The artist Vincenzo Castella presents a selection of forty photographic images of Padua, experimenting an aesthethic translation of the photo-book by Silvana Editoriale - about 100 pictures taken between 2020 and 2021 - to the medium of an exhibition. Curated by Salvatore Lacagnina and supported by Hermès, the exhibition is open from 11th November 2022 to 8th January 2023 and also after the annual winter closing, from 14th February to 5th March 2023.

The images are displayed in just two aspect ratios: one wide (3:1), narrow and elongated, disposed horizontally and vertically, with shots placed close together and side by side; the other almost square (4:3), used in a few precise situations, where necessary, to open up the view at a stroke.

The city is illustrated through four themes: the Botanical Garden, and more generally the plant world; painting, mainly frescoes preserved in churches, oratories and palaces; architecture, which is seen and presented by the artist as defining a place; and the University, with its long history which is crucial for the European culture.

The exhibition - included in the admission ticket and available during the Botanical Garden opening hours - was created by Padua Botanical Garden, supported by Hermès, with the collaboration of Silvana Editoriale and Studio la Città, within the celebrations for the 800th anniversary of the University of Padua.

---

Vincenzo Castella Vincenzo Castella was born 1952 in Naples and lives in Milan. His works have been exhibited since 1980 in Europe and America, and in 1998 began to take on a strongly non-narrative character. With giant size colour prints taken from large format films, he depicts the complexity of cities, their webs and their tangles: European cities like Naples, Milan, Turin, Rouen, Caen, Le Havre, Helsinki and Berlin, as
well as locations further afield such as Ramallah and Jerusalem. In 2015 the Board of Trustees of the Tate Modern included five works from his Malta Project in the gallery’s collection.