Giacomo Costa

Exhibitions

Solo-Exhibitions 2020 [NO.W.HERE] Sala Borsa...Bologna (I) 2018 [TIME(e)SCAPE] Guidi&Schoen...Genova (I) [Atmosphère Zéro] NM Contemporary...Principality of Monaco (MC) 2015 [Timescape] Palazzo del Parco...Diano Marina (I) [Subjective and Surreal] Fabrik der Künste...Hamburg [Persitent Time] Galerie Clairefontaine...Luxembourg (L) 2014 Trilogia della Rivoluzione, Spazio Cubo, Bologna 2013 Traces, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf Visioni Apocrife, smArt, Roma "Clouds" , Leopold Museum, Wien (AT) 2012 "Landscapes 2012",Dominik Mersch Gallery,Sydney "Landscapes 2012",Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg "Landscapes 2012", Guidi&Schoen,Genova 2011 C-Photo Action Virus, The Langhans Gallery, Prague (Solo show) Metametropoli, Frassinago18, Bologna (Solo show) Postnatural, Voss Gallery, Dusseldorf La Costante cosmologica, Complesso Monumentale del San Giovanni, Catanzaro 2010 (Solo show) Postnatural, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sidney, Australia Ostrale 2010, Internationale Ausstellung zeitgenössischer Künste, Dresden Fernweh, Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg (Solo show) Postnatural, Galleria Emmotto, Roma (Solo show) Resistenze, Man, Nuoro L'arte dei giardini, Terme di Diocleziano, Roma Digital Brains, Artandgallery, Milano Rolli Days, Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola, Genova 2009 (Solo show) Lucca Digital Photo Fest, Palazzo Guinigi, Lucca (Solo show) Aqua, Seoul International Photo Fest, Seoul–Korea (Solo show) Aqua, Giacomo Costa, Foto art Festival, Bielska, Poland (Solo show) Secret Gardens, Guidi&Schoen Arte Contemporanea, Genova (Solo show) Aqua, Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg (Solo show) The chronicles of time, Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg Premio Terna 02 per l'arte contemporanea, Tempio di Adriano, Roma Italian Pavilion, the Venice Biennale 53rd International Art Exhibition Plenitudini, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Contemporanea, San Marino 2008 (Solo show) Metropolis, ex Chiesa Anglicana, Alassio La casa degli artisti, Palazzo D'Accursio, Bologna Art italienne, Marlborough Gallery, Monaco (MC) Ivory press collection, Ivorypress Art+Books, Madrid, Spain Architetture sensibili, Castello di Rivara, Centro d'arte contemporanea Rivara (TO) Portraits-self portraits, Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg 2007 ControEvento, Castello Malaspina, Licciana Nardi Urgenza della città, Grandi Magazzini Teatrali, Campobasso C-Photo, Phillips De Pury, New York (NY) Is there anybody out there?, Lipanjepuntin Contemporary Art, Trieste Suoni e Visioni, Galleria Nazionale D'arte Contemporanea, San Marino Blue Stag Hype, Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg Linee all'orizzonte, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Genova 2006 (Solo show) Cyber Cities, Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg (Solo show) Atti Metropolitani, Guidi&Schoen Arte Contemporanea, Genova Arterritory,Centrale Montemartini, Roma Les peintres de la vie moderne, Centre Pompidou, Parigi/Paris X International Architecture Exhibition,Venice Biennale, Venezia Suoni e visioni, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genova Photomeetings, Abbaye de Neumunster, Luxembourg Sound&Vision, Palazzo della Penna, Perugia 2005 (Solo show) Scene, d'Ac galleria comunale d'arte contemporanea di Ciampino, Roma (Solo show) Passages, Quarter Centro Produzione arte contemporanea, Firenze Come la neve al mare, Guidi&Schoen Arte Contemporanea, Genova ManifesTo, Torino Italian Camera, Isola di San Servolo, Venezia Padiglione Italia Out of Biennale, Trevi Flash Art Museum, Trevi Paesaggio Italiano Contemporaneo, Palazzo Ducale, Gubbio Premio Fabbri, Fondazione del Monte, Bologna Baciamo le mani/wilkommen, Kunsthaus Tacheles-Neue Galerie, Berlino/Berlin 2003 (Solo show) CityEndScapes, Guidi & Schoen Arte Contemporanea, Genova Futuro Italiano, Parlamento Europeo, Bruxelles XXXVI Premio Vasto, Musei Civici di Palazzo d'Avalos, Vasto In Faccia al Mondo, Museo di Villa Croce, Genova Young Italian Genome, Buia Gallery, New York (NY) Mito Contemporaneo, Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza cARThusia 2003 -Città dis-continua, Certosa di Pontignano, Siena Italian Six, Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston (TX) 2002 (Solo show) MegàloPolìs, Sergio Tossi Arte Contemporanea, Firenze I Luoghi Invisibili, Photology, Milano 42° Premio Suzzara, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Suzzara (Mantova) Future Visioni, Museo Provinciale di Potenza 2001 (Solo show) Land(E)Scape, Spazio Logos, Festa de' L'unità, Modena Ficção – Fotografias e Vídeos, Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro Art Files, Pescheria, Pesaro 2000 (Solo show) Land(E)Scape, Photology, Milano (Solo show) Land(E)Sc Sui Generis, PAC, Milano Sui Generis, PAC, Milano Photography Now, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans (LA) Alternative Realities, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York (NY) 1999 (Solo show) Land(E)Scape, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans (LA) (Solo show) Architetture Fuori Controllo, Galleria No Code, Bologna (Solo show) Architectures, Photology, Londra/London Nostalgia, Fluiart, Monterrey, Mexico VIII Biennale Internazionale di Fotografia, Torino XIII Quadriennale, Roma 1998 Solo Exhibition, Galleria Guido Allori, Figline V.no (Solo show) Architetture 1996-1998, Photology e Wp Store, Milano Summershow, Fluiart, New York (NY) 1997 Cyber-realismo, Galleria Photology, Londra/London Cyber-realismo, Galleria Photology, Milano BOOKS Philip Jodidio, Architecture now!, Tashen, Colonia, 2010 Luca Beatrice e Norman Foster, The chronicles of time, Edizioni Damiani, Bologna, 2009 Atti Metropolitani, Galleria Guidi&Schoen, Genova, 2006 Pietro Gaglianò, 3d Cities, Gallerie Guidi&Schoen, Genova e Sergio Tossi, Firenze, 2006 CityEndScapes, Galleria Guidi & Schoen, Genova, 2003 Gianluca Marziani, MegàloPolìs, Galleria Sergio Tossi Arte Contemporanea, Firenze, 2002 Land(E)Scape, Edizioni Photology, Milano, 2000 ARTICLES & PHOTO-ESSAYS 2010 Taschen Architecture now Vol 7 2010 Photography Korea Vol 506 March 2010El Pais setimanal n.1753 May 2010Evolo 02 Spring 2010, NY 2009 ArteFiera Bologna attende 50mila appassionati, Arte, n. 425, 2009First N4 06/2009AD Architectural digest n.333 02/2009Juliet n.144 oct. 2009 Wired num.3 may 2009 2008 Silvershotz, volume 5, edition 3, 2008 DigitalPhoto 2008, Russia Foto Magazin Germany 03/2008Il giornale dell'arte, n. 281 novembre 2008 Segno, n. 220 07/08 2008Flash art, n. 269 04/05 2008Gentleman,n. 86 04/2008Digital Photo, n. 1, 2008 (Russia) Foto Magazin, n. 3, marzo 2008 (Germania) La Repubblica, gennaio 2008 2007 "Art das kunstmagazin Germany n.1 genn 2007" Giacomo CostaIl sole 24 ore, 23/09/07Economy, n. 42 ottobre 2007C International Photo Magazine, n. 3, 2007C International Photo Magazine, n. 5, 2007Arte, n. 404 aprile 2007Juliet, n. 131 febbraio 2007 Juliet, n. 130 gennaio 2007Arte, n. 1, gennaio 2007Flash art, n. 261 dicembre 2006/gennaio 2007 2006 Flash art, n. 261 dicembre 2006/gennaio 2007Arte, n. 400 dicembre 2006 Juliet, n. 130 dicembre 2006 Arte, n. 399 novembre 2006 Photo, n. 444 novembre 2006 (Francia) Arte, n. 398 ottobre 2006 La Repubblica, 10 ottobre 2006Il giornale dell'arte, Vernissage n. 75 ottobre 2006Segno, n. 209 luglio/ottobre 2006Frame -Austria18/19 summer 2006Flash art, n. 256 febbraio/marzo 2006 2000 La carica dei cyberartisti, “Io Donna” supp. Corriere della Sera, 25-11-2000 “Paris Photo 2000”, Testo di presentazione della collezione della Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations Arte, agosto 2000 Flash Art, n. 222 giugno-luglio 2000 Vogue Italia, n. 594 febbraio 2000 The New Orleans Art Review, novembre/dicembre 1999 London Magazine, giugno – luglio 1999

Catalogues

Current exhibition

Literature

Giacomo Costa born in 1970; lives and works in Florence. In 2006 he took part in the X Architecture Biennale of Venice. In October his work has also been shown in the exhibition “Le Peintres de la vie moderne” at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and his work has remained in the permanent collection of the museum. In April 2009 the publisher Damiani published an anthological monograph on his work, with a preface by Sir Norman Foster and an essay by Luca Beatrice. In June 2009 he has been invited to represent Italy at 53rd Venice Biennale. Giacomo Costa uses digital technology to generate a futuristic urban landscape. These fantastic, apocalyptic images borrow their aesthetic from science fiction literature and film, where architecture takes on a colossal scale. Pulverised landscapes and lonely structures that inhabit anonymous cities are constant element in this series, a metaphor for the depersonalisation that affects contemporary metropolises whose buildings soar above the human scale. ____________________________________ Giacomo Costa Essay by Sir Norman Foster One aspect of Giacomo Costa’s work is the extent to which it is so utterly convincing. Two of his works hang side to side above the reception desk in the Madrid office of my design practice. One day the lady at the desk noticed a visitor staring intently at his photographs on the wall and looking more and more agitated. Finally, unable to contain himself, he asked our receptionist - “when did all of this happen? I never even heard about it!” In recounting this anecdote, I am critically aware of the fact that there is so much more depth to the art of Giacomo Costa’s work than its technical perfection, however impressive that might be. His total mastery of digital technologies and ability to meticulously fuse it with traditional photography is never an end in itself – but rather the means to unlock his apocryphal visions – to unleash a fierce imagination limited only by the four edges of each work. This book covers the twelve years of his creative output. Several of the works shown here, including those in Madrid, are in the personal domain of our family, so we literally live with them. This is largely consequence of my wife’s foresight in identifying the talent of Giacomo Costa from her first contact with his work some three years ago. I never discussed the imagery of these pages with the author, but they evoke science fiction, doom laden prophecies and man-made disasters. They have an eerie quietness, mostly bereft of life and deeply foreboding. Although destruction and decay permeates so many of these works there is often the counterpoint of some other-worldly intervention with an alien, futuristic geometry – the remnants of a later and more idealised urbanity. The monumentality of these interventions recall the heroic visions of a Boullée or Soleri. Most of the works have an all-pervading sense of darkness and destruction, although there are exceptions. One of these is a vertically stretched metropolis, with many styles and periods, layered one on top of the other, rising like a canyon bathed in sunlight. However the one overriding and unifying theme that binds everything together is that of dense urbanity – virtually all of the images are of the city in one form or another. I wonder at the coincidence of timing when here in 2008 we are taking stock of Giacomo Costa’s work. This is precisely the year, when for the first time, there are more people now in cities than in the history of our civilisation. By 2050 it is predicted that 70% of the world’s population will be urban. These portrayals of the city occur not only post-911, but in a period in which the terrorist threat lurks behind our everyday normality. In these unsettling times our pundits conjecture if and when hidden forces might unleash the Armageddon of a nuclear strike or biological attack out of the blue. Giacomo Costa’s visions, with their infinite perspectives and limitless horizons, are like ruins from a lost civilization, which could be our civilization. Through his powerful vision they remind us above all of the fragility of our built world and the civic premises that have so far underpinned it. Norman Foster October 2008

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