Analogue photographers explore ‘Excess’ on the streets of Florence

Pellicola Urbana, the Florence project promoted by Rollbox and built around collective explorations of the
city through film photography, returns this autumn with a second exhibition, this time centred on the theme of “Excess”.

The exhibition opens on Tuesday, October 13, from 5 p.m. at La Cité – Libreria Caffè in Florence and will feature seven photographs selected from work produced by participants during a photographic outing held in June.

For the second edition, photographers were invited to spend a day walking through Florence with analogue cameras, using colour or black-and-white film and working in either small or medium format.

Rather than being given a particular place or subject to photograph, participants were asked to interpret a single theme: “Excess”. The deliberately broad concept became a starting point for observing the city and looking for details, situations and perspectives that might otherwise pass unnoticed.

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From a day in the city to seven photographs

The project did not end when the films were finished. About a month after the June outing, the participants met again to discuss their experiences, including the difficulties they encountered, their inspirations and the questions that emerged while photographing.

The developed images were then viewed collectively around a table. From that discussion came the selection of seven photographs that will form the new exhibition at La Cité.

This shared process is an important part of Pellicola Urbana. The aim is not simply to produce individual photographs, but to use a common theme to compare different ways of looking at the same urban environment.

Film itself also shapes the exercise. With a limited number of exposures and no immediate screen on which to review an image, analogue photography introduces waiting and uncertainty into a process that digital cameras and smartphones have made almost instantaneous.

For the organisers, slowing down is part of the point: changing the time spent looking at a place can also change what the photographer notices.

A second chapter for Pellicola Urbana

The new exhibition follows the first Pellicola Urbana show, presented earlier this year at Brac in Florence, which explored the theme of “Contrasts.” That exhibition brought together nine photographers connected to Rollbox, a project founded by photographers Antonio Logarzo and Niccolò Romagnoli to encourage film photography and create opportunities for photographers to meet and exchange ideas.

The first edition similarly grew out of shared photographic outings around Florence, combining the practical experience of shooting on film with later discussion and collective selection of the images.

With each new outing, Pellicola Urbana changes the theme and asks participants to reconsider familiar surroundings from a different perspective. The second edition’s “Excess” therefore continues the same experiment: using the restrictions and slower rhythm of film photography as a way of paying closer attention to the contemporary city.

Practical information

Pellicola Urbana – Second Edition
Opening: Tuesday, October 13, from 5 p.m.
Venue: La Cité – Libreria Caffè, Florence
Exhibition: seven analogue photographs
Theme: “Excess”

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