One of the most visited museums in Italy, the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, is both host and subject of a video exhibition inviting reflection on the “identity of today’s tourism, and in particular on the habit of looking at artworks (and not only) through smartphones, video cameras and similar devices,” as explained on the Uffizi’s website.
“Grand Tourismo,” commissioned by the Uffizi Galleries, is the work of Florence native Giacomo Zaganelli. Composed of three videos, Illusion, Everywhere but Nowhere, Uffizi Oggi (Uffizi Today), it can be seen in room 56 on the first floor (until July the room housed Hellenistic marbles, which were then moved to a different room as part of the recent re-arranging of the Galleries).
Illusion, set in the streets of Florence, focuses on how the habit of snapping pictures has become mechanical and redundant (sounds familiar?); Everywhere but nowhere, set in Palazzo Strozzi, shows the exasperated use of electronic devices; and Uffizi Oggi , shot on an ordinary Sunday at the Uffizi, is “a personal reinterpretation and an unconventional viewpoint on what happens every day in front of Botticelli’s masterpieces like the Birth of Venus or the Spring.”
As pointed out on the Uffizi’s website, the three videos “are meant to be a sort of break of the public’s visit where each visitor is thus expected to reconsider the experience s/he has just gone through.”
Giacomo Zaganelli’s “Grand Tourismo” was curated by Uffizi director Eike Schmidt and Chiara Toti, and is on view until October 14, 2018.
Why do we hurry to take a photo as soon as we see a famous work of art (or monument or landscape) rather than stopping to savoring it with our own eyes? And in doing so, how much are we losing of the actual experience?
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Photo credits: Uffizi Galleries.
