Ramak Fazel’s photos tell the story of Milan’s Portanuova district

Fifteen years after creating his archive-work Milan-Unit, the Iranian-American photographer Ramak Fazel, a longtime contributor to Domus, returns to Milan with a site-specific, multidisciplinary project conceived for Volvo Studio Milano. Curated by Viasaterna Gallery in collaboration with Fondazione Istituto dei Ciechi di Milano Onlus and Portanuova, the project is part of Milano Art Week and serves as an in-depth reflection on the transformation of Milan’s urban landscape.

The project consists of a public environmental installation in Piazza Alvar Aalto and a photographic exhibition inside Volvo Studio, located at the intersection of Via Melchiorre Gioia and Viale della Liberazione. The installation, overlooking the Portanuova district, invites visitors to contemplate key architectural elements, both historical and contemporary, that bear witness to the city’s ongoing transformation and urban regeneration, in constant dialogue between past and future: Torre UniCredit, Bosco Verticale, BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano, Palazzo Lombardia, and the Church of San Gioachimo. 

Five aluminum viewing devices inspired by traditional panoramic telescopes encourage visitors to focus on these buildings' details, deliberately framed by a rectangular perforated aluminium plate reminiscent of early view cameras, alluding to the photographic act recurring in Fazel's artistic language. Thanks to collaboration with Fondazione Istituto dei Ciechi di Milano, the experience has been designed to be accessible to blind and visually impaired visitors, featuring tactile models of the buildings and Braille and high-contrast descriptive texts.

The second phase of the project unfolds inside Volvo Studio Milano, where an exhibition engages in dialogue with Milan-Unit, delving into themes of travel and observation. Here, All the Feels, within an Evolving Landscape explores Fazel’s personal connection to Milan, weaving together his fifteen-year experience in the city, his relationship with the Volvo brand, and the ever-changing urban landscape to invite us to actively analyze this layered panorama through a participatory and collective artistic experience.