Photographs by
Stefano De Luigi: Captures the transformation of Italian TV and its influence on society and had free access to all these programmes during the renowned Bunga Bunga era in Italy.
Curated by Laura Serani: Ensures a thoughtful and engaging presentation.
Text by Pietro Grossi: Challenges readers to reflect on their relationship with television.
Telecracy – Stefano De Luigi
Three decades ago, during the unexpected ascent of Silvio Berlusconi to political power, I embarked on a
project I felt to be of great relevance.
Through my photography I wanted to interrogate the Italian television universe which, with its shallow
values and colour-saturated images, was profoundly influencing Italian society.
My project suggests that after successfully educating and making literate a substantial section of the Italian
people in the 50s and 60s, television has since the 1980s actively contributed to a dangerous cultural decline.
It has fostered a less democratic, aggressive and divisive public discourse which now elevates superficiality
and hedonism. This shift has led to a deficit in critical thinking and a decrease in communal responsibility,
ultimately shaping a society that often shirks its civic and political duties.
Television RX – Pietro Grossi
What do you think you’re looking at? Hey I’m talking to you! Yeah, that’s right, you, the one reading this. I’ll
ask you again: what do you think you’ve just been browsing through? There’s no point sticking your bottom
lip out or shrugging... and wipe that smirk off your face too! Anyway, I know what you’re thinking: what does
he want from me? Or she, or... whatever. What do you think I’ve been browsing through? You finally lose
your patience: a photography book – can’t you see?
How sweet. And yet it’s not your fault, they’ve got us used to this sort of thing now, to glance at everything
in a rush. Don’t worry, it happened to me too the first time. You know, I know all about the smiles that
slipped out as you turned the pages – “Jeez, I remember him... and what about her? What was her name?” –
and I also know about your hints of blame, of embarrassment: “My God, what were they like...” Admit it, for
a moment it was a bit like leafing through some cringeworthy old al- bum of your uncle’s.
You really don’t get it, do you? This is an X-ray. This is an X-ray of you. Yup, you heard that right. This is you.
It’s you now and it’s you to- morrow and it’s me and it’s all of us. This is the image of what wriggles around
deep down inside you. That winks at you. That draws you in and spins you around. The bowels of your mind.
Faded, whittled down, black on white, right there in front of your eyes.
When you sit down on that sofa and turn on the screen do you really think you’re looking at the outside
world? I know, everyone falls for it. It’s inside that you’re looking. You don’t believe me? Start from the
beginning, look at these pages carefully. Dwell on the details, on the nuances, on the lights and shades. Look
at those smiles more closely, that garish glitter, those wonky mugs, that barefaced beauty, that flesh, those
bored stares, those grins, those ties, the very horns of those devils. Look very carefully at that prancing and
pirouetting pantomime.
It’s you inside here. This is where you come from.
