TALKS PROGRAM
Friday, May 22nd
2 pm – The evolution of photography events between networking and the market
Major photography events have evolved from industry gatherings into destinations for collectors, gallery owners and enthusiasts. But how has this ecosystem transformed? And what opportunities does it now offer to those who buy, sell or exhibit? An overview of the evolution of festivals and fairs from a dual perspective, analysing the increasingly blurred line between cultural programming and commercial dynamics. A discussion to understand where the world of photography truly converges today.
Simone Klein – Photography art advisor and appraiser
Antonio Carloni – Deputy director, Gallerie d’Italia Torino
in conversation with Lucrezia di Martino – Consulting Director of Strategic Partnerships, MUUS Collection
Talk in english
3 pm – From the encyclopedic museum to the specialized center
A comparison between two models: the photography department of a major international museum and an institution entirely dedicated to photography. The discussion will explore differences in mission, audiences, and programming, as well as the strategies behind the creation of content and formats that engage diverse publics, making exhibitions accessible without compromising their depth or complexity.
Duncan Forbes – Head of Photography , Victoria and Albert Museum
François Hébel – Artistic Director – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia
in conversation with Nadine Dinter –Pr consultant and writer
Talk in english
4 pm – Photography in womens’s artistic practices
An analysis of photography as an investigative medium in women’s artistic practices from the 1960s to the present, retracing the work of artists who, through experimentation with diverse forms of expression, have found in the camera lens a vehicle for testimony and narrative. The photographic image does not merely document reality; it becomes an act of resistance, a form of visual activism.
Victoria Law – Founder Victoria Law Projects
Donata Pizzi – Collectors
in conversation with Brandei Estes – Photography Curator and Advisor, currently the Active Senior Curator for Photographs, National Portrait Gallery – Lonon
Talk in english
5 pm – New platforms for the promotion of creativity
Investigation into new forms of support for artistic experimentation, examining how platforms dedicated to promoting creativity integrate strategic expertise and innovative outreach models to enhance the impact of art on society and the market. Within this framework, the question arises as to the future of photography as a narrative tool in a constantly evolving global landscape.
Katy Wickremesinghe – Founder and CEO, KTW and The Wick
Maria Grazia Longoni – Lawyer, Head of the Art Law Department , LCA Studio Legale
in conversation with Francesca Filippini Pinto – Curator and Art Advisor
Talk in italian
6 pm – From private collecting to public engagement
By comparing two distinct perspectives, this talk traces the journey of a private collection as it evolves into a shared heritage. The conversation will examine the motivations behind institutionalizing a passion, converting it into an open cultural project capable of generating a tangible impact on society and strengthening the bond of identity with its local territory.
Claes Lindquist – President and CEO, Falsterbo Photo Art Museum
Christina Lindquist – Managing Director and Founder, Falsterbo Photo Art Museum
Paolo Clerici –President and CEO, Clerici S.p.A. di Brescia
in conversation with Francesca Filippini Pinto – Curator and Art Advisor
Talk in english
Saturday, May 23rd
2 pm – Nanda Lanfranco. Il tempo e lo sguardo
The talk is dedicated to the figure of Nanda Lanfranco, explored through the words of Anna Costantini, art historian and scholar of the photographer’s work, and Giulia De Giorgi, Archives Curator at the CRRI – Research Centre of the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, moderated by Carla Testore, member of The Phair’s curatorial committee. The event offers an opportunity to retrace Nanda Lanfranco’s career from her beginnings in 1970s Genoa through some of the most important international exhibitions, from the Venice Biennale to documenta in Kassel, and ultimately to her collaboration with the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art. It is here that the photographer left a significant record of her work through an important group of photographs, now preserved in the recently established CRRI archival collection. This body of work is currently at the centre of the exhibition Nanda Lanfranco. Artist Portraits at the Castello di Rivoli, presenting a selection of portraits of the artists who, over the years, have exhibited at the Museum, contributing to the development of its exhibition history and collection.
Giulia De Giorgi – Curator of Archives, CRRI – Centro di Ricerca del Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Torino
Anna Costantini – Contemporary Art Historian and independent Researcher
in conversation with Carla Testore – Art historian, editor-in-chief, contemporary art curator
Talk in italian
3 pm – Photography in instituitional programming
Two perspectives in dialogue to examine the role of photography in contemporary cultural institutions and its positioning within curatorial programming. On one side, an institution oriented toward experimentation that has developed a curatorial line in which photography holds a central role; on the other, a museum rooted in a historical collection, where photography operates as a transversal language, yet is increasingly emerging through new exhibition projects.
Rachel Thomas – Roden Chief Curator, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre; Ambassador and Trustee, RAW: Rediscovering Art by Women
Pietro Rigolo – Chief Curator and Head of Collection, Pinacoteca Agnelli
in conversation with Caterina Avataneo – Curator
Talk in english
4 pm – Challanges and perspectives on exhibiting photography in public institutions
Starting from the programming of two distinct institutional models, the dialogue explores the challenges involved in producing photographic exhibitions within different museum contexts: on one hand, the museum as a historical archive in dialogue with new and previously unseen works; on the other, the museum as a hybrid device that brings together industry, enterprise, and culture.
Nathalie Herschdorfer – Director Photo Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Urs Stahel – Artistic Director, Fondazione MAST
in conversazione con Walter Guadagnini – Artistic Director Exposed. Torino Photo Festival
Talk in english
5 pm – Preserving legacy between memory and transformation
Three perspectives on the meaning of preserving a legacy in which family archives, visual memories, and artistic research become materials to be safeguarded, but also reworked and reinvented. The talk explores the tension between continuity and change, questioning legacy as an ongoing process that is preserved only insofar as it continues to transform, weaving together family memory, contemporary practices, and new narratives.
Fiammetta Horvat – Frank Horvat Studio Manager
Beatrice Merz – President Fondazione MERZ
Isobel Stettner Hoevers – Director of commercial activities, Louis Stettner Estate
Janet Iffland-Stettner – Director, Louis Stettner Estate
in conversation with Lucrezia di Martino – Consulting Director of Strategic Partnerships, MUUS Collection
Talk in english
6 pm – Crossover between art, design and the culture of taste
By entering into dialogue with productive systems that were once foreign to it, contemporary art has brought to light the strategic dimension of hybrid collaborations. Languages increasingly cross-pollinate, redefining the relationship between aesthetics, territorial identity, business and culture. Photography emerges as a central device within this ecosystem, moving between documentation and the construction of imagery, and contributing to shaping how territories and experiences are perceived and narrated.
Christina Makris – Author and advisor
Roberta Ceretto – President Aziende Vitivinicole Ceretto, Head of communications and marketing
in conversation with Nicolas Ballario – Art critic, journalist, and curator
Talk in italian
Sunday, May 24th
12.30 pm – Silvio Wolf, Dal Libro della Vita, Prearo Editore
The artist’s book, in a bilingual edition (Italian and English), consists of 15 original prints in a limited, signed edition by Silvio Wolf, each included in a corresponding French-fold booklet, all enclosed in a black silk presentation box. The volume, accompanied by a conversation between Alberto Fiz and Silvio Wolf, summarises 45 years of the artist’s visual and existential research centered on the themes of the Threshold, Absence, and Elsewhere.
Giampaolo Prearo – Publisher
Silvio Wolf – Artist
in conversation with Lorenzo Bruni – Art Critic and Curator
Talk in italian
14.00 – Gian Marco Sanna, PARADISE, Artphilein Editions
Gian Marco Sanna presents his photographic project Paradise, in which he portrays the world through a series of apocalyptic shots using only three tones: black, red, and white. At the heart of this surreal universe—where strange plants, wild animals, and a few wandering souls coexist—the photographer questions our self-destructive tendencies and warns us: without change, our planet is doomed. The oppressive red filter dominating his images serves as a stark reminder of a planet drained of its vitality, where many believe life cannot continue much longer in this way. Gian Marco will also introduce his new work, REM, in which he interprets broken and disturbed sleep as an organic response to cybernetic pressure: a biological signal, the last remaining way for our minds to desperately ask us to stay human
Gian Marco Sanna – Photographer
in conversation with Vittoria Fragapane – Curator
Talk in italian – in collaboration with De Pietri Artphilein Foundation
2.50 pm – Mara Palena, Things that happen inside and outside of me, Artphilein Editions
Conscious and unconscious, present, transfer and recollection, blend into the existential fragments combined by Mara Palena within her projects, based on different self-investigation methods. From psychoanalysis, to sound therapy, to EMDR, the experience of the artist returns in the form of her very personal elaboration. Such an intimate sphere, however, opens up to the collective by devising immersive scenarios that empathetically welcome the observer to a large, potentially infinite mnemonic archive — with the use of AI, too. Everything becomes a projection that escapes and reborns, incessantly. All the archive material comes from the public collection of the Archive of the Prelinger Library, San Francisco. The work showcases a series of digital collages of technical images generated by artificial intelligence fed with screenshots of archive footage on the cultural history of the United States. Winner of the De Pietri Artphilein Foundation Photobook Contest 2024.
Mara Palena – Artist
in conversation with Giulia Brivio – Publisher
Talk in italian – in collaboration with De Pietri Artphilein Foundation
3.30 pm – James Beghelli, Don’t You Dare Steal My Future, Artphilein Editions
Artphilein and James Beghelli present a close-up look at the everyday lives of new generations: how to portray adolescence and very young people without translating them, simplifying them, or speaking on their behalf. From the open call method to the exhibition and the Dossier, it is a process-driven narrative shaped by “from within” images, curatorial choices, and editorial publication.
James Beghelli – Photographer
in conversation with Giorgia Vanzolini – Curator
Talk in italian – in collaboration with De Pietri Artphilein Foundation
4.30 pm – Harmattan – Togo Photo Festival
The founders of Harmattan – Togo Photo Festival, Ako Atikossie and Giulia Brivio, present the first edition of the festival, which took place in December 2025 in Lomé. Through the works of the invited Togolese artists emerges the narrative and visionary potential of contemporary African photography, expressed through a hybrid visual language rooted in lived experience, shaped by dialogue with ancestors, and animated by the celebration of traditions and spirituality.Why Harmattan? The harmattan is a dry wind that connects the desert to the ocean. It is the season of the year when the clear light of the sky illuminates the world in a different way. Photography, today, can be a harmattan: it can help us see the world through a different filter. Each image becomes a story projected toward the future, a fragment of reality contributing to a complex and authentic visual identity. What story do we want to tell? Which narratives express the creative urgency of the contemporary West African art scene?
Ako Atikossie – Artist
in conversation with Giulia Brivio – Curator
Talk in italian – in collaboration with De Pietri Artphilein Foundation
5.15 pm – Il potere delle immagini – un’eredità per le future generazioni
Il potere delle immagini is an autobiography in which Commendatore Claudio de Polo-Saibanti looks back on his life through personal memories, family and cultural roots. He recounts with authenticity his role as a father and husband, interwoven with the historical context that has shaped his family. Ample space is devoted to his passions for culture and photography and to his commitment to the Alinari archive. Photography emerges as a tool for collective memory, as well as an art form. Ultimately, the book serves as a reflection on the value of images, history and legacy for future generations.
Commendatore Claudio de Polo – Saibanti – Senior President, Fratelli Alinari I.D.E.A. S.p.A. Firenze
in conversation with Federico Bollarino – Gallerist, Roccavintage Torino
Talk in italian