Pontedera (Pisa, Italy), 1° February 2022 - The Piaggio Foundation has organised and is hosting at the Piaggio Museum a photo exhibition by Fabrizio Sbrana dedicated to the theme of climate change. An opportunity to contribute to the reflection on a theme that is dramatically at the centre of our modern times, stimulating that collective awareness that must accompany the concrete actions of governments, institutions, and companies. In fact, as the Piaggio Foundation President, Riccardo Costagliola, wrote in the introductory text to the exhibit, “While it is true that the salvation of our planet will depend on the ability that the big entities of the Earth will demonstrate in guiding the energy and industrial transition processes, it is also true that each one of us can provide an important contribution to achieving this objective, and we can do so in our everyday lives […]. Only be behaving as witnesses of the environmental culture and promoters of the development of a collective ecological conscience will we be able to avoid feeling guilty of depriving future generations of our wonderful common home.”
The exhibit includes more than 30 large dimension photographs printed on metal plates and 300 photos projected: images with a strong visual and emotional impact, the result of many voyages Sbrana has taken all over the world, from the ’80s through modern times. They are shots that were not originally intended to be used to document the climate crisis, but which are part of various reportages Sbrana has done over the course of his many decades of work, motivated by that inexorable curiosity that guided his goal as a photographer of “recounting the sides of many coins: environment, culture, traditions, spirituality, and extraordinarily fascinating rhythms of life, but also poverty, misery, difficulties, abandonment, and the absence of any means of survival.”
From Zambia to Italy, from Brazil to Spain, from Ethiopia to Iceland, as well as Tunisia and Namibia, the photos exhibited bear witness, in the passing of the years and the changes of landscapes and latitudes, to the Earth’s screams and injuries, between bright and dark, light and shadows, desperation and hope. Photography can contribute, with its expressive power, to providing substance to references that are too often rendered abstract by discussions that seem to indefinitely postpone an emergency that is already present in the here and now. And precisely by virtue of the need to make conversation simple and direct, the exhibit uses the textual contribution of astrophysicist Luca Perri, who has been involved in scientific dissemination for some time now on the radio, TV, periodicals, festivals, social networks, and through citizen science experiments.
Perri invites us to reflect on the urgency of going from words to actions, investing in the planet’s health: “On every level, of course, but starting from us. We need to stop relying on science only in the hope that in the future some researcher will find a solution to the problem and instead we need to follow up when they tell us that our efforts need to start now. Because the future generations they’ve been talking about for decades now are us. The investment is not just in the future of children and grandchildren, it’s in our future.”
RadioImmaginaria: radioimmaginaria.it
To give a voice to the youngest generations, currently at the front of the queue denouncing climate change, hosted by the exhibit is the Ape Radio of RadioImmaginaria, a 1970 Piaggio Ape, model MPV, transformed into a mobile radio with batteries and a solar panel now Bio-methane engineered. An Ape with which a group of young people stopped by the Piaggio Museum in 2019 before setting out on a voyage of 4,852 kilometres – from Castel Guelfo (Bologna, Italy) to Stockholm – to meet Greta Thumberg, see other countries, and meet with other people in their age group in the name of defending the environment.
Image from the exhibition’s virtual tour.
As a testament to Piaggio’s commitment in the field of sustainable mobility, the immersive projections hall hosts a few of the most significant examples of hybrid or electric vehicles produced in Pontedera. In fact, the Piaggio Group boasts a deep tradition of consolidated skills in the electric propulsion field. The first approved Ape Elettrico dates to 1977, and Porter Elettrico in 1993. In 1994, Zip&Zip was a revolutionary bimodal scooter with dual motorisation - thermal and electric - whereas in the year 2000, the fully electric version of the best-seller Zip made its début on the market. In 2009, Piaggio MP3 was the first hybrid scooter in the world, a highly advanced technology adopted for the first time in the world by light mobility. And today, Vespa Elettrica and Piaggio 1 are on the cutting edge of electric mobility on two wheels in terms of style and technology.
Music on display. In the exhibit hall, an electronic music song by Jacopo Bacci (Firenze, 1993), a recording of an improvised “environment/drone” represented in 2020 in Brussels: an alternating between an extended textile and more pressing moments that evolve progressively, creating dynamic contrasts and profound melodies, using the rhythms that are created by the intersecting of these frequencies. Extremely powerful sound effects, chosen to accompany the visitor’s voyage through Sbrana’s images. The song was made available by the S. Casciano (Florence) “Il Magnifico” Cultural Association.
Fabrizio Sbrana. Fabrizio Sbrana worked as a freelance photojournalist in the last twenty years of the twentieth century with various magazines in the tourism sector (“Qui Touring”, “Geos”, “Tuttoturismo”, “AFRO”, and others), later focusing on other photographic projects. From 1994, he has been registered with the National Order of Italian Journalists. He has worked with NGOs and with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, documenting cooperation projects in Ethiopia, Ghana, Tunisia, and Cuba, primarily concentrating on the rights of children and women. He has presented his reportages in many photo exhibits, creating open-air installations. In 2013, he collaborated with the Piaggio Foundation on the “Passaggio in India. A Gateway to Piaggio” exhibit. His publications include: India. Sacralità del Quotidiano, Care Montagne, La Fortezza di Verrucole in Garfagnana, Fabbriche di Careggine. Storia di Genti in terra di Lucchesia.
VIRTUAL TOUR – EXHIBIT “+2° ACCELERAZIONE PERICOLOSA”
my.italsoftgroup.it/tour/accelerazione-pericolosa
The virtual tour. The exhibit, enriched by additional multimedia content, can also be toured virtually from the home page of the Piaggio Museum website in the specific dedicated section. A brand new way to take advantage, even remotely, of the exhibit offered by the Piaggio Museum, which can also be visited entirely in “Virtual Tour” mode, also from the Home Page at MUSEOPIAGGIO.IT and from the VESPA.COM and PIAGGIO.COM websites.
Access and booking. The exhibit can be accessed with the same methods that regulate access to the Piaggio Museum. In order to stay up to date, we recommend consulting the website www.museopiaggio.it
The catalogue. A catalogue has been created of the exhibit, a true photographic book printed by Bandecchi&Vivaldi (Pontedera, Pisa), which can be purchased in the Piaggio Museum bookshop.
Collaborations. The +2° Accelerazione pericolosa project made use of the invaluable collaboration of the Fondazione Livorno (Livorno Foundation) and the Fondazione Livorno Arte e Cultura (Livorno Art and Culture Foundation), a long-time supporter of the cultural initiatives of the Piaggio Foundation, which will host the exhibit after its conclusion at the Piaggio Museum.
(Source press release and imagines: Piaggio Foundation).
