Gabriele Basilico. My cities

Two locations, one city. Ten years on from his death, Milan pays tribute to Gabriele Basilico (1944-2013). From Palazzo Reale to the Milan Triennale, from 13 October 2023 to 11 February 2024, the exhibition will examine the cosmopolitan viewpoint of one of the greatest photographers of our century. A narrative that looks at both the space and substance of cities, their architecture, their network of streets; an examination of concrete through more than 500 works. Promoted and produced by the Municipality of Milan-Culture, Palazzo Reale and the Milan Triennale, together with Electa, and realised with the scientific collaboration of the Gabriele Basilico Archive, the exhibition is curated by Giovanna Calvenzi and Filippo Maggia for Palazzo Reale, and by Giovanna Calvenzi and Matteo Balduzzi for the Triennale.

“Cities are like a book that needs to be read from cover to cover, otherwise one risks not grasping their meaning. The suburbs, the outlying districts and areas of new expansion; during my lifetime, I have always gravitated a little further in that direction. They are, in the end, the zones that interest me the most. And if it is true, as I constantly repeat, that a city is like a grand distended and immeasurable body, in order to understand it, one must be patient, resisting that desire to conquer, that dizzying sense of possession that an excessively rapid and fleeting image can create.” Gabriele Basilico, Architecture, Cities and Visions: Reflections on photography.