Da Sinistra Rocco Venezia (Curatore), Alex McFarlane (Sviluppatore Web) e Giuseppe Oliverio (Direttore) di PhMuseum. Ph. Aurora Benini

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Giuseppe Oliverio, founder of PhMuseum

Updated on 14 November 2022 From Bologna Welcome

Exclusively for Promenade...

Giuseppe Oliveriofounder of PhMuseum and initiator of the international photography festival of the same name

Give us a brief description of your activity and its impact on the territory

PhMuseum is a platform with a focus on contemporary photography that supports authors in their education and growth. The project is among the pioneers of online exhibitions (2013) and distance education (2017). Over the years it has developed a series of prestigious photography awards and collaborated with organisations such as Vogue Italia, TIME and World Press Photo. We recently moved to Bologna, where we opened the PhMuseum Lab (2020), an exhibition and education space where international artists engage with the local community, and launched PhMuseum Days (2021), an international photography festival aimed at sharing visual culture with a wider audience.


Tomorrow's Bologna: what do you expect and what do you wish to find?

My expectation now is for a far more ambitious Bologna to open up to the international community to a greater extent while preserving its identity and history. I wish for more advanced and possibly greener infrastructures to experience the whole city, not just the historic centre, and for an environment capable of enhancing the investment in new ideas. In our own small way, we hope to contribute through this festival, a great moment for meeting, sharing and thinking. We also strongly believe in temporary interventions in public spaces, such as the collective exhibition we held in Piazza Minghetti, as it succeeded in involving citizens and tourists while reminding us how beautiful our city is.


Are there any curious anecdotes that emerged from your experience over the last years?

I found out that the PhMuseum Lab, our gallery in Via Paolo Fabbri 10/2a in Cirenaica, used to be the workshop of a tyre dealer. This revelation took us back in time, to the early years when PhMuseum - at the time the Photographic Museum of Humanity - was based in Buenos Aires and our dissemination often took place by road, on board of a blue van we travelled with through half of South America, promoting the project and its philosophy. Now our legendary van is parked at a friend's house in São Paulo, Brazil, but we hope to make another road trip soon.


Your favourite places off the beaten track?

Definitely Bar Edera, a kind of tradition for those who live and work in the Cirenaica. We also often hang out at Caffè Rubik on Via Marsala, you might want to discover their Piccola Galleria in person. Then I think of SPLIT, a neat little anti-vintage space where you can find unique pieces of clothing. Finally, the view of the city from San Michele in Bosco.


What's your favourite Bolognese word and why?

Pcher! I just googled and you can equally say bcär, maslär, mazler, pcàr, pcär. Either way, it means butcher. It was the first word I spotted when opening the Italian-Bolognese dictionary on a random page. It has been in my heart ever since, also because of its peculiar etymology and phonetics.

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