The book brings together 99 + 1 photographs, many of them previously unpublished. It presents an organic synthesis of the complex work of Giovanni Chiaramonte on the representation of the landscape and the urban view, the fruit of a lengthy period of theoretical reflection.

In this exploration, Italy is the privileged point of observation. Its territory, which appears as a stratification of cultures and civilisations, tells the story of the entire West. In the photographer’s gaze the Italian landscape is the lens through which to show the many places he explores.
The second part of the volume brings together a veritable pilgrimage from the memory of Athens and Rome through Europe to the Bosporus and Jerusalem, a stage rich in significance in his journey into history.

The last section, with texts by Corrado Benigni and Teju Cole, on the other hand, is devoted to the American landscape: the United States and Central America, where the author traces the path of the West, the reasons for building a new European city in keeping with a vision of humanity corresponding to its nature.

Chiaramonte’s ‘infinite realism’ is not just a photographic style, but a way of thinking and imagining the world in its duration and continuity.