Presentation of the catalogue for the exhibition ‘Olivetti and the Magnum Photographers. Wayne Miller – Erich Hartmann – Henri Cartier-Bresson – Sergio Larrain’ published by MOEBIUS and round table discussion ‘Photography on display, curators in conversation’.
The exhibition Olivetti and the Magnum Photographers tells a story: the extraordinary collaboration between the Olivetti industry and some photographers from the Magnum agency during the last century.
The presentation of the catalogue showcases the results of studies and research carried out in the months following the opening: in particular, it focuses on the ‘elective affinities’ between the Olivetti company and the Magnum agency and analyses the post-war context that laid the foundations for the collaboration between Olivetti and Magnum in the late 1950s. This focus aligns photography and politics, artistic languages and strategic choices of a company on the same horizon, highlighting the relationship between industrial and cultural choices. This new chapter explores
To explore this theme in greater depth, a number of authors involved in initiatives to promote and research contemporary photography have been invited to participate in a round table discussion, a debate that cannot ignore the present and therefore the need to establish connections between cultural heritage and visions of the future, at a time when photography is a large-scale consumer product and the role of cultural operators and curators requires choices and awareness.
The Olivetti Historical Archive Association preserves original photographs, proofs, slides and unpublished correspondence between Giorgio Soavi (Olivetti Advertising Research Office) and the agency's Paris office, in particular with the head of European operations, Michel Chevalier. The interweaving of paper and photographic documents has allowed the curators to highlight many previously unpublished aspects of the collaboration that began in 1958 for the publication “Olivetti 1908-1958” and continued for much of the 1960s with documents dating up to 1970.
THE EXHIBITION HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL 1 MARCH 2026.