Maurizio Agostinetto

I compiled a purely personal and arbitrary catalogue of “Illuminated things” in an, albeit partial, attempt to “save” them before a slight variation in the light, a rain shower, or a change in my vantage point could make them disappear forever.
That was my rationale for drawing up a list of images, and then going out to look for and photograph them over the course of an 860-Km bicycle ride along the French route of Santiago de Compostela, in the period between 24th April and 9th May 2009.
The catalogue is made up of 52 subjects, each seen in 7 variations on the theme, comprising altogether 364 snapshots. By looking for these images and taking snapshots of them, I turned around the usual practice of travelling and photographing the things one comes across and finds striking or attractive; instead, I went out to look for the things I had decided to discover to compile my catalogue.

I am passionate about the things you can see.
I feel compassion for things that are destined to disappear; by “fixing” them with a snapshot I might save them.
I like the word compassion, because it harbours passion within it; you cannot feel compassion without passion.
I have a passion for the world.

Maurizio Agostinetto
 

Maurizio Agostinetto (born in Silvano D’Orba in 1956) founded the “magopovero” theatre company at the age of 16, and subsequently transformed it into the “Casa degli alfieri”, a centre of theatre and visual arts production still active today under his directorship.
Over the years he has been set designer and artistic events producer; he has made productions for Italian national television and directs internationally renowned theatre festivals. He photographs the theatre and in recent years has focussed particularly on so-called “social theatre”, producing works on Kosovo (on behalf of the A.I.O.M.), Jerusalem, and the hospitals of Piemonte (on behalf of the Piemonte Region).
He has several art projects to his name, including Soglie-passaggi, an interactive environment at the San Giovanni Vecchio Oncology Hospital in Turin, tabula mensa maris, a handmade production in the shape of a table with low CO2 emissions - Senigallia “Trasforma 2008”, and the photographic project Catalogo delle cose illuminate numero uno undertaken during an 860-Km bicycle ride.
In 1999 he co-founded  with Antonio Catalano the “universi sensibili” (www.universisensibili.it) association, which organizes events and productions combining theatre and visual art and was launched at the Venice Biennale Theatre Festival in the same year.
He is currently living at the Casa degli alfieri (www.casadeglialfieri.it), an architectural complex comprising a theatre, guest accommodation, a technical creative workshop, and much else besides, nestled amongst woods and vineyards on a hilltop in the Monferrato area outside the city of Asti.

Info
Sinagoga
Via dell’Aquila 3/A - Reggio Emilia
Tel. 0522 451152, 0522 456249, 0522 456635, 0522 456448
Single ticket for all exhibitions 10€. Concessions 7€

Open Times:
Opening Friday 7th May, 19.00
7th May from 19.00 to 24.00; 8th - 9th May from 10.00 to 23.00
From 10th May to 13rd June: from Tuesdays to Fridays from 20.00 to 23.00; Saturdays, Sundays and festivals from 10.00 to 23.00. Monday closed. Open in the morning for schools.