About
Urbanautica is an independent publisher working on photography, visual anthropology and cultural landscapes.
Urbanautica welcomes cooperation and creates partnerships & networks in order to make an impact that is real. Since 2010, Urbanautica collaborates around the world with museums and cultural institutions on exhibitions and educational activities.
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A short chronicle
2008
Steve Bisson starts a blog: Urbanautica. A neologism that summarizes two essential and constitutive phenomena at the beginning of the new millennium. The act of navigating through a new world called "Internet" and urbanism as the dominant manifestation of man's distinctive pressure on earth.
2009
Canadian photographer David Pollock is the first special guest editor.
Since then, over 40 contributors, critics, curators, teachers, photographers have followed. Altogether they fed the precious Urbanautica archive that counts today hundreds of interviews and reviews. A unique cross-section of relevant contemporary photography.
2010
With the title of "Naturae" Urbanautica presents its first collective exhibition and catalog dedicated to the theme of the representation of nature's needs in society.
2011
"Mother Russia" is the first commissioned curatorial work assigned to Urbanautica by AsoloArtFilmFestival. That year's edition was dedicated to Russian cinema, thus Urbanautica decided to create a collective exhibition mostly of Russian female photographers after two members of Pussy Riot band were arrested for their ‘Putin Zassa’ performance at Moscow’s Red Square.
2012
Urbanautica is invited by Benetton Foundation to organize a workshop on the rural landscape at Casa Cozzi, in Zero Branco, Italy. Read more here.
2013
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Serbia, invites Urbanautica to work on a new edition of the exhibition "Naturae" and to research the experience of space and landscape in photography.
2014
Urbanautica second collaboration with The Salt Yard Gallery in Hong Kong leads to the exhibition 'The game is killing the game' by David Chancellor.
2015
In occasion of the Universal Exhibition of Milan EXPO 2015, ‘Feeding the Planet. Energy for Life’, Urbanautica is asked to coordinate an international competition to offer through photography a special contribution to the relevant discussion of feeding the world. The results become a catalog published by L'Artiere.
2016
Urbanautica Institute publishing house is born. Since then, over a dozen mostly sold-out titles have been published.
2017
At Galeria Virgilio, in São Paulo, Urbanautica presents the outcomes of a long term (4 years) investigation on the Brazilian city aimed at questioning the role of public spaces.
2018
Urbanautica runs an art community-based residency program in the village of Asolo, Italy. The results of this collective journey were published in the book Asolo Sine Qua Non.
2019
Urbanautica kickstarts Penisola Edizioni, a publishing house that supports and researches Italian photography.
Urbanautica collaborates with the new edition of Ragusa Foto Festival 2019, and selected over 30 photographers to be exhibited. Read more HERE.
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Editors & Staff
Founding Editor
Steve Bisson
Guest editors
Dieter Debruyne, Lina Manousogiannaki, Klaus Fruchtnis, Georges Salameh
Web Designer
Marcello Balbo
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Mentorship
The Mentorship Program is an enriching and growing experience for students, emerging and established photographers, visual artists, passionate about photography and image-making. Urbanautica Institute enhances lifelong learning and aims -by working with you one-on-one- to set the foundation for new projects (series, books, exhibitions) and to champion an impact that is real. Lining up yourself with your talent and skills. The Mentorship Program is a goal-oriented course that, upon successful completion, will reward you both professionally and personally. The Programme is run by Steve Bisson director of Urbanautica Institute. Feel free to contact us for info and conditions.
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Volunteering Opportunities
Urbanautica is seeking assistance from volunteers. We believe that volunteering offers a valuable chance to photographers, educators, and writers to make and grow their own experience. To find out more please write to info[at]urbanautica[dot]com.
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Contacts
General information
info[at]urbanautica[dot]com
Press Releases
pr[at]urbanautica[dot]com
Projects
submit[at]urbanautica[dot]com
Books
info[at]urbanauticainstitute[dot]com
News
To receive occasional updates on the journal and other projects, please join our mailing list from the Newsletter page on the menu list.
Social
Facebook
Instagram
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FAQ (frequently asked questions)
Does Urbanautica accept volunteers?
Volunteers are welcome. What we ask is above all the willingness to cooperate in an international editorial team with enthusiasm and commitment.
I sent an email and I have not heard back?
We receive many submissions every day and hundreds of messages per week. Be patient we do our best!
I would like to promote an exhibition?
Please join our Facebook Photo Exhibitions group and share your press release directly. The group is about exhibitions so anything else will be removed. You can send an email to pr[at]urbanautica[dot]com
Can I share contents from Urbanautica?
Of course, you can. Just credit us with a link. All photographs presented are the sole property of the contributing artist unless otherwise noted. Please remind that our texts are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How can I search for specific content?
You can browse recent features from the menu list. Yet we have built for you a powerful search engine too! Just click on the lens icon and do your research. You can add filters to your research such as nations, type of contents and photographic category. For example, if you are looking for interviews with Belgian artists you can select Belgium with the 'nation' filter and 'interview' with the 'type' filter.
I would like you to consider my graduation thesis for your archive?
Please send to submit[at]urbanautica[dot]com the abstract in English of your thesis with a cover image (.jpg). Don't forget to mention the name of your University and the title of your Degree.
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Acknowledgments
THIS WEBSITE WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY:
Andrea Alessio, Gianpaolo Arena, Barbara Beltramello, William M. Bisson, Andrea Buzzichelli, Marina Caneve, Maurizio Callegarin, Benoit Chailleux, Daniele Cinciripini, Dave Jordano, Diego Fabro, Andrea Filippin, Enrico Fioraso, Paola Fiorini, Dana Fritz, Paolo Fusco, Gianfranco Gallucci, Gianluca Gamberini, Edoardo Hahn, Joao Henriques, Dave Jordano, Mitch Karunaratne, Petros Koublis, Vincenzo Labellarte, Matthieu Litt, Anais Lopez, Blazej Marczak, Juan Margolles, Nicola Mazzuia, Francesco Merlini, Pietro Millenotti, Luca Moretti, Novella Oliana, Gaetano Paraggio, Stefano Parrini, Iacopo Pasqui, Giuseppe Pazzaglia, Corrado Piccoli, Ludovico Poggioli, Giovanni Presutti, Massimiliano Pugliese, Marco Ristuccia, Heidi Romano, Luca Rossetto, Chris Round, Evgeniy Sagataev, Omar Sartor, Fabrizio Saiu, Stand Quarterly, Fabrizio Vatieri, Louis Vorster, Yaniv Waissa, Eva Wollenberg, Denise Wyllie, Marco Maria Zanin.
Special thanks to Georg Zinsler for his kind support.
PAST EMERITUS AND GUEST EDITORS:
Gianpaolo Arena, Eline Benjaminsen, Lisa Boughter, Sylvie De Weze, Tiago Dias Dos Santos, Andrea Filippin, Sebastiaan Franco, Gary Green, Veronica Gonzales, Irith Guby, Peter Holliday, Gregory E. Jones, Sanne Kabalt, Daniel Kariko, Karl Ketamo, Nicolette Klerk, Niki Leck, Laura Lee Bral, David Marlé, Eleonora Milner, Gaia Musacchio, Francesca Orsi, Martin Petersen, Lucia Pedrana, David Pollock, Barbel Praun, Natalya Reznik, Thieu Riemen, Marco Ristuccia, Dawn Roe, Renata Scovino, Polina Shubkina, Talia Smith, Sylvia Souffriau, Laura Van Severen, Krzystof Sienkiewicz, Gaia Vettori, Nathalie Vissers, Sheung Yiu, Peter Waterschoot, Rachel Wolfe, Jeffrey Wolin