Busto Arsizio Cemetery, ©Stefano Perego
The photographs showcased at the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin mark the first exhibition dedicated to the "Brutalist Italy" project.
Italian photographers Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego travelled for over five years across the Italian peninsula - covering more than 20,000 km - to document the great variety of Brutalist buildings of different types, built mainly between the 1960s and 1980s, characterised by the use of exposed reinforced concrete and clear and well-defined structural elements that define an essential and unique aesthetic.
From the Port House in Naples to the cemetery in Jesi, from the Sanctuary of Monte Grisa in Trieste to the ‘Washing Machines’ in Genoa, as well as fairs, museums and cemeteries, the project brings together numerous examples of surprising Italian Brutalist architecture. The result of this field research is the book Brutalist Italy (FUEL publishing, 2023), with 146 photographs of over 100 Italian Brutalist buildings, which has met with considerable public and critical success internationally.Church of the Holy Family, Salern, ©Roberto Conte
From the introduction by Adrian Forty: "It was, though, above all in their willingness to acknowledge that concrete could be of more than one time, that it could represent both the present (or the future) and the past simultaneously, that Italian architects stood out from their counterparts elsewhere in the world. Generally, during the twentieth century, concrete was treated exclusively as a future-oriented medium – it signified an age that had not arrived, and the fact that it also had a past was strenuously denied. But circumstances in Italy made architects anxious to represent its past as well as its future".From the top right: Lavatrici, Genova, ©Stefano Perego; Redeemer Church, Roma, ©Stefano Perego; Palace of Justice, Savona, ©Roberto Conte; Residential Building, Sarzana, ©Roberto Conte; Port House, Napoli, ©Roberto Conte
Italian Cultural Institute
Hildebrandstrasse 2, Berlin-Tiergarten
Until 30 April 2025
Opening hours: every Monday (except public holidays), 4-6.30 pm
For booking a visit the registration via Eventbrite is required: https://iicberlino.esteri.it/it/
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