02/08/2024
The 4th edition of the Lagazuoi Photo Award New Talents is launched
Three students, each under the guidance of a professional photographer, take centre stage in the 2024 edition
of the Lagazuoi Photo Award New Talents, which honours high-altitude photography.
A deep dive into the Dolomites will result in exclusive photographs, videos and audio recordings that will be exhibited
at the Lagazuoi EXPO Dolomiti in Cortina d'Ampezzo from 14th September to 20th October 2024
Cortina d'Ampezzo 17th July, 2024_ The Lagazuoi Photo Award New Talents is starting anew, with a new team of students and professionals for the 2024 edition. Curated by Lagazuoi EXPO Dolomiti, the museum at the top station of the Lagazuoi cable car located between Cortina d'Ampezzo and Alta Badia, the contest begins with an artist residency, which is a real high-profile training project.
In July, the participants, selected from the Accademia Carrara di Bergamo, the Istituto Italiano di Fotografia di Milano and the Officine Fotografiche di Roma, will spend five days at an altitude of 2,700 metres, perfecting their techniques in the company of three experts, with the aim of creating original and striking photographic projects.
The choice of the three professional tutors, coordinated by Doc Creativity, the network of creative professionals belonging to Rete Doc, the largest Italian cooperative in the creative cultural industries sector, fell to Alessio Romeo, photographer, speleologist and explorer, who has been photographing important international geographical and speleological expeditions for many years. On Damiano Andreotti, a professional photographer specialising in portraits, who will be guiding students in portraying the human element within high-altitude surroundings. And on Paolo Mazzo, an architectural and landscape photographer, and author of important social photography projects.
For 2024, the prize is once again renewing its mission: to encourage young photographers to explore the theme of the mountain as an emblem of conquering challenges, surpassing previous achievements, and striving for new horizons. By using their creative vision, participants are tasked with depicting the resilience and delicacy of the Alpine setting, the interplay between humans and the environment, and the unique emotions elicited by high altitudes.
Living at high altitudes, slowing down and adapting to the sudden changes in climate that are typical of the high mountains, even in summer, makes it possible to discover the natural and historical heritage of Mount Lagazuoi in the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the WW1 Museum is also located, in a way that is certainly unprecedented and fascinating.
The 2024 edition of the Lagazuoi Photo Award - New Talents also benefits from a technical partnership with NiSi Italia, a leader in the design and production of optical glass filters for cameras and filter mounts.
The best project will be awarded at an official ceremony to be held on Saturday 14th September, but all participating students will still get to see their work on display.
Lagazuoi EXPO Dolomiti is the driving force behind not only the Lagazuoi Photo Award but also the Lagazuoi Winning Ideas Mountain Award, the prize that comes from the creativity of companies, start-ups and associations linked to the mountain sector. These are two very valuable curatorial projects, for which the LED has been guaranteeing the quality of the content and cultural relevance for many years, with the aim of promoting young people and the mountains of tomorrow.
This was the premise behind the partnership with BPER Banca Private Cesare Ponti for the further growth of the project.
Founded in 1871 as Banca Cesare Ponti, it has been managing its clients' financial assets for over 150 years. In 2022 it became part of the BPER Group and in February 2024, under the name of BPER Banca Private Cesare Ponti, it was expanded and reorganised with a double function: to be the investment centre for the entire Group and to serve BPER's private customers.
"What connects Lagazuoi EXPO Dolomiti and BPER Banca Private Cesare Ponti is a common set of values", summarises Stefano Illing, inventor of the workshop and founder of the exhibition centre Lagazuoi EXPO Dolomiti.
"We believe that cultural heritage is a fundamental part of the identity of places. It is also an essential element of tourist attraction and interest. Therefore, our joint aim is to make publically accessible works and spaces that are not commonly referred to and at the same time to stimulate reflection on the relationship between man and nature.. The Lagazuoi Photo Award New Talents, he adds, was created precisely to encourage a different way of looking at the mountains, which involves renewing the visual language.
The three young participants will be in the midst of an unfamiliar territory and will be translating the complexity of their experience into images".
Lagazuoi EXPO Dolomiti_In 2018, the top station of the Lagazuoi cable car, at an altitude of 2732 metres, was transformed into an art gallery, a high-tech exhibition centre and a laboratory of ideas for the mountains, as well as a model for soft and sustainable tourism. Lagazuoi EXPO Dolomiti is a place of cultural valorisation that also generates curatorial content, such as the Lagazuoi Winning Ideas Mountain Awards, a competition that highlights materials, technologies, apps and high-tech solutions related to the high mountains, and the Lagazuoi Photo Award, which aims to create an original visual language about the mountains. The barrier-free and energy-independent building houses exhibition rooms, a hall for events and conferences, and a bar with a terrace, making it an ideal venue for events in the heart of the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in a strategic position between Cortina d'Ampezzo and Alta Badia.