Riccardo Banfi

+39 3476692945 | riccardo.bnf@gmail.com | www.riccardobanfi.com | http://riccardobanfi-journal.tumblr.com

SMC, inkjet print, 60x90cm, 2015

My personal approach to visual arts responds to everyday life events and inspirations – all my projects, particularly the photographic part of my work, have sprung from my own personal experiences.A brief excerpt from “The Author as Receiver” by Kaja Silverman (October, Vol. 96, 2001) clarifies this premise: “.. a self-portrait should consequently show not the artist himself, but rather what he perceives (..) We see what he sees”. Specifically, I have explored themes linked to youth and music culture, with a strong focus on clubbing. Over time, I have built a corpus of materials which includes flyers, posters, tickets, pictures and footage I personally took. Every item tells a story and reminds me of specific places and situations I have had first-hand experience of.

In the first episode of the CLUBNIGHT series, an artist’s book on mixing, 20 photos from my archive have been set to music with 20 techno tracks; in CLUBNIGHT#2 (2013), the club experience has been recreated within the exhibition space, through an immersive installation combining over 400 pictures taken at Tenax in Florence – one of the most prominent clubs in the Italian contemporary house scene – a strobe light, and an audio track recorded at Tenax itself.The push to further explore this scene comes also as the result of a documentary intent, intended at prompting a reflection not only on the recreational side of clubbing, but also on the rituality and sense of belonging to a subculture of the people taking part in it, i.e. with a focus and a constant questioning on my part on the individuals, their roles within that community, and their interaction patterns. Crucial examples of this approach are (I quake) feeling that I’ve been caught (2012) in which, as a response to the ban to take photos inside the most important club in Europe, the Berghain in Berlin, I made a topographic study of its architecture and I complemented it with objects and photographs documenting the events that took place before and after a night spent at the club, and No standing just dancing (2013-2014), a series on the Parisian club scene observed from three different standpoints: the dancefloor, the artists and the urban landscape.

While clubbing has indeed been the main focus of my research, at the same time I developed a corpus of photographs in which different genres and subjects coexist, a production that, as a whole, questions the medium as an observation and documentation tool that can also be used to create a new aesthetic type of content. How does the world as we see it today look like? What are the standards ruling the way we observe what is around us with the ultimate goal of rendering it visually?

Selected Projects

CLUBNIGHT#12013 | Artist’s Book

CLUBNIGHT#1 - book views

CLUBNIGHT#1 is an artist’s book on mixing, now part of the collection Archivio myDetour by Moleskine.

Twenty photographs from my clubbing archive are set to music with twenty techno tracks produced and mixed by The Analogue Cops.The book consists of one sheet of paper folded in 48 accordion pages, making it possible to rearrange them to obtain various sequences, just like the tracks in a music mix - every picture loses its own title and takes on the one of the track associated to it. Roberto Fassone designed the CD artwork.

https://vimeo.com/60334562 video documentation

CLUBNIGHT#22013 | Installation

CLUBNIGHT#2 - installation view

CLUBNIGHT#2 explores the reality of clubbing and in particular that of TENAX in Florence, one of the most celebrated venues in the Italian contemporary house scene.The installation combines over 400 photographs taken at the club, printed in different sizes, lighted up with a strobe light and set to music by an audio recording played in loop, in the attempt to recreate the clubbing experience as a musical and social phenomenon within the exhibition space.Once the visitors enter the installation space, they find themselves immersed in an environment where the images seem ‘alive’ and in movement due to the repetitive light pulses and because of the live audio recording played - i.e. the sound includes both the music played by the DJ and the noises of the dancing crowd cheering in excitement.

https://vimeo.com/60789078video documentation

Tnx2013-2015 | Photo series+Book

Tnx (book) / 2015 + Machine / 2013, installation view at Fonderia Artistica Battaglia (Milano)

Tnx is a photography series that originates from CLUBNIGHT#2 and throws the viewer in the middle of Tenax’s crowd and corridors during the Saturday night event: Nobody’s Perfect. “Banfi (...) manages to establish the necessary distance to convey a vision, creating a text where also the sociological element prevails. In the clubbers’ portraits, genuine purely aesthetical presences, and in the choice of black and white, arises that nature of permanence that wraps the club’s ritual in a sort of periodic motion, destined to return, different in appearance but identical in essence, to a determined expression of a recreational, elusive, narcissistic craving.”

(Giulia Bini “IN FIRENZE L’ANNO MMXIII”, in Riccardo Banfi “Tnx”, Yes I am Writing A

Book, Milan, 2015)

Dancer; Leg, inkjet print, 22x32cm / both 2013

Triangle; Show; Girl#01, inkjet print, 22x32cm / all 2013

Wildlife, inkjet print, 60x90cm, 2013

Consuelo Anubi, Paquita Gordon & Eddie Danielli performing

CLUBNIGHT#2 meets AV-Netwerk2013 | Performance

The installation CLUBNIGHT#2 has been turned into an actual club for a day featuring Paquita Gordon and the members of the collective and production house AV-Netwerk.

Friday 8th March 2013 | Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa | Galleria of Piazza San Marco | Venice

https://vimeo.com/62087829video documentation

Back#01; Back#02, inkjet print, 120x80cm / both 2015

Third – and conclusive – chapter of the CLUBNIGHT series (currently under development) consisting in a participative installation focusing on the concept of sound-barrier, i.e. the speakers, as architectural presence, and on the impact of the sound waves on the revellers’ bodies.

CLUBNIGHT#3 | Installation(upcoming project 2016)

No standing just dancing is a documentary project on the Parisian techno and house scene.Before my arrival in town I did not know much about the local scene and I did not expect to find such interest and passion both from the insiders and the public. I thought it would be interesting to draw a map of the whole movement instead of focusing on a single reality, and I thus observed it from three different standpoints: the dancefloor, the artists and the urban landscape.In a way it was like working on an anthology: once published it becomes obsolete and in need of new and ongoing contributions.

I am currently designing a book that collects a major selection of photographs.________

No standing just dancing started in October 2013 in conjunction with the period of residence at Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris, and it has been selected for DE.MO./MOVIN’UP II sess. 2013, a grant from MiBAC Italian Culture in collaboration with GAi.

No standing just dancing2013-2014 | Photo series

Screensaver, inkjet print, 22x32cm, 2013

NO STANDING JUST DANCING / 2013-2014, box of 33 photos, inkjet print, 22x32 cm, ed of 5+1 a.p.

Concrete#15; REX (entrance); Concrete#14, inkjet print, 22x32cm / 2013-2014

Terrace#01; Phil Weeks#01; Terrace#02, inkjet print, 22x32cm / 2013-2014

Franck Roger, inkjet print, 22x32cm, 2014

(I quake), feeling that I’ve been caught2012 | Installation+Exhibition

As a response to the ban to take photos inside the most important club in Europe, the Berghain in Berlin, I made a topographic study of its architecture and I complemented it with objects and photographs documenting the events that took place before and after a night spent at the club.The only thing I stole from Berghain is an audio recording played in loop during the course of the exhibition.

Berghain#01, inkjet print, 120x80cm, 2012

(I quake) feeling that I’ve been caught - installation views at Palazzo Carminati, Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa (Venezia)

Kaoss P; Sleep, inkjet print, 60x90cm & 30x45cm / both 2012

Forget Amnesia2014

A series of limited edition postcards for Volcano Extravaganza - Forget Amnesia (Fiorucci Art Trust), curated by Haroon Mirza with Milovan Farronato.

Forget Amnesia - postcards / 2014

DISPLAY2013

DISPLAY is a conversation with the artist Hannah Edward on how images and the space itself can be presented to and interacted with the viewer.During a month of collaborative residency at Agora (Berlin), we explored ideas on how to use the exhibition space as a theatre stage and we compared this question to how the individual interacts in social spheres, specifically the club scene.The club context can be viewed as one of the possible spaces for contemporary rituals concerning the identification with a group, the role of individuals in a community and to social interactions.

DISPLAY existed in two spaces over the course of a evening. The viewer was first brought to the top floor of Agora, that was filled with a selection of photos from my clubbing archive altered by coloured lights, artificial smoke and a soundtrack, followed by after party at Shift that expanded the themes set out in the exhibition.

DISPLAY - installation views, Agora (Berlin)

Gold (sauna)2015 | Digital collage

Gold (sauna) is a liquid surface composed through the superimposition of three pictures in post-production, all depicting the interior of the chill-out area of a Russian sauna.This work is part of a practice I am currently experimenting and that attempt to analyse how the contemporary digital trend and the visual codes they convey in the public, private and virtual space, impose themselves as a formal condition and aesthetic reference as well as starting point for the elaboration of a new expressive content.

Gold (sauna), inkjet print, 120x80cm, 2015

Backstage#012015 | Photograph

Backstage#01 is a recent work part of the same experimentation that comprises Gold (sauna); it is an abstract composition where no digital manipulation is carried out and the abstraction is achieved through the superimposition of actual surfaces and layers already present in the original scene, i.e. a fashion photography set in Milan.

Backstage#01, inkjet print, 50x70cm, 2015

I found myself in Guwahati2015 | Photo series

I found myself in Guwahati is a series set in Guwahati, the largest metropolitan area in the North-East India, realised upon invitation by Microclima (Venice, Italy) in order to gain an understanding of the local context. The city is situated on the southern bank of the Brahamaputra river, is an important commercial and educational centre, is the third fastest growing city in the country and hosts a considerable amount of ethnic and religious diversity. There are neither international tourism nor appropriate infrastructures and you inevitably find yourself immersed in its dynamics without any filter or comfort.This peculiar aspect led to an instinctive exploration, carried out without considering any specific subjects or cultural expressions - even though some leitmotifs such as festive occasions, the seductive nature of the animals and usually unobserved details of the urban surroundings recur throughout the series.

The next outcome is a book that explores, both visually and textually, the whole research and which includes a new survey programmed for late 2016.

Ecofestival#01; Leopard, inkjet print, 60x90cm / both 2015

RepublicDay#01; Taxidermy, inkjet print, 60x90cm / both 2015

Wedding; Microphone; Reflection, inkjet print, 60x90cm / all 2015

House of the Soviets2015 | Photo series

The photos have been shot in summer 2015 in Kaliningrad, the only Russian exclave and non-EU region on the Baltic Sea. From the tophill in the centre, site of the former Koenigsberg castle, the House of Soviets overlooks the urban landscape. Planned in the 70’s, never completed, and now abandoned, the House is unofficially accessible to local youngsters and unconventional tourists, giving us the chance to explore and experience this Soviet locus of Russian extraterritoriality with fluid borders.

House of Soviets#01; #02 inkjet print, 20x29,4cm / both 2015

House of Soviets#03; #04 inkjet print, 20x29,4cm / both 2015

In September 2012 I was invited to Taibon Agordino (BL) at the Dolomiti Contemporanee residency, to produce a work for an exhibition about its citizens.La Taibonera is a popular song born in the streets of Taibon Agordino around the first half of the 20th century. So many among the inhabitants don’t know the lyrics, if not about its existence. On the evening of Semptember 5th, together with Aldo, Andrea, Bepi, Claudio, Nicolò and Renato, we rebuilt the lyrics, rearranged, sang and recorded the song.

La Taibonera is an audio portrait of this village, and a trace of its nearby history.

La Taibonera2012 | Sound

La Taibonera, installation view at Dolomiti Contemporanee / 2012 (Taibon Agordino)

Do per sti borai, su per sti valina rebalta zoca fa su fasin

Taibonera dimmi si si si siche per sposa voglio te te te tee Don Gino già lo sa sa sa sache sposarci ci dovrà

La vien do da Pontivela Taibonera, la Taibonerasu la schiena un darlinsotto al braz un fasin

(rit. x1)

Faremo una casetainte in Starnadeinte in Starnadee col tempo chissàforse un bimbo verrà

(rit. x2)

ritornello

Giù per questi borai,su per questi valina sradicare il ceppo (dell’albero) a far su un fascio (di rami leggeri)

Taibonera dimmi si si si siche per sposa voglio te te te te e Don Gino già lo sa sa sa sache sposarci ci dovrà

Viene giù da Pontivela Taibonera, la Taibonerasulla schiena ha una gerlasotto al braccio un fascio (di rami leggeri)

(rit. x1)

Costruiremo una casetta a Starnadea Starnadee con il tempo chissà forse un bambino arriverà

(rit. x2)

ritornello

Down these borai,up these valinuprooting the stumpmaking a bunch (of light branches)

Taibonera say yes to me me me mebecause I want to marry you you you youand Don Gino already knows knows knows knows that he has to marry us

She comes from Pontivethe Taibonera, the Taiboneraon her back she has a basketunder her arm she has a bunch (of light branches)

(chorus x1)

We will build a little housein Starnadein Starnadeand maybe as time goes byit will come a baby

(chorus x2)

chorus

Original Lyrics Italian traduction English Traduction

La Taibonera, lyrics

Remix, installation view at Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa (Venezia)

Remix | Installation2010-ongoing

The installation was created for the occasion of “Premio Stonefy Cammina con l’Arte. A piedi. Artisti lasciano tracce” (Premio Stonefy Walking with Art. By walk. Artists leave traces). It consists in 502 photographs shot in Venice between 2010 and 2012. The set of images is both a self-portrait, and a Venice portrait through the people that actually lived in the city, and a trace of my work as a photographer.

Riccardo BanfiMilano 1986

Riccardo Banfi (1986, Milan) graduates in Visual Arts at IUAV, Venice. He uses photography as a medium to confront himself with music culture and particularly clubbing. His work has been presented in institutions and festivals in Europe like Cneai (Paris), Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa (Venice); Casa dei Tre Oci (Venice); Agora (Berlin); International Festival of short film (Geneva); LOOP Video Art Festival (Barcelona). In 2012 he was artist in residence at Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa, in 2013 at Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art (Paris) and in 2015 he participates to Guwahati Research Program (India) promoted by Paolo Rosso and Microclima (Venezia). From May 2015 he is represented by Luz Photo Agency.

Education- 2012 MA in Visual Arts, IUAV, Venice, IT- 2009 BA in Comunicazione e Gestione nei Mercati dell’Arte e della Cultura, IULM, Milan, IT

Residencies / Awards / Workshops2015- Guwahati Research Program, curated by MICROCLIMA, Guwahati, IN2013- DE.MO./MOVIN’UP II sess. 2013. Grant by MiBAC Italian Culture with GAi, IT- Centre International d’Accueil et d’Echange des Rècollets, Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art, Paris, FR. - Grant with the support of the Municipality of Milan- Agora, Berlin, DE2012- Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, IT- Dolomiti Contemporanee DCnext, Taibon Agordino (BL), IT- Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte, visiting professor Penso con le mie ginocchia, Poirino (TO), IT 2011- Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte, visiting professor Leigh Ledare, Poirino (TO), IT- IUAV, visiting professor Enrico David, Venice, IT2010- Special Mention, photography prize “Sguardi sul presente”, Fondazione Venezia, Venice, IT

Solo Shows2013- DISPLAY, a double solo show with Hannah Edward, Agora, Berlin, DE2012- (I quake), feeling that I’ve been caught, curated by Fabio Pallottini, Atelier 3, Palazzo Carminati, Venice, IT

Group Shows / Festivals2015- GOOD HORN, GOOD BRAKES, GOOD LUCK, Serra dei Giardini, Venice, IT (7th Creative Time Summit - The Curriculum - auxiliary program)2013- Primavera 2, curated by Valentine Meyer and Andrea Fam, Cneai, Chatou - Paris, FR- Corteo de Casteo II, curated by Elisa Fantin (CakeAway) and Claire Tancons, San Pietro di Castello, Venice, IT- Atelier 2012. Mostra Finale, curated by Rachele D’Osualdo with Angela Vettese, Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa, Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venice, IT - (c)- Tenax Exhibition | What is Clubbing?, IED, Firenze, IT - (c)2012- EMERSIONI (some) new photography in Venice, curated by Xframe with a curatorial contribution by Saul Marcadent, Casa dei Tre Oci, Venice, IT- Stonefly Cammina con l’Arte. A piedi. Artisti lasciano tracce, Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa, Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venice, IT- OUT OF FOCUS, A Cheap Laser Print Show | Superfluo Project Support, curated by Superfluo Project, Padova, IT (with Alessandra Messali)- Abitanti/Abitati, curated by Stefano Coletto, Fabbrica ex Visibilia, Taibon Agordino (BL), IT- The Photocopy Club, curated by Matt Martin, The Church of London, London, UK2011- Open#3, curated by Berth Theis, Valeria Mancinelli, Camilla Pin, S.A.L.E. Docks, Venice, IT- Crosstalk Video Art Festival, Budapest, H- Ecran Mobile, Festival International du Courtmétrage de Genève, Geneva, CH2010- LOOP Video Art Festival, curated by Fiona Biggiero and Angela Vettese, Barcelona, E- Lago Film Fest, sect. New Signs, Revine Lago (TV), IT - (c)- 14th International Video Festival VIDEOMEDEJA, Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, SRB

- Estroversione, curated by Nicole Moserle, Omova, Venice, IT2009- Ogni limite ha una pazienza, curated by Cesare Pietroiusti and Filipa Ramos, Gervasuti Foundation, Venice, IT

Special Projects2015Tnx book launch and exhibition, Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, Milano, IT 2014Forget Amnesia, curated by Haroon Mirza with Milovan Farronato, Stromboli, IT2013- CLUBNIGHT#2 meets AV-Netwerk. A live event performed by Paquita Gordon, curated by Riccardo Banfi, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venice, IT2012- DAT SHIT CRAY!, Palazzo Carminati, Venice, IT- Whisky & Dischi, Palazzo Carminati, Venice, IT2008- AV_Network Live Show #1, Galleria dei Serpenti, Rome, IT

Bibliography (monographs, fanzines, catalogues, artist’s books) 2015- GHY, Orchid Publications and Microclima, August, IN/IT- Tnx, Yes I am writing a book, June, IT 2014- With Dena A Road Trip Across Borders, Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art and CNEAI, June, IT/FR2013- Aurora-Zine#3, November, IT- F.U.C.K.I.T.#2, Blood of the Young Zine, June, CA- PERSONE CHE CONOSCO, FORSE, Aalphabet, March, IT2012- Quaderni di Banna. Edizione 2010 / 2011, Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte, IT- DAT SHIT CRAY!, Edizioni LUCKYSHOES, May, IT2011- Life in the woods, Ciclope 6, September, RA- Visual Arts at IUAV, Venezia 2001-2011, Mousse Publishing, June, IT (As Dueunozero)- LETSGETLOSTINTHEUNIVERSEOFSOUND, Av_Netwerk, January, IT

Press / Online Features2015- Alessandra Ghinato, Nobody’s Perfect on Saturday night, KULT, August, IT- Un anticipo del primo libro fotografico di Riccardo Banfi, Rolling Stone Italia, June, IT (online)- Emily Gosling - Serene monochrome images of clubbing in Italy, It’s Nice That, June, UK (online)- Riccardo Banfi - I sabato notte del Tenax, interview by Giulia Morucchio, ATP Diary, June, IT (online)2013

- J. van der Hulst, interview (with Hanna Edward), Agora, September, DE (online)- Life in Tenax, Urban 111, February, IT2012- C. Viani, La Bevilacqua in trasferta dolomitica, Artribune, October, IT (online)- T. Marocco, Fabbrica di Talenti, Panorama, June, IT- Dummy Mag, interview, February, UK (online)2011- Quello che basta all’altra gente non mi darà nemmeno l’ombra della perduta felicità, Dueunozero - Laboratorio autogestito, Numero Zero, June, IT (As Dueunozero)- HESA Inprint, Issue #3, April, FIN

CollectionsArchivio myDetour by Moleskine

Inforiccardo.bnf@gmail.com+39 3476692945www.riccardobanfi.com