
Studio Mumbai
In 2018 Giovanni Hänninen was called by Bijoy Jain to document the projects carried out by Studio Mumbai in India.
The Missing Piece is an intimate portrait of Milan, one of the cities most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The few people who are wandering the city find themselves in front of white empty spaces: all the advertisements vanished from the billboards.
At first glance, these white monoliths have the grandness of the ruins of old idols built by an obsolete society.
Looking deeper they become an emblem of this period of our lives. The sense of void towards our affections. The sensation that we lost something. The fear of the unknown. A pause that we needed from our hectic routines. A desire – in the etymological sense De-, “without”, and sidus, “star” – as lack of something that we no longer have. Something we’ve all experienced: the desire to go back to doing things the way we did them before.
And then life begins again, and those white boxes become a blank space to be filled by new ideas. Free and available to host a new society, a new future.
The Missing Piece è un ritratto intimo di Milano, una delle città più colpite dalla pandemia del Covid -19. Le persone che vagano nella città si trovano di fronte a degli spazi bianchi e vuoti: tutte le pubblicità sono scomparse dai cartelloni.
A una prima occhiata questi bianchi monoliti hanno la grandiosità delle rovine di antichi idoli costruiti da società dimenticate.
Guardando meglio diventano emblema di questo periodo delle nostre vite. Il senso di vuoto verso i nostri affetti.
La sensazione di aver perso qualcosa. La paura per l’ignoto. Una pausa dalla nostra vita frenetica di cui avevamo bisogno. Un desiderio – nel senso etimologico De-, “senza”, e sidus, “stelle” – come perdita di qualcosa che non abbiamo più. Qualcosa che tutti noi abbiamo provato: il desiderio di tornare a fare le cose come le facevamo prima.
E a un certo puntola vita ricomincia, e quelle scatole bianche diventano spazi da riempire con nuove idee. Spazi liberi e disponibili a ospitare una nuova società, un nuovo futuro.
PhotoBrussels Festival
Hangar Photo Art Center
Brussels, Belgique
21st January – 27th March 2021
Gallery
Related Projects
In 2018 Giovanni Hänninen was called by Bijoy Jain to document the projects carried out by Studio Mumbai in India.
A look into the centres of university excellence of Milan.
A journey through seven historical theaters of the Polesine region, in Northern Italy.
A new vision that finally gives entirity to the different cultural institutions hosted in Pilotta: these are the pillars of the new ambitious projects by Simone Verde, Pilotta’s director.
The beginning of a research that aims to create an atlas that uses photography as a tool for analysing the city’s dynamics.
n 2017 Giovanni Hänninen was called by Giovanna Calvenzi of Studio Basilico to continue Gabriele Basilico’s work on the three European cities with a circular structure: Moscow, Milan, Madrid.
Giovanni Hänninen, Via Santa Marta, 18, 20123, Milan, Italy, e-mail: studio@hanninen.it — all images © Giovanni Hänninen 2021