Andreas Gursky. Visual Spaces of Today

Fondazione MAST presents the exhibition Andreas Gursky. Visual Spaces of Today, curated by Urs Stahel together with the German photographer Andreas Gursky. The first anthological exhibition of the artist in Italy marks the opening of the celebrations for a double anniversary: ten years of Fondazione MAST and 100 years of the G.D Company.

Drawing inspiration from the acronym MAST—which stands for Manifattura di Arti, Sperimentazione, Tecnologia (Arts, Experience and Technology)—the visual spaces in the works selected for the exhibition by Urs Stahel and Andreas Gursky mirror these thematic worlds. The artist’s powerful images disclose new views on work, the economy, and globalization. They reveal concrete visions of production plants, goods handling centres, temples of consumption, transport hubs, energy and food industries, and financial centres across the world.

Included in the exhibition are 40 images by the artist—who lives and works in Düsseldorf—dating from his early works (Krefeld, Hühner, 1989) to his more recent production (V&R II and V&R III, 2022), travelling great lengths, from Salerno (1990) to Hong Kong (2020), and combining modern tourism industry (Rimini, 2003) with age-old production processes (Salinas, 2021).

Andreas Gursky is considered one of the greatest artists of our time. Since the 1990s, his name has been associated with large-scale photography. His images have become iconic representations of the contemporary world and have contributed to elevating the status of photography to an art form, thus turning it into a collector’s item for museum and private collections.

“Making work a culture and culture a work”. These are the words that bind Fondazione MAST and G.D together. They represent the longtime, consolidated corporate culture of the G.D company, as well as MAST, the innovative and inclusive space it created to promote thought on the topic of work.

Albeit their different functions and identities, G.D and Fondazione MAST are deeply connected by an underlying idea: work and culture as founding elements of our society and everyone’s life, mutually fostering one another in a continued and productive exchange.

The catalogue accompanying the exhibition is published by Fondazione MAST. Complementing the exhibition is a series of free events, guided tours, and educational activities for students, available upon reservation. 

Fondazione MAST in autumn will produce and organize in Bologna the sixth edition of Foto/Industria, the most important photography biennial in the world dedicated to industry and work. Andreas Gursky. Visual Spaces of Today will be the eleventh exhibition in the event program.

Fondazione MAST is an international, philanthropic, and cultural institution based on Technology, Art and Innovation. It opened in Bologna in 2013 and is located in a multifunctional space next to the headquarters of the Coesia industrial group. Conceived as a link between the company and the community, MAST is a cultural centre open to participation and collaboration, where everyone can access learning, arts, and photography. Its Galleries host temporary exhibitions of photography on industry and work.