EXPOSED TALK PROGRAMME

Date
17.04.2025

Location
Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti

The EXPOSED TALK Programme brings together artists, researchers, and thinkers to explore how photography, visual arts, and technology shape the way we see and understand the world. Images are not just reflections of reality — they have the power to reveal hidden structures, challenge authority, and reshape our perspectives. From the blurred boundaries between simulation and reality in AI-generated imagery to the role of photography in environmental and social justice and how migration and displacement shape identity and social structures, the program interrogates the forces that determine what is visible, what is hidden, and who controls these narratives. Guests such as Paolo Cirio, Sheng-Wen Lo, Alessandra Ferrini, Zoé Samudzi, Philip Di Salvo, Cristina Giudice, Lawrence Lek, and Alan Butler will examine topics ranging from the ethics of artificial intelligence and digital authorship to imperialism and social structures and the shifting relationships between humans, non-humans, and ecology.

At the heart of these conversations is a simple but powerful idea: what we see — and what we don’t — is shaped by those in power. How do materials — from digital pixels to physical objects — carry stories of power, control, and resistance?

EXPOSED invites us to look deeper, question what we take for granted, and explore how images and materials influence our lives in ways we may not always notice.

Translations of the events by Assointerpreti.

EVENTS

 

A Fascist Historical Present: Unravelling Italy’s Postcolonial Question

With Alessandra Ferrini, artist, researcher, and educator, and Zoé Samudzi, writer and art critic

In conversation with Cristina Giudice, professor and lecturer, and Nemi Ferrara

hours: 09:30 – 10:15

 

Almost Real. From Reality to Simulation and Back

With Lawrence Lek, artist, filmmaker, and musician, and Alan Butler, artist

In conversation with Philip Di Salvo, researcher and lecturer

hours: 10:30 – 11:15

 

Coexistence or Control? The Complex Ties Between Humans and Non-Humans

With Paolo Cirio, artist, activist, and media theorist, and Sheng-Wen Lo, artist

In conversation with Marina Paulenka, curator, artistic director, educator, and art advisor

hours: 11:30 – 12:15