photography – SEMA Serafini Matteo

A M O R O M A

The following photos are part of a project that aims to describe the city of Rome, are few examples among many photos taken from the work that is still in progress; are photographs on digital files and on medium 120mm film format or 35 mm.

Interpreting, through photographic images, the daily space of the contemporary city of Rome in its infinite contradictory and different aspects: this is the vast theme of this research. As an architect, our gaze has mainly focused on the relationship between the emergencies of architecture and the social and living space that welcomes them; spaces and lights, full and empty, captured through a general “refocusing” of the city.

Spaces completely abandoned and in disuse, architectural skeletons that have now become an integral part of the urban matrix to be recovered or already ruins; works by authors seeking the dialogue with the surrounding urban context by making use of their constructive and formal elegance and other anonymous architectures that reveal all their inability to interpret the urban contexts in which they are located, but no less interesting to investigate. Scraps of densely districts, for many romans almost other cities that parasitize in the spread of the roman periphery; overpasses and viaducts that trace heavy curves or sharp straight lines that cut and separate open spaces; urban views which, while are not part of a defined general design, nevertheless they tell the strength of the reality of this city and characterize the aspect that is imprinted on the collective imagination as the countless facades which follow and guide us every day in the city and along the streets, they appear to us always in motion, blurry, without a real horizon but constantly shaping the backdrop of our lives’ theatre.

A large amount of time is needed to try to understand and filter through photographic images the relationship between man and the scenario of his daily life, to grasp a snap of a few hundreds of a second is not always sufficient; sometimes long times are necessary, as are the long exposure times that have been used to obtain many photographs of this research.

N I G H T B O O K

S K E L E T O N S

A U T H O R S

D I S T R I C T S

U R B A N V I E W S

V I A D U C T S

F A C A D E S

O T H E R W O R K S

O M A K O T I K U L L A N K A L L I S

In Finland culture and architecture are closely interconnected with Nature. Oma koti kullan kallis, a term often used by the Finns to say “home sweet home” are a series of photographs, part of a wider selection, which want to testify this close relationship.

F R O M M Y W I N D O W

Same place, same view. During the lockdown, stuck at home as the time went slowly by, the same scenery from my window appeared always different.

C A S A S P E R I M E N T A L E

The “Tree house” or “Experimental house” was designed and built by Giuseppe Perugini in the late 1960s. Made of reinforced concrete, glass and steel; with a form suspended from the ground and with the use of raw reinforced concrete in the facade that recalls brutalist architecture it is in evident contrast with the surrounding traditional houses. In a total state of abandonment today it is a destination for many architects and photographers.

L U C E

Playing with lights, colours and long exposures. From architectural details abstract photos come out.

K R Y Z I U K A L N U

Since the 20th century, on a small hill located in Latvia, near Siauliai, thousands of pilgrims began, out of popular devotion and tradition, to plant crosses and saints to underline their national identity. Over 500.000 crosses of all sizes have made this hill famous with the name “Kryziu Kalnu”. Today is a pilgrimage destination. In 2007 Pope John Paul II donated a large crucifix which stands at the bottom of the hill.

2 A P R I L E 2 0 0 5

On the 2 of April 2005 Pope John Paul II died. In St. Peter’s Square milions of people lined up to say their last goodbyes. Here believers and non catholic people throughout the day and all night without interruption waited their turn patiently, along a queue that reached a length of several kilometers and a waiting time of over many hours.

C Z E C H T E K

In Czechoslovakia, near Mlynec, tens of thousands of people from all over Europe gathered at one of the most famous and largest rave parties that regularly takes place every year, the “Czechtek”. The clashes with the police were inevitable and lasted for days with numerous wounded on both sides.

U L T R A S

Initially it seems to be a derby like the others, actually it quickly turns into a hell of violence. Ultras of Rome and Lazio, after a fake news leaked in the stadium about the death of a child outside the stadium due to the police, start their war against the police: they invaded the soccer field and suspended the match, tear gas inside the stadium started hitting people in the south sector of the stadium, the fans began to flee. Outside the stadium burning trees, cars destroyed and set on fire, clashes and violence until Farnesina, the Foreign Ministry.