Fondazione Prada的第三家藝廊Gallery Space Osservatorio已於米蘭正式開幕了。藝廊選址在由意大利建築師Giuseppe Mengoni設計的著名百貨公司Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II內，這幢富歷史價值的建築物已具有逾150年歷史，於二次世界大戰期間，曾飽受戰火的衝擊，使其特色的玻璃及金屬建成的圓拱型天幕受到嚴重損毁，至1980年代，才完成修葺工程。
Gallery Space Osservatorio的展覽以攝影及影像藝術為主。今天，影像已取代了文字及聲音，成為資訊傳遞的主要媒介，龐大的影像數據，究竟在我們的文化及社會之中扮演著怎樣的角色？這是Gallery Space Osservatorio希望透過一系列展覽探究的問題，而首個展覽便命名為〈Give Me Yesterday〉。
一台手機就能作為出色的攝影器材，拍攝後立時上載至網上平台，我們拍攝自己與生活，並以攝影作為個人日記並分享出去，這暗示了我們是觀察者，也是被觀察者——我們觀察自己，自己也同時被觀察。看與被看的關係親密且千絲萬縷，究竟有多少真實，又有多少虛構？Gallery Space Osservatorio將以包括Nan Goldin、Larry Clark等14位攝影師的作品，探討個人紀錄攝影的現實與虛幻。
Fondazione Prada finally set up its third art gallery in Milan. The new gallery, Gallery Space Osservatorio, locates in the famous department store Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which was designed by the famous Italian architect Giuseppe Mengoni. This historical building was built more than 150 years ago and was severely destructed during WWII. Its iconic dome of glass and metal was seriously damaged, and was fully restored only until 1980s.
Gallery Space Osservatorio mainly exhibits photography and works of visual art. The era of text and sound has slowly faded away; instead visual image has now become the major medium for information. What kind of role does the enormous database of visual image play in our contemporary society and culture? This is precisely the question posed by Gallery Space Osservatorio. The gallery’s first exhibition “Give Me Yesterday” is one of its attempts to explore this question.
Mobile phone has undoubtedly become a highly popular tool for filming and photography. People document their everyday life and share their personal photo journals on various online platforms. Everyone has become an object of gaze when allowing his or her daily life to be seen, and at the same time gazes at the lives shared by others. The borderline between gazing and to be gazed at becomes blurred. The distinction between reality and constructedness is no longer absolute. Gallery Space Osservatorio will explore the reality and constructedness in personal photo documentary through the works of 14 photographers including Nan Goldin and Larry Clark.
