BIOGRAPHIES 2026

Giorgia Padovani is the co-founder and co-artistic director of GU.PHO., as well as president of GU.PHO. – Center for Vernacular Photography. She works in the field of cultural project development, with a particular focus on photography and participatory practices through independent projects and with the Modena-based collective Mo’Better Football, with which she develops exhibitions in Italy and abroad.

In the editorial field she has various collaborations including La Biennale di Venezia where she coordinates the catalogue of the Biennale Musica and the Biennale Teatro, as well as the project Scrivere in residenza.

Gian Marco Magnani works in cultural project design in the fields of photography and cinema. Since 2010 he has been collaborating with the Fototeca Manfrediana in Faenza, where he is dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of local photographic archives, exploring the relationship between visual heritage and territorial identity. He is president of the Cineclub Il Raggio Verde and organisational director of the NOAM Faenza Film Festival.

The Fototeca Manfrediana is a non-profit cultural institution active in Faenza since the seventies. In 2010 it was relaunched under new management, which expanded its activities and photographic archive, now among the most organised and frequently consulted in the Faenza area. It preserves and promotes over one hundred and fifty years of local visual memory, promoting photography as a language and a tool of collective identity through exhibitions, publications, events, and research projects.

Theophilus Imani is a visual researcher whose work investigates the representation of the Black body within diasporic visual culture. His

Elisa Giovannetti is an archivist and cultural project designer. Her work focuses on the processes of building and activating archives as tools for creating connections between heritage and communities, and she is president of the cooperative Ebla.

Fondazione Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia in Bologna is the first Italian archive dedicated to the preservation, digitisation, and promotion of private and amateur cinema. Founded in 2002, it preserves more than forty thousand small-format films from across Italy. Through digital projects, educational activities, and the festival Archivio Aperto, it promotes and makes accessible private audiovisual memory as a historical, social, and creative heritage, encouraging both research and contemporary reuse.

Daniele Francesconi is the Scientific Director of festivalfilosofia. He is also currently a member of the Board of Directors of

Chiara Capodici works in the field of photography since 2005, focusing on exhibitions and books design and on education. She served as assistant artistic director of Fotografia-Festival Internazionale di Roma between 2006 and 2008. From 2009 to 2016, she was part of the duo 3/3 – studio di progettazione fotografica. In January 2017 she opened Leporello photobooks et al., a bookshop devoted to photobooks. Since 2020 she collaborates with La Babuch. In 2023 she opened the small publishing house Leporello books.

Alessandra Calò uses an experimental photographic language to explore themes related to memory, identity and the relationship between man and nature. The dominant practice in her work is the recovery and reinterpretation of archive materials through which does not intend to implement a nostalgic evocation of the past but to propose a new vision of reality. Over the years, she has developed a passion for ancient photographic printing techniques with which she creates real installations and artist’s books. Contemporary authors are often involved in her projects to create speaking images through literary contamination. Her works are part of important private and museum collections and are exhibited at international fairs, exhibitions and festivals.

Giulia Brivio is a curator, editor, and producer specialising in artist books and photobooks. In 2025, she co-founded the Togo Photo Festival in Lomé. Since 2013, she has been working as book editor and curator for Artphilein in Lugano. In 2009, she co-founded Studio Boîte, a publishing house and research platform focused on editorial practices. She has taught Editorial Design at NABA in Milan. She also worked as project manager for the residency programme Volcano Extravaganza in Stromboli and was responsible for the Italian Artists Archive at Viafarini DOCVA.

Lukas Birk is an Austrian photographer, researcher, and publisher specialising in visual archives, notably in Myanmar and Afghanistan. His work spans films, exhibitions, and books, often based on deeply researched archival material from underrepresented regions. He co-founded the Afghan Box Camera Project and established the Myanmar Photo Archive. Through Fraglich Publishing, he produces award-winning books on photographic history and visual culture. In 2023, he co-founded the Vernacular Social Club, an international association that brings together enthusiasts, collectors, and professionals around vernacular photography.