Showcases

Discover the museum's exhibitions

14 October 2020 - 31 January 2021, Villa Malpensata

UP20 - Unpublished Photo

UP20 - Unpublished Photo, the photographic exhibition at Spazio Maraini in Villa Malpensata presents twenty-four works by six young talents of international contemporary photography. This is the first stage of a new project, which in the coming years will constitute a real archive of contemporary photography in Lugano.

MUSEC thus intends to expand and consolidate its vocation towards contemporary photography and the history of photography developed and established since 2005 with the "Esovisioni" series of research and exhibitions.

Unpublished Photo is a project is promoted by MUSEC and the Fondazione culture e musei di Lugano, in collaboration with 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS Gallery in Milan, which has created the prize of the same name. Since 2018 this prize has attracted young photography talents from all over the world.

With the 2020 edition, the MUSEC aims to consolidate the initiative, giving it an institutional framework and a medium-long term development perspective, which, among other things, will lead in 2021 to the restart of the International Prize, after the pause imposed this year by the coronavirus pandemic.

Unpublished Photo intends to point out the main trends in young art photography on an international level, constituting in Lugano a real archive of contemporary photography. This archive will enrich the photographic collections of MUSEC, which already owns collections of 19th century photos and of photography of Exoticism.

The project also aims to improve the cultural interaction between Switzerland and Italy, offering an authoritative platform for international collecting. In this way, the discovery and enhancement of new trends and new languages interconnect Lugano and Milan as privileged exhibition showcases of great importance for the emerging talents of international art photography.

The exhibition which opens to the public in Lugano on October 14 presents the winners of the 2018 and 2019 editions of the Unpublished Photo Award in Milan, each of them with a portfolio of four photos.

Farnaz Damnabi

Farnaz Damnabi (1994) is an Iranian photographer born in Tehran. After graduating in Graphic Design, she began a freelance career that led her to join the National Iranian Photographers' Society (NIPS) as a full member. Her participation in international exhibitions has earned her numerous awards and recognition. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2019, she lives and works in Tehran.
Farnaz Damnabi presents a series of shots entitled "Playing is in my right". The poetic reportage set in the villages of the Golestan province highlights the importance of carefree childhood even in the most adverse contexts.

Gabriel Guerra Bianchini

Gabriel Guerra Bianchini (1984) is a Cuban photographer originally from Havana. He was the first artist to exhibit outdoors on the most important square in the Cuban capital, the cathedral square, on the occasion of the 498th anniversary of the place of worship. A self-taught artist, Gabriel Guerra Bianchini has worked for prestigious international festivals of visual arts, film and music.
Winner of Unpublished Photo 2018, he lives and works in Cuba. With the series "The Isolated Island" Gabriel Guerra Bianchi illustrates the utopian search for a horizon and hope in a sea of clouds.

Jian Luo

Jian Luo (1978) is a Chinese photographer originally from Lialong Province, he began his activity with the documentary genre working for over a decade as a photojournalist for printing and publishing. After leaving China, he moved to France where he began a new path marked by a deep interest in the cultural transformations produced by the increasingly globalizing geopolitical dynamics. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2019, he currently lives and works between Paris and Beijing.
The series "Deep reed" by Jian Luo gives back an intense observation of the traditional religious life of Tibet, focused on the color red as a representation of the sacredness, chastity and perseverance of Tibetan Buddhism.

Gabriele Milani

Gabriele Milani (1986) is an Italian photographer of Leghorn origin, he studied photography at the IED in Milan. After completing his training, he returned to Livorno attracted by the multifaceted historical and cultural heritage of his city, to the point of making it a foundation of his research. In his poetics, ancient art blends with modern art, in a combination of forms and designs that span the centuries. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2018, he lives and works in Livorno.
Gabriele Milani's black and white shots address the theme of tattooing as a form of bodily modification and as an element of redefinition of the aesthetic canon: an encounter between nature and culture.

Matteo Piacenti

Matteo Piacenti (2001) is an Italian photographer originally from Viterbo, he became passionate about photography at the age of thirteen thanks to his friendship with a group of local amateurs. Much of his work is dedicated to the creation of images capable of highlighting the essential moment captured in events and glances, telling the human being and the different expressions of his actions with deep spontaneity. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2019, he currently lives in Nepi (VT) and works in nearby Rome.
With "Irrazionali ma coscienti", Matteo Piacenti proposes the story of a young generation, distracted and disinterested in art, forced to work and taken away from education and culture; a story in which the subject emerges from the deepest darkness and gradually comes to life in a bright ray of hope.

Francesco Soave

Francesco Soave (1988) is an Italian photographer of Veronese origin. He graduated in architecture in Milan and then moved to South America for work, travelling extensively and working as a photographer and architect. A long stay in Chile led him to realize his first reportage in the Atacama desert.
Starting in 2017, he continued his photographic journey in South-East Asia, focusing on ancient traditions in the process of historicization and the socio-cultural context of small communities struggling every day with the effects of globalization. The portfolio Stories from South-East Asia expresses the search for the deep essence of countries such as Indonesia, Burma and Thailand, in the thousand facets of an eternal daily life. Winner of Unpublished Photo 2018, he lives and works in Thailand.