Festival Sguardi plurali
Pratiche fotografiche partecipative per la rigenerazione delle periferie
presents the exhibition
Rigenerazioni. Persone, luoghi, sguardi
The project, supported by Il Museo rigenera Ed. Fotografia, promoted by the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, transforms MUNDA into a community laboratory from October 9 to 25, 2026.
The Exhibition
From October 9 to 25, 2026, the National Museum of Abruzzo hosts “Regenerations. People, Places, Perspectives,” the exhibition marking the final phase of the “Sguardi Plurali. Pratiche fotografiche partecipative per la rigenerazione delle periferie. Raccontare i territori, costruire comunità, abitare il museo” festival, dedicated to analog photography. The festival features the local communities, schools, and family homes of the L’Aquila area. The exhibition is supported by “Il Museo Rigenera – Ed. Fotografia,” promoted by the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, and aims to encourage culturally-based urban regeneration initiatives in the suburbs by state museums and cultural venues affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, engaging resident communities through photography.
The “Regenerations” exhibition. People, Places, Views documents, through the photographic materials produced, the Festival‘s workshop activities, held from June to October 2026, involving over one hundred participants, including citizens, secondary school students, and minors from three foster homes in the province of L’Aquila. The project unfolds over five months and involves approximately 100 participants, four municipalities, two cultural sites, four workshop series, one social promotion association, and eight photographers, through a comprehensive program of educational, photographic, and cultural activities.
Among the workshop results, “Pinhole Photography” and “Photographing the Castle” are presented here alongside “Stories of Regeneration,” a selection of photographs by Settimio Benedusi and Guido Stazzoni, as well as cyanotypes, black-and-white photographs, and DIY cameras.
The exhibition is therefore the result of a comprehensive program of activities that intertwined training, photographic practice, and participation, engaging communities, professionals, and young participants in a shared process of observing and narrating the territories. The photographs and materials produced during the workshops convey not only the memory of the places visited, but also the relationships, perspectives, and experiences that took shape through the shared journey of the project.
Alongside the Rigenerazioni exhibition, a selection of photographic projects by artists who, through different languages, practices, and perspectives, have developed research focused on territory, landscape, identity, and social and environmental transformations. Their works engage with the photographs created during the workshops, broadening the reflection on regeneration and demonstrating how photography can become a tool for observation, interpretation, and engagement with places and communities. The exhibition features the projects “Stories of Regeneration” by Settimio Benedusi and Guido Stazzoni, “Scampia Anno Zero” by Robbie McIntosh, “Spiagge Bianche” by Niccolò Cozzi, and “A Croce mia” by Serena Salerno.
Through participatory photographic practices, the project aims to foster a reinterpretation of the area’s historical, artistic, and architectural heritage, confirming the Museum as a space for relationships, inclusion, and cultural participation, and as a connecting force between cultural institutions, professionals, associations, and communities, with particular attention to peripheral areas and contexts characterized by social fragility or processes of transformation.
The photographic medium thus becomes a device that transforms places, people, and perspectives, restoring meaning and new possibilities.
The official inauguration took place today at 11:00 a.m., in the presence of Tommaso Serafini, Director of Service III of the General Directorate of Museums, and Federica Zalabra, Director of MUNDA.
Director Serafini emphasizes the value of the museum’s role in community relations:
“Sguardi Plurali demonstrates how museums can be places of participation, capable of building meaningful relationships with communities and contributing to processes of cultural and regional regeneration. Through a project that leveraged participatory photography, the National Museum of Abruzzo was able to engage citizens, schools, and local social groups in a journey of shared understanding and appreciation of its heritage, which is now presented in the exhibition “Regenerations. People, Places, Views.” This experience fully embodies the vision of the contemporary museum promoted by the Directorate-General for Museums: an open, inclusive institution deeply connected to the local area and its inhabitants.“
A vision shared with conviction by Director Zalabra, who emphasizes the perspectives opened up by the project:
“By placing the relationship between the center and the periphery at the center of the investigation, the Sguardi Plurali project has allowed us to observe the heritage and communities of theterritory from different perspectives. Photography, in this journey, has been a tool for knowledge, expression, and discussion, capable of bringing together different realities and subjects and giving space to perspectives and narratives that have often remained marginalized. The project has also strengthened the Museum’s role as a meeting place, open to dialogue with the local community and capable of creating opportunities for exchange, participation, and sharing.
The Sguardi Plurali Festival is organized in collaboration with the Slow Photo association, which has curated the workshops and photography tours in the areas of Pizzoli, Amiternum, Scoppito, Fossa, Ocre, and L’Aquila, some of which are still ongoing, as part of a rich program of events.
In July and August, workshops were conducted at three local family homes, with the assistance of volunteers from the Slow Photo APS association. The aim was to introduce unaccompanied minors to the use of photography as a tool for personal expression, connection, and self-representation, while also fostering a different mode of observation. The workshop also included guided tours of the Museum and the Castle. The young people involved were invited to observe the place from a new perspective and to build their own relationship with it through photography.
From these meetings, “Fotografare il Castello, insieme” was born: over 80 snapshots that, assembled together, create a collective reconstruction of the sixteenth-century Castle of L’Aquila, through the eyes of those who explored and experienced it during the workshop.
Workshops and Projects
From September 4th to 19th, the workshop on the Habitable Pinhole Camera, conceived and led by photographers Sergio Maritato and Giampiero Duronio, took place in seven sessions.
The installation, conceived as an immersive device, allowed participants to physically enter a pinhole darkroom, transforming the practice of photography into a collective experience of observation and direct experimentation with the photographic process. Particular attention was paid to the relationship between the photographic device, the heritage of the National Museum of Abruzzo, and the local area, with the aim of producing images dedicated to the project’s representative sites and assets, including the Amiternum Archaeological Park, a peripheral branch of the Museum, and the Mammoth preserved in the Museum, but originating from one of the municipalities bordering L’Aquila.
The project involved the production of four single-copy pinhole negative photographs of the most representative sites of the Amiternum Archaeological Park and the Museum, including the Mammoth skeleton.
From September 7th to 9th, Progetto Nomade – Ritratti took place, a photographic campaign dedicated to the L’Aquila area and its people, conducted in places undergoing transformation and regeneration.
Inside the Amiternum Archaeological Park in San Vittorino (L’Aquila), a branch of the Museum, photographers Settimio Benedusi and Guido Stazzoni met and portrayed residents of the L’Aquila area and its suburbs, capturing their experiences, memories, and perspectives through images and interviews.
The meeting resulted in “Stories of Regeneration,” a selection of photographic portraits accompanied by short excerpts from interviews conducted during the project, which convey the protagonists’ voices and enrich the images with fragments of their stories.
From September 18th to October 4th, “Percorsi Fotografici“, a participatory photography and shared visual storytelling workshop, was held. The workshop aimed to promote a conscious understanding of the territory through the relationship between archaeological heritage, architecture, landscape, and the memory of places. The workshop combined composition and visual design, the history of photography and analog practice, from fieldwork and observation of historic sites to film development and final printing.
Alternative Process is a workshop led by photographer Niccolò Cozzi, scheduled for October 10th and 11th, dedicated to experimenting with alternative photographic techniques such as cyanotype, anthotype, and chlorotype. The workshop explores the potential of plant-based emulsions, bringing together analog photography, materials research, artistic practice, and process sustainability.
Biographical notes on the photographers in the exhibition
Alongside the workshop results, the Festival presents a selection of photographic projects that bring together different perspectives on the themes of territory, identity, landscape, and social and environmental transformations.
Settimio Benedusi
Specializes in fashion, portraiture, and advertising. He is the founder of Fotografia Popolare – Ricordi Stampati together with Guido Stazzoni.
Niccolò Cozzi
Specializing in documentation and portraiture, he focuses on people and social contexts, with works published and exhibited in major festivals and magazines.
Spiagge bianche is a photographic project that explores the faux tropics of Tuscany, along one of the most polluted coasts in the Mediterranean.
Through a gaze on the industrial landscape, Spiagge bianche reflects on the possibilities for regeneration of an area where beauty, economic development, tourism, and the environmental crisis coexist in a complex and contradictory relationship. It opens a reflection on the responsibilities associated with development, environmental protection, and the future of these territories.
Giampiero Duronio
An architect and photographer from L’Aquila specializing in contemporary landscapes, he is known for his work on L’Aquila after the 2009 earthquake and for several photography publications.
Sergio Maritato
Educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, he focuses his research on architecture, landscape, and pinhole photography, participating in numerous exhibitions and publications.
Guido Stazzoni
Active in fashion, portraiture, and artistic and editorial projects, he is the co-founder of Fotografia Popolare – Ricordi Stampati.
Robbie McIntosh
Born in Naples, he uses film to empathize with everyday life and its people, especially in the beach scenes of his project On The Beach.
Scampia Anno Zero is a photographic project by Robbie McIntosh dedicated to one of the most talked-about yet most misunderstood areas in Italy. Far from the imagery that for decades has reduced Scampia to a symbol of crime, marginalization, and degradation, the work focuses on the people and the daily life that unfolds in the neighborhood.
Serena Salerno
Working between Italy and France, she explores identity, introspection, and emotions through analog photography, focusing primarily on the representation of women.
‘A Croce mia is a photographic project that encompasses thirteen years of research and interrogation of the figure of femininity and women.
The artist questions what it means to inhabit a woman’s body, becoming a journey of self-observation and personal transformation, and a reflection on the possibility of recognizing, existing, and expressing ourselves through what truly represents us.
The Festival’s calendar expands with “La rigenerazione delle periferie” a series of meetings aimed at broadening the educational dimension of the project and encouraging discussion between professionals and interested audiences.
- Saturday, October 10th, 7:00 PM – “La fotografia sociale”, a seminar by photographers Robbie McIntosh and Serena Salerno.
- Sunday, October 11th, 7:00 PM – “Il ritratto”, a seminar by photographers Settimio Benedusi and Vincenzo Desiderio.
Activities
The Festival continues until December with a series of meetings and workshops for students from local schools.
Activities will vary based on the age of participants. For younger students, focus will be on creating images and developing visual skills through hands-on and experimental activities, from building cameras using recycled materials, such as cans and shoeboxes, to exploring the narrative potential of photography. Workshops will also be offered on photographic printing techniques using natural elements, such as leaves and flowers, to introduce children to photography through play and experimentation.
Students aged 14 to 18 will instead be offered more in-depth image education activities, with a particular focus on using a camera and studying composition. The program will also include workshops on photographic storytelling, printing techniques, and experimentation, culminating in the creation of a personal photography project, developed through observation and narration of their own local area.
A catalog documenting the overall Sguardi Plurali experience will be published during the final week of the Festival, from October 19th to 25th.
Gallery
