ART PHOTOS AT THE PIAGGIO MUSEUM:
APRILIA ACCORDING TO TONI THORIMBERT

Pontedera (Pisa, Tuscany), 20 November 2017 – An evening at the Piaggio Museum (Pontedera, Pisa) to narrate and demonstrate art photography, with the presentation of the “Ghost Book N: 3” editorial project, followed by the opening of the collective photography exhibition “Ghost Moto-Photo-Food – La fotografia d’autore racconta e si racconta” (“The art photography tells and tells itself”), with works by Toni Thorimbert, Pierpaolo Pitacco, Rossano Ronci, Giorgio Racca, Davide Dutto, Diego Mola, Carlo Piro and Domenico Petrellese. The heart of the exhibition is the “Vita intima di Aprilia” (Intimate life of Aprilia) photo project by Toni Thorimbert for a Ghost Book on the world of Aprilia, ranging from the Noale style centre to the MotoGP pits at the latest San Marino Grand Prix in Misano. Toni Thorimbert is one of Italy's most important photographers, with a passion for racing motorbikes and horses, a Swiss passport, two daughters, a studio in Milan. He began working in the 1970s as a reporter and established an international reputation as an “art, fashion and advertising photographer” (www.tonithorimbert.com).

Toni Thorimbert’s Vita intima di Aprilia (intimate life of Aprilia) is a portrait of an Italian brand, the Piaggio Group’s Aprilia, beginning from the thinking of the designer in the style centre working on the creation of a new motorcycle, to technological research in the racing world and the commitment to MotoGP. It was commissioned by the Piaggio Group and realised, for the Ghost Book N. 3 project, by photographer Toni Thorimbert on 27 July 2017 at the Aprilia Style Centre and the Aprilia Racing Department in Noale, and on 8 September 2017 during the MotoGP heats for the San Marino race in the Aprilia Racing pits on the Misano Marco Simoncelli World Circuit.
“This isn’t a reportage, but an emotional, and original, interpretation,” said Pierpaolo Pitacco. For Silvia Tracchi (Head of Media & Consumer Relations, Piaggio Group) “in Ghost we find the values – passion, talent, excellence – that distinguish the Piaggio Group. The project concentrates on the Aprilia brand, a mixture of humanity and technology: and it was challenging to describe this world through the eyes of a fashion photographer.”

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Toni Thorimbert (photos): “This project was an enormous privilege. I’m obsessed with fast motorbikes and I think these photos are exciting in motorcycling terms. Aprilia’s bikes, like the Tuono and the RSV4, are at the leading edge of world motorcycle production and Aprilia is also doing well in MotoGP. I immersed myself in a world of carbon and aluminium, wanting to shine a light on the passion of the mechanics, engineers and riders (Aleix Espargarò, ed.). It’s true: I have a sensual relationship with motorbikes and I hope I’ve managed to convey this in the photos.”

Toni Thorimbert backstage at Aprilia: photo by Davide Dutto.

The exhibition is completed with a retrospective on the Ghost Book project, which, in just under three years, has involved a number of top Italian and international photographers. In addition to Thorimbert’s work, the book offers photos by Rossano Ronci, taken from a project dedicated to musician Max Casacci, founder of Subsonica; by Davide Dutto (the black and white backstage photos of Thorimbert at Aprilia are his), one of the leading photographers of chefs and food in Italy; two shots by Pierpaolo Pitacco, the art director of Rolling Stone Italia, taken from the Vanishing Cover project; and a series of photos by Giorgio Racca, taken from the book Camera Bianca, by Domenico Petrellese from a reportage on a lesson by chef Massimo Camia in the penitentiary in Saluzzo, and by Carlo Piro, the photographer who created the cover for Ghost No. Three.

This second group of photos on display at the Piaggio Museum recount the Ghost Book project (published and sponsored by the Ghost cultural and recreational association). After the release of the “zero” issue in 2015, and issues one and two in 2016, Ghost Book no. three has now been published, sponsored by Aprilia, in a limited edition of 500 hand-numbered copies. The retrospective presents a number of photos taken from the photographic projects for Ghost and published in the four issues, to illustrate photography itself, as well as men, women, passions, food, motorcycles.

“Each project is the result of the free interpretation of the photographers, who in this case are not working for clients but with a view to valorising photographic research and art photography, on paper,” observed photographer Giorgio Racca, the designer and creator of Ghost Book. “These are photos to be looked at, touched, looked at again, re-establishing a balance with their digital presence on the web.”

PIAGGIO MUSEUM: PHOTOGALLERY GHOST BOOK N. 3 PRESENTATION.

Piaggio Museum. On the stage, left to right: the president of the Piaggio Foundation Riccardo Costagliola, Silvia Tracchi (Head of Media & Consumer Relations, Piaggio Group), Giorgio Racca (photographer, and designer and creator of the Ghost Book project), Pierpaolo Pitacco (art director of the Italian edition of Rolling Stone, photographer, art director of Ghost Book), photographers Toni Thorimbert, Matteo Anatrella, Rossano Ronci. The motorbike displayed in the exhibition is an Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 RR.

The exhibition is curated by the Ghost cultural and recreational association and by RedHead Marketing & Comunicazione, in collaboration with the Piaggio Foundation.