© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
Hi Federico, where did you grew up from?
I was born in Rimini in 1983, and since then it has always been my one and only city. I hardly remember the 80s, when Rimini was at its peak, I was too young and from that time I only have a few flashes of the beach and the smell of the sea. I am more like a child of the 90s, which is perhaps the beginning of the decline of the famous Rimini of discos. The greatest memories I have are related to friends and the evenings spent together. Ever since I was a kid I have always loved being outside, and the walls of my house have always been tight. Whenever something prevented me from going out, I became restless and felt that life was there waiting for me and I was missing it. Rimini has always had so much to offer. I will never forget all the weekends I spent at the Velvet, which was a bit of my second home, but now it is gone.
And what about photography then?
That with photography is quite a recent encounter. When I went to live alone I took my father's old Pentax Me Super with me and kept it in plain sight on a shelf as a piece of furniture. One day, almost for fun, I decided to try it and bought a roll. Mounting the film, pulling the lever, the shutter sound, I found everything very physical, and since that day I have never stopped shooting. Even before falling in love with photography, I was fascinated by the medium and its mechanics. Now I can hardly see myself without a camera. I do always carry around with me. It has now become a primary need. Photography has changed me, it has made me more sensitive, more curious about what surrounds me, it has taught me to observe people, and regardless of whether or not I have a camera to capture the moment, my way of observing the world is different now.
'Pleasure Island' is your recent work and book about your hometown. Tell us about it...
'Pleasure Island' was born in a very natural way. As I said, since I started shooting I always have a camera with me. When going out with friends to parties, clubs and so on my attention was often captured by the people there. Please mind that Rimini has been the capital of the Italian "nightlife" and transgression for years. Yet today it is no longer young people but rather adults who want to rediscover their past experiences. This type of fauna intrigues me a lot... Later after months, I would develop home my rolls. The captured images were again there in front of my eyes, and the more I looked the more I was diving into them. I slowly realized that the pictures were not disconnected but, side by side, they were the cross-section of an era, or more precisely the end.
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
At what point you realized that your nightlife tale could become a book?
As soon as I realized that the individual photos could be a story, I immediately thought I wanted to make a book of them.
You know I love and collect photo books. I believe that, unlike in an exhibition, being able to leaf through the pages, touching and smelling them is a very intimate experience. You can also put the book aside and find it whenever you like. You and the images, that's all. I had already printed and self-published before other small series for friends. So this is what I wanted for 'Pleasure Island', to involve and draw the viewer into the story, while the pages scroll one after the other.
© Book Pleasure Island by Federico Arcangeli, Penisola Edizioni 2019
© Book Pleasure Island by Federico Arcangeli, Penisola Edizioni 2019
© Book Pleasure Island by Federico Arcangeli, Penisola Edizioni 2019
The book also includes a text by sociologist Aldo Bonomi, who speaks of Rimini as the Italian entertainment place par excellence. How much truth is there in this?
Reading Aldo Bonomi's 'The Pleasure District' published twenty years ago I can only agree. The Romagna Riviera is a playground tailored to your wishes. Everything invites you to let go and lose your inhibitions. Everything is designed for fun and the achievement of happiness, even if it were for one night. Rimini can be sexy and bewitching, but also ephemeral. There is a phrase in Bonomi's book that I love. «The pleasure district is the place of false evidence "for which a beautiful dress seems, in any case, the promise of a beautiful body.»
© Book Pleasure Island by Federico Arcangeli, Penisola Edizioni 2019
© Book Pleasure Island by Federico Arcangeli, Penisola Edizioni 2019
© Book Pleasure Island by Federico Arcangeli, Penisola Edizioni 2019
You have photographed people directly in the most disparate and sometimes embarrassing situations...
Discos are alienating places and this allows room for action. People are intent on letting go and the flash of the camera mingles with the lights and strobes. For this, I have not encountered particular problems. A manager of a club once raised questions, but nothing more than that. I also like to give a print to the people I have photographed, when I have the opportunity to do so. It happened that a girl recognized herself in a shot in which she was hugging a boy. I was a bit scared she would complain but instead, she asked me where I did take the photo because she couldn't remember who she was with. Probably it's still a mystery.
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
I have always considered Rimini sexy, fascinating, and extremely seductive, a bit like Pinocchio's toy land. Hence the title of the work, which is none other than the English translation used in the Disney cartoon. As the pleasure island, with all it has to offer, fascinates and transforms Pinocchio, so does Rimini with those who live it. And exactly as happens to the famous puppet, even the coast can get you involved in a vicious circle, that of the search for fun at any cost. The people I photographed are often unusual and differ from the stereotype one would expect to find in the disco.
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
Tell us about Rimini today how it has changed in your eyes?
Rimini has wrapped its tentacles on me, and as Aldo Bonomi writes, I am a consumer-actor too. I love my city, it is a little bigger than a village, but always able to surprise me. This work stem from this feeling. It is, in my way, a declaration of love. Rimini has changed over the years, many of the most famous clubs have closed and the bulldozers have passed. This work of mine photographs the end of an era, with a nostalgic vein that perhaps accompanies me. However, I believe that Rimini is not dying, it is only transforming itself, and will continue to make people dream. Only time will tell.
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
Talking about your photographs now. Mostly black and white, lively contrasts, capable of extracting subjects from the scene.
I've always felt black and white is my "color". If I look at my photo book collection, I am driven by black and white. The photographers who have most influenced me mainly use it as their means of expression. Daido Moriyama and Michael Ackerman, for example, or Ken Schles with his work 'Night Walk', Weegee and Tomasz Lazar, have all influenced my way of observing. I cannot fail to mention among these Marco Pesaresi with his splendid work on Rimini, or the same characters in Federico Fellini's films.
I find my photography very instinctive, I've never been interested in perfection, the search for aesthetics at any cost. I have always favored the content. I love imperfection, and perhaps this is also the origin of my choice to use film because it can be unpredictable. I like that photography doesn't say everything, I prefer a photo that raises questions rather than one that gives all the answers. The photography of 'Pleasure Island', for example, is characterized by the use of flash, paparazzo style, which made the project much more raw and incisive, as I wanted.
© Federico Arcangeli from the series 'Pleasure Island'
The book published by Penisola Edizioni, in collaboration with Urbanautica Institute, is done and almost sold out. What are you up with?
I am currently working on something new. After 'Pleasure Island' I decided to abandon the use of the flash that had characterized it. The way I approach the situations that arise in front of me is also changing. The next work will not necessarily be linked to a place or a topic. I want photography to guide me. I am very curious to see where this will take me. I'm sure photography will still surprise me.
---
LINKS
Federico Arcangeli
Book 'Pleasure Island'
Urbanautica Italy
share this page