fabio novembre: steve mccurry exhibition design at MACRO, rome

installation view of steve mccurry's exhibition at the MACRO testaccio la pelanda, designed and curated by fabio novembre
all photos by pasquale formisano courtesy of the MACRO


american photography steve mccurry is known for his photojournalistic work which has been featured in such prestigious magazines
as newsweek, time, and life, one of his most iconic photos being the famous portrait of the young afghan girl with green eyes
that was featured on the cover of national geographic in june 1985. a selection of over 200 images, pulled from mccurry's
vast archive of images built up over his 30 years as a photographer and reporter are on show at the MACRO testaccio la pelanda in rome.
curated by italian designer fabio novembre, who has also conceived the exhibition space, the presentation features a special selection of 'italian pictures'
which mccurry took especially for the event during his many stays over the course of a year in several cities and regions of italy -
a tribute to the country in celebration of its 150th anniversary of unification.



bird's-eye views of one of the domed pavilions


the linear volume in which the exposition takes place, houses numerous domed pavilions. the result is an indoor nomadic village
of sorts with interpenetrating areas which speak to the perception of humanity expressed through the images on show.
the photographs are hung on the inner structures of the open arched proportions, creating a sense of seclusion while still offering
views to the other display structures, the viewer standing surrounded by worlds beyond their own.



general view


fabio novembre on the steve mccurry exhibition project:
'when benoit mandelbrot, father of the fractals’ geometry, described his experience of researcher, he used to define it as:
'nomads by choice, pioneers out of need'; thus, when I think of steve mccurry, I tend to apply the same aphorism to his life
of tireless researcher of the human nature. the fractals of mandelbrot represent the reality hidden behind that principle of
euclidean order we have always associated to nature. the subjects of mccurry’s photographs represent the reality
hidden behind that glossy communication which pretends to represent the humanity. and so, as mandelbrot has provided
the first mathematical tools to deal with the chaos, all the same mccurry provides us with visual accounts to deal with the diversity.
steve has all the characteristics of the true researcher: from the patience necessary to carry out an experiment (or to take a photograph),
to the restlessness that always pushes him toward a new frontier to cross.

his life looks like a long journey in which his new york residence in 5th avenue is a baggage room more than a refuge to restore himself,
since, without any hint of rhetoric: his home is everywhere. while our idea of home more and more resembles arrogant declarations
of power well established on the land we occupy, to pictures of individual happiness that do not envisage any collective effects,
the houses in his photos are precarious, like the lives of those people who those houses inhabit similar to weak cellular structures.
and it is exactly that suggestion that I have tried to represent within the large spaces of the macro, a layout similar to a nomads’ village,
structures that merge to restore that sense of solidarity that you can breathe in mccurry’s photos.

with an exhibition project that does not consider space-temporal variables but works on the assonance of subjects,
unexpected degrees of kinship that restore the sense of humanity.

there is life and death in mccurry’s photos, and that short or long itinerary that links them; like the way and the sense itself
of this exhibition that will lead the visitors to be nomads by choice, pioneers out of need…'



the photographs are hung on the inner structures of the open arched proportions






the domes are connected by pathways



individual dome pavilion




image courtesy of fabio novembre



video of steve mccurry exhibition at MACRO testaccio la pelanda by exibartTV