VCA Margaret Lawrence Gallery
40 Dodds Street Southbank VIC 3006
T: +61 3 9685 9400
W: www.vcam.unimelb.edu.au/gallery
Exhibition Opening: 19 May 6-9pm
Exhibition Dates: 20 May to 11 June 2010
Photography Studies College is pleased to announce Christopher Koller’s Milano Exhibition. The Print Shop worked closely with Christopher to produce this body of work, pushing current technologies to create stunning atmospheric prints.
Artist Notes: This 1999 series of photographs is the second installment of the trilogy ‘Spatial Narratives’, in which Christopher Köller explored the way urban spaces of three cities (Melbourne, Milan and Mexico) are continuously undergoing a process of formation by cultural, economic and political forces. The Milano series was produced during Köller’s time in the Arts Council’s former Milan studio.
Milan was a Celtic settlement then a Roman fortification, before becoming a medieval walled city under the rule of the Visconti and Sforza families. In the late 18th century the conquering Napoleon ordered it to be opened up with broad boulevards radiating outwards. In the 20th century it was devastated in World War 11 before being revived as a major centre of manufacturing and a new centre of design in the post-war era, while maintaining its strong regional culture.
Köller was fascinated by Milan’s layered past and sought out sites where past struggles subtly impinge on the contemporary reality. His moody photographs reveal contrasts between the rustic brick and stonework of Roman and medieval structures and the refined and rigorously resolved finance houses and stock exchange built under fascism in the 1930s and meticulously maintained to this day. They draw attention to the contrasts between the sleek centre of fashion where desire is evoked and elaborated, and the chaotic areas of the city in which development has stalled and street crime is common.
