Photomatic e altre storie
Franco Vaccari (Bel Vedere Fotografia, 2006)
This book collects photos by the Italian photographer and artist Franco Vaccari, as well as essays about his work (in Italian and English), a brief biography of Vaccari, and a list of his major exhibitions, from 1966 to the present.
The essays, "Public Space and Real Time" by Claudia Zanfi, "Franco Vaccari and Art as a Philosophical Project" by Roberto Mutti, and "Photomatic Italia '70" by Luca Molinari, are thoughtful explorations of Vaccari's work and of the photobooth itself.
The book primarily looks at Vaccari's photobooth-based work, including his seminal piece, "Leave a photographic trace of your passage on these walls," at the 1972 Venice Biennale, in which he left a photobooth in the middle of an otherwise empty room and encouraged visitors to take a photostrip and hang it on the wall.
The photos Vaccari obtained during the year he had over 700 photobooths at his disposal all over Italy are the real gems of this book; they show ordinary Italians, with their friends, families, and even their dogs, caught in a very specific time and place.
Thanks to Marco for telling us about and sending us a copy of this book.
Contributed by Marco
