The narcissist city

At the Viasaterna gallery in Milan, the show presents an appraisal of the work of photographer Takashi Homma, operating on the international scene since the early 1990s.

For the first time in Italy, “La città narcisista. Milano e altre storie” presents an appraisal of the work of the Japanese photographer Takashi Homma, operating on the international scene since the early 1990s. The exhibition revolves around three main themes which recur throughout the entire corpus of Homma’s work: the city, the encounter between nature and human intervention, and the acts of seeing and representing, which lie at the very heart of the photographic process.

Takashi Homma, Tower Branca 3, Milan, from the series The Narcisistic City, Lambda print, cm103x72,8, 2017 ©Takashi Homma, Courtesy Viasaterna — **Top:** Takashi Homma, Duomo, Milano, Lambda print, 206x296 cm, 2017 ©Takashi Homma, Courtesy Viasaterna. **Left:** Takashi Homma, *Tower Branca 3*, Milan, from the series "The Narcisistic City", Lambda print, 103x72,8 cm, 2017. © Takashi Homma, Courtesy Viasaterna

The city is the protagonist of the series that gives the exhibition its title, one created by Homma especially for this occasion. These photographs are fragments of Milan in which some of the most iconic architecture may be identified: the Cathedral, the Branca Tower, the Tower in the Park of Vico Magistretti, as well as some of the more recent skyscrapers that have taken their place on the urban skyline over recent years, including buildings designed by Zaha Hadid and Arata Isozaki.

Takashi Homma, Alvar Aalto's House, Finland, Lambda print, 100x125 cm, 2002. Courtesy Taronasu Viasaterna

Homma’s interest in architecture is clear from a further section of images produced over the years featuring buildings by great architects around the world. Homma’s photographs avoid all forms of technicism: instead of towing the line of the most commonly accepted codes of the genre, the Japanese photographer shoots all kinds of constructions as if they were any other object. Architecture is embedded in a perfectly democratic manner within the flow of his work and overall vision. With a special interest in windows, meant here as elementary devices for looking: both inwards, lighting up the rooms, and outwards, opening up onto the exterior.

Takashi Homma, New waves, 2011, Lambda print, 44x55 cm, 2011. Courtesy Taronasu Viasaterna — Takashi Homma, *New waves*, 2011, Lambda print, 44x55 cm, 2011. Courtesy Taronasu Viasaterna

until 26 May 2017
La città narcisista. Milano e altre storie
curated by Fantom
Viasaterna
via Leopardi 32, Milan

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