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Curated by Giovanna Calvenzi and Filippo Maggia, the “Metropoli” show devoted to the work of Gabriele Basilico (Milan, 1944-2013) presents over 250 works exploring the issues of anthropized landscape, the development and historical stratifications of cities around the world, city margins and suburbs in continuous transformation.
The exhibition layout is divided into five main chapters: “Milano. Ritratti di fabbriche” (Milan. Portraits of Factories), 1978-1980, Basilico’s first major photographic project; “Sezioni del paesaggio italiano” (Sections of the Italian Landscape), a project exploring six itineraries completed in 1996 in collaboration with Stefano Boeri and presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale; “Beirut”, two photographic campaigns exhibited here for the first time together, the first in 1991 in black and white and the second in 2011 in colour, the first at the end of a fifteen-year-long conflict and the second to document the rebuilding of a city; cities of the world, a journey through time and in different locations, from Palermo to Bari, Naples, Genoa and Milan, and further afield to Istanbul, Jerusalem, Shanghai, Moscow, New York, Rio de Janeiro and many others; and lastly Rome, the city where Basilico worked on a number of occasions, developing a variety of projects up until 2010 when he tackled a demanding comparison between the contemporary city and the Eighteenth Century etchings of Giambattista Piranesi.
The show will also feature an extensive, illustrated biography tracing Basilico’s artistic and professional life (two aspects which overlapped on a number of occasions) through images and short texts, as well as in three videos: the first made by Tanino Musso in 1991 in Beirut and re-edited today by Giacomo Traldi, who also edited the interview with film director Amos Gitai from 2012 devoted to Rome and Piranesi. The third video, “A proposito di Sezioni del Paesaggio italiano” (About Sections of the Italian Landscape) is an interview given by Stefano Boeri to Marina Spada in 2002.

1944

Gabriele Basilico is born in Milan on August 12th

1969

Travels through Scotland and England. A selection of photographs taken in Glasgow will be exhibited in Milan the following year, at the Galleria Il Diaframma

1973

Graduates in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano.

1976

Involved, along with a group of friends, in the production of the film Proletariato giovanile (Young Proletariat), which looked at the lives of Milanese youngsters living in conditions of social distress – house-squatting, taking part in the “Re Nudo” festival held at the Parco Lambro in Milan.

1978

Begins photographing the suburbs of Milan, soon extending his area of interest to the city’s factories.

1978

Commissioned by the magazine Modo to carry out a major feature on the dance halls scene in EmiliaRomagna.

1981

Publishes Milano. Ritratti di fabbriche (Milan. Portraits of Factories), three years of work in Milan.

1984

Takes part in the Viaggio in Italia (Journey Through Italy), exhibition and book project conceived by Luigi Ghirri, Gianni Leone and Enzo Velati. Show at the Pinacoteca of Bari.
 
Produces a series of portraits of architects and designers for the covers of the monthly magazine Domus, directed by Alessandro Mendini.
 
For an exhibition project and a publication, completes Contact, 24 shots comparing the patterns used in design chairs and the skin markings of a female model.
 

1984/85

Takes part in the Mission Photographique of D.A.T.A.R., a project promoted by the French government aimed at documenting the transformation of the country’s landscape.

1985

Works in collaboration with architect Fulvio Irace on a project documenting architecture in Milan, published in Immagini del Novecento. Milano, Architetture 1919-1939. (Images of the Twentieth Century. Milan, Architectures)
 

1990

Publishes Bord de mer (Seaside). Receives the Prix Mois de la Photo in Paris for the show “Porti di mare” (Seaports)

1991

Takes part alongside René Burri, Raymond Depardon, Fouad Elkoury and Robert Frank in the photographic mission “Beyrouth Centre Ville”, promoted by the Hariri Foundation and coordinated by writer Dominique Eddé

1993

Publishes L’esperienza dei luoghi (The Experience of Places), shown at the Fondazione Galleria Gottardo in Lugano. Works with American photographer Cuchi White on a project documenting the course of the river Durance, in France. Completes the volume In treno verso l’Europa (In Train Towards Europe) for Ferrovie dello Stato.
 

1994

Realises the Nizza in controcampo (Nice in reverse angle) project which will be exhibited at the Musée Matisse.

Begins a collaboration with Israeli film director Amos Gitai, photographing the buildings in Israel designed by his father, Munio Gitai Weinraub.
 

1996

Included in the Italian pavilion of the 6th edition of the Venice Biennale with the project Sezioni del paesaggio italiano (Sections of the Italian Landscape), in collaboration with Stefano Boeri. Awarded the Osella d’Oro prize for photography of contemporary architecture.
 
Together with architect Luigi Snozzi, presents a personal photographic interpretation combining architecture and landscape of Monte Carasso, a village in the Ticino canton of Switzerland. Basilico’s works will be featured at the 6th edition of the Venice architecture Biennale in the Swiss pavilion.
 
Exhibits images from the volume Uma ciudade assim at the Camara Municipal of Matosinhos (Portugal). Develops a series of photographs in collaboration with architect Álvaro Siza. The volume Non c’è spazio né architettura senza luce (There Is Neither Space Nor Architecture Without Light), presenting photographs by Basilico and drawings by Siza, will be published in 2017.
 

1997

With Maurizio Maggiani and Stefano Boeri he realizes a comprehensive survey of the work in progress in the port of Genoa.

1998

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Associazione Costruttori Edili of Bergamo, Basilico develops a major research for the city, published in the book Attraversare Bergamo (Crossing Bergamo).
 
Commissioned by the Associazione Eva Kant to produce Palermo Città (The City of Palermo), an extensive photographic documentation of the city of Palermo presented at the former hospital of San Bartolomeo and published in a book of the same title.

1999

Publishes Interrupted City, dedicated to the city of Milan.

2000

Publishes Cityscapes, a selection of 300 shots dating from 1984 onwards which are placed on show at the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam, the Centro Portugues de Fotografia of Porto, the MART of Rovereto and the Museo de Arte Moderno of Buenos Aires.
 
Invited by the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst to produce a photographic documentation on the metropolitan area of Berlin. The book Berlin is awarded the PhotoEspaña best photography book of the year prize.
 
The show “Milano, Berlin, Valencia” runs at IVAM, Istituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno.
 

2003

Takes part in the “Atlante Italiano. Ritratto dell’Italia che cambia” (Italian Atlas. A Portrait of a Changing Italy) project for MAXXI, Rome.
Participates in the 5th edition of the architecture and design biennale of Saõ Paulo with a show conceived in collaboration with Álvaro Siza and which was subsequently held at the Milan Triennale and PAN in Naples. Is commissioned by the magazine Domus to return to Beirut and document the reconstruction of the city.

2004

Exhibits at CGAC (Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporánea) of Santiago de Compostela.

2005

Solo show at the Palazzo Reale of Naples and at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna of Turin. Publishes Scattered City, a selection of unpublished images of European cities.

2006

Solo show at the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian of Lisbon. Show at the Maison Européenne de la Photo in Paris: “Gabriele BasilicoPhotographies 1978-2005”. Photographs a number of Italian cities.
 
Works on an extensive photographic document focussing on the urban fabric of the Principality of Monaco for the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco.
 
Travels through Israel and Jordan with film director Amos Gitai, photographing the locations used in Gitai’s film Free Zone.
 
Begins photographing the construction of the Porta Nuova district of Milan, a project which will continue until 2012.
 
Begins a collaboration with the firm iGuzzini, providing images of various cities throughout the world.
 

2007

Holds a show in Mantua of photographs from a project dedicated to the city. The Fondazione Ludovico Ragghianti of Lucca presents the anthological show Gabriele Basilico - Oltre il paesaggio, fotografie 1978- 2006 (Gabriele Basilico
- Beyond the Landscape, Photographs).
 
Participates in the 52nd edition of the Venice Biennale with eight colour shots from the 1991 Beirut series.
 
Completes a reportage on the city of Bari for the Pinacoteca Provinciale. Publishes Gabriele Basilico. Architettura, città, visioni (Gabriele Basilico. Architecture, Cities, Visions), edited by Andrea Lissoni.
 
Commissioned by the photography department of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to complete a photography project on Silicon Valley.
 
Collaborates in the role of director of photography on the Marina Spada film Come l’ombra (Like Shadow).
 

2008

Inaugurates “Silicon Valley”, a solo show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
 
Awarded the 2007 international architectural photography prize from the Astroc Foundation of Madrid and shows the published images in Intercity.
 
Presents a show dedicated to Rome at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni.
 
Completes his photography project on Moscow, started the previous year, with shots of the urban landscape taken from the “Seven Sisters” skyscrapers. The images are exhibited at the Cité de l’Architecture/Palais de Chaillot, Paris.
 

2009

In a show curated by Roberta Valtorta at Milan’s Spazio Oberdan, presents his first and latest projects: Milano. Ritratti di fabbriche 1978-80 and Mosca Verticale (Vertical Moscow).

2010

Completes two photographic projects in the cities of Istanbul and Shanghai.
 
Documents the construction of the MAST (Manifattura di Arte, Sperimentazione e Tecnologia) buildings in Bologna.
 
Commissioned by the Fondazione Cini in Venice for the show “Le Arti di Piranesi”, realizes 300 photographs following the etchings of Giambattista Piranesi.
 

2011

New photographic mission to Beirut for the Hariri Foundation, alongside Fouad Elkoury, Robert Polidori and Klavdij Sluban.
 
Invited by the Oi Futuro Foundation to Rio de Janeiro, to exhibit his works and to photograph the city.
 
Commissioned by publishers FMR to provide the images for the volume Italia. Capolavori del Rinascimento (Italy. Masterpieces of the Renaissance)
 
Publishes with Toni Thorimbert Il mio domani (My Tomorrow), a project developed during the shooting of the film by the same name directed by Marina Spada.
 
Commissioned by the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo of Milan to complete a series of images from the rooftop of the recently restored cathedral.
 

2012

Participates in the 13th edition of the Biennale Internazionale di Architettura of Venice with the project Common Pavilions, conceived by Adele Re Rebaudengo in collaboration with Diener & Diener Architekten. Publishes Leggere le fotografie in dodici lezioni (Understanding Photographs in Twelve Lessons).
 

2013

February 13th, Gabriele Basilico dies in Milan.