ANNA MACONI

Next book fair

Paris Ass Book Fair
Palais de Tokyo, 17-19 May 2024

https://parisassbookfair.fr/en/

Last exhibtion

Presso Église, Palermo - dal 22 Febbraio al 15 Marzo 2024
“Sull’orlo del vuoto come di un fiordo. Una raccolta di fototesti, libri d’artista e fotolibri” a cura di Cristina Costanzo, con il coordinamento di Iole Carollo

https://www.exibart.com/evento-arte/sullorlo-del-vuoto-come-di-un-fiordo-una-raccolta-di-fototesti-libri-dartista-e-fotolibri/

Education

MA Luca School of Arts, Master’s degree in filmmaking & audiovisual arts
September 2020 - September 2021/ Bruxelles
Title of the thesis: ‘Elegance, Irony, Nostalgia’, accompanied by the short film ‘Marie’. Production countries: Belgium, Italy. Original language: French, Italian. Duration: 20’.

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Scholarship
March 2018 - July 2018 / Jerusalem
Faculty of artistic photography. Developed documentary and performance photography projects, focusing on book design.

Fachhochschule Bielefeld FB Gestaltung, Scholarship
September 2017 - February 2018 / Bielefeld (DE)
Faculty of photography and graphic design. Developed knowledge of fashion photography and book design, collaborating with the fashion and graphics department.

Free University of Bolzano Bozen, Bachelor’s degree in Design & Arts, cum laude
September 2016 - November 2019 / Bolzano - Bozen, South Tyrol
Title of the thesis: (7) different possibilities of human beauty.
Book (essay) and a short film on the meaning of beauty and spontaneity. With a reflection on the difference between being beautiful and being fascinating.

Commercial

Capture Image s.r.l, Photostudio and lights assistent - Milano 2023
Providing support for the photography team in assembling and creating the set and lighting system, while ensuring the smooth coordination of all aspects of the shoot, from catering to the maintenance of equipment, props, and spaces.

Giorgio Armani S.p.A, Graphic Designer - Milano 2022-23
Design and development of print items (invitations, greeting cards, brochures, press kits, stickers, gadgets, corporate and custom packaging, paper shopping bags, etc.) for pop-ups, collection launches as well as special events (e.g., Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Ramadan, etc.) Production of elements from render to the artwork and related specifications with all the project details until print launch. Work out specifications based on knowledge of paper and paper mills, binding, finishing, and special printing techniques, from embossing to printing plates.

Orografie, Copywriter - Napoli 2021-2022
Orografie is a design brand based in Catania, Sicily, collaborating with EDIT Napoli art and design fair. Project-based contract as author and copywriter. Conception and writing of a story for the book’s publication occurred during the Milan Design Week 2022. Orografie’s pieces of furniture are the main characters of the story. The book has been published by Letteraventidue, independent architecture and design publisher. Text in Italian.

Kunst Meran Merano Arte, Photographer - Merano 2018-19
Merano Museum of Contemporary Art, South Tyrol. Photographer for the catalog ‘Design from the Alps’ published by Scheidegger & Spiess on the exhibition’s opening. The book is the first comprehensive survey of modern design from the transnational and multilingual Alpine region Tyrol South Tyrol - Trentino. Text in English, Italian, and German.

Selected books

Makvol Projects is an artist-run publishing practice dedicated to research projects and limited edition photobooks. Its body of work gathers heterogeneous subjects - from politics to fashion, from essays to architecture. Makvol used to be the "nom de plume" of Anna Maconi, who designed the first piece for Makvol Projects in Italy in 2016. Since then, MP has encountered different realities through exhibitions and independent publishing fairs across Europe. A characteristic feature of Makvol Projects is its ironic and poetic gaze, along with a fascination for narrating contemporary cultural niches.

2016 - 2023 Utelino

Utelino’s name comes from the anagram of ‘outline’ because everything that exists of It is just a line. Utelino is invisible, like those on the margins. 96 pp., 12x14.5cm, with black&white photographs, thread-sewn softco- ver, Italian and English texts.

2018 - 2021 Please, may I take a picture of your kitchen?

A radically subjective catalog of kitchens belonging to the same six identical buildings in Bielefeld. An anthropological and architectural research through images. 336 pp., 16x24cm, with black & white and colour pictures, thread-sewn hardcover, English texts.

2017 - 2021 Interventi nel Terzo Paesaggio

While recounting the transformation of the landscape in peripheral areas, twelve minimalist interventions beckon as an invitation to embrace the land, positioning themselves in spaces as symbols of revolution. 184 pp., 29x42cm, with black&white and colour photographs thread-sewn hardcover, Italian texts.

2018 Guess me

Things belonging to our everyday life are shown only through details and removed from their context. A new reading is created of a world as close to us as it is unnoticed. 28 pp., 18x25cm, with colour photographs, softcover, English texts.

2018 Damascus Gate - New Gate

A collection of portraits of the Palestinian and Israeli civilian population. The reading direction works both from left to right and from right to left. 82 pp., 27.4x40cm, with black & white pictures, hardcover.

2018 Human Condition

The documentation of a performance: two entities, black and white, dance and struggle together until they blend and transform. 252 pp., 18x27cm, with black and white photographs, hardcover, English texts.

2017 How to dress a building

Imagine your house waking up in the morning and desiring to get dressed. Which outfit would you choose? A magazine that gathers a suitable outfit for each building, with ironic but honest style advice. Project dedicated to every visual dreamer. 80 pp., 22x28.5cm, softcover, English texts.

2016 Il colore delle cose

‘Il colore delle cose’ was born after finding a tin containing chamomile flowers, picked up by Grandma R. in the summer of 1995. This project involves collecting easily accessible items and creating images that evoke their taste and smell. 80 pp., 24.5x33cm, with colour, English texts.

Books exhibition

Book fairs and places where Makvol projects has been. “Please, may I take a picture of your kitchen?” and “Interventi nel Terzo Paesaggio” are available in numbered copies at Micamera bookstore in Milan.

2024 Église
Exhibition in collaboration with Zazie Books and sponsored by the PRIN 2020 “Phototexts: Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cognitive Aspects”, Palermo, curated by Cristina Costanzo with the coordination by Iole Carollo

2023 Micamera
Bookstore, agency, and photobook gallery, curated by G.Zorzi, Milano

2023 CAVE Modena
Exploration of independent publishing, creatives and ultra-editorial reality, Laboratorio Aperto ex AEM, Modena

2023 Miss Read Berlin
Independent art book fair, Haus der Kulturen der Welt HKW, Berlin

2023 Zines Palermo
Festival of independent magazines, Centro Sociale ExKarcere, Palermo

2022 The Art Chapter
Independent publishing fair, in the context of Book City Milano and The Photo Vogue Festival, organized by The Boite Studio, BASE Milano

2021 Let’s swap!
Book swap in occasion of the closure of the ITALIA 90 exhibition, at Condominioxyz, Milano

2018 It’s a Book, Leipziger Buchmesse
Selected books chosen by a visiting committee at FH Bielefeld, Leipzig

Essays and other publications

2022 Mi hai lasciato senza fiato
Short novel
A curious child who has been given the latest model balloon. His name is Elio, it never ties forever, never pops, and most importantly, it can’t fly. Illustrated tale between design and amphibious scenarios.
Published by LetteraVentidue, curated by Orografie, 42 pp., Italian texts.

2021 Blume mit Zücker. An essay about elegance, irony and nostalgia
Essay
A research project with personal reflections on the poetic elements in audiovisual works. Elegance, to allow lightness and simplicity to permeate the narrative. Irony, to combat fear through shared laughter. Nostalgia, to weave together the fragments of our past and perceive our lives as a cohesive and meaningful journey. Unpublished, 73 pp., English texts.

2019 (7) different possibilities of human beauty
Essay
What is the difference between being beautiful and being fascinating? What is beauty? An essay on the perception of aesthetics, the origins of personal tastes, imagining that the choice of colour and form signifies taking a viewpoint and a determined will on how to act in the world. Unpublished, 68 pp., Italian texts.

Audiovisual works

The Lady Bo Show in Bon Ton - 14:50’
together with Caterina Nebl
"The Lady Bo Show in Bon Ton" is a silent short film. The main character is a funny, sweet, and naive woman named Lady Bo. This episode depicts Lady Bo's adventure as she tries to invite everyone to an extraordinarily elegant table, despite her being too poor to organize a proper dinner. Partially funded by Bolzano Art Weeks, starring Caterina Nebl and with the original score by Antonio Coppola. “The Lady Bo Show” is also a project that reveals the city, a document about the outskirts and transformations of Milan in 2023.

Marie - 20:00’
Marie is a young woman who lives in Brussels. One evening, a traumatic episode from the past comes back to her memory. Marie will try to fight it through her dreams and the power of her imagination. Funded by Sabam for culture.
Country of production: Belgium, Italy / Language: Italian, French - 2021

(7) different possibilities of human beauty - 18:50’
Seven moving portraits showing the inner worlds of seven people
Genre: experimental, fashion / Country of production: Italy / Language: Italian - 2019

Selected shows

2024 Église. Makvol Projects
“Sull’orlo del vuoto come di un fiordo. Una raccolta di fototesti, libri d’artista e fotolibri”
Exhibition in collaboration with Zazie Books and sponsored by the PRIN 2020 “Phototexts: Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cognitive Aspects”, Palermo, curated by Cristina Costanzo with the coordination by Iole Carollo

2023 Borgo Racconta. Un desiderio a testa
Collective show at Palazzo Saraceno, curated by G.Graziano, Atella

2023 BAW Bolzano Art Weeks. Bon Ton
With Caterina Nebl, at Gemeinschaft Maria Heim, Bolzano Bozen

2023 Vapore d’estate + Viafarini Open Studio. I love you Goodbye
Collective show at Fabbrica del Vapore, curated by G.Verago, Milano

2023 Exclusion. Interventi nel Terzo Paesaggio
Collective show hosted by BASE Milano, curated by Perimetro, Milano

2022 Utopia, Dystopia, Retrotopia - Please, may I take a picture of your kitchen?
Collective show curated by a.topos Venice, Palazzo Donà, Venezia

2019 Extra-ordinary visions. How to dress a building
Collective show curated by M.Paulenka, Fondazione Arti Visive, Modena

2019 Airmal Kabawil Düsseldorf. Interventi nel Terzo Paesaggio
Collective show curated by [wa:|wa:] Festival, Düsseldorf

2018 Tiefkollektiv. Interventi nel Terzo Paesaggio
Collective show curated by M.Fucich with Weigh Station, Bolzano Bozen

Online publications
Perimetro Milano, Photovogue, LensCulture, Lampoon, Smithsonian Magazine, Acre Hub, Docu Magazine

Recidencies

2023, Atella. ArtHouse ‘Borgo Racconta’, Atella and Vulture area, Basilicata
Artistic residency lasting 20 days aimed at developing projects for the enhancement of the territory and in response to the depopulation phe- nomenon. The local community was involved in the realization of the project ‘Un desiderio a testa,’ exhibited at Palazzo Saraceno. The artist residency was sponsored by MiC, the Italian Ministry of Culture.

2023, Milano. Viafarini Artist Residency + Archive Fabbrica del Vapore
Viafarini is a non-profit organization for the promotion of artistic rese- arch based in Milan since 1991, sponsored by the Municipality of Milan. The residency lasted 4 months and led to the development of a project called ‘I love you Goodbye,’ exploring the moment of farewell. In this context, a collaboration was born with Scacco Matto, a mental health community active in the Corvetto Network.

Workshops

2024, Milano. BASE
Workshop on the subject of giving and receiving feedback, with the guidance of Bush Hartshorn. This workshop introduces the principles of Nonviolent Communication (CNV), Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) and the Liz Lerman Critical Response method.

2024, Modena. Fondazione Modena Arti Visive
Masterclass with the artist Evan Roth, focusing on the unconventional use of tools and technologies, accompanied by reflections on the biases inherent in digital systems

2023-2024, Milano. MUFOCO Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea
Immagini come forma del sapere, ciclo di incontri teorici
with Riccardo Falcinelli - Il grado zero dell’educazione visiva. Il linguaggio delle immagini dal Rinascimento al contemporaneo with Michele Cometa - Cultura visuale: storia e metodi di una “indisciplina”

2023, Modena. AGO Fabbriche Culturali
in collaboration with Fondazione Modena Arti VisiveA two-day workshop with the artist and photographer Francesco Jodice. A journey to explore the evolution over time of image production and the codes connected to different technologies, from folding cameras to Midjourney.

2023, Bologna. Spazio Labò with Lomography
Production of a photographic project with reflections on Franco Vaccari's essay, Photography and the Technological Unconscious and made up of 12 photographs taken with a medium format Lomography camera, coloured rolls.

2022, Milano. MAGNUM Photos at Armani/Silos.
Whorkshop with the photographer Olvia Arthur about developing an ongoing personal project.

2021, Napoli. Emersivi EDIT Napoli
Storytelling whorkshop with the journalist Paolo Casicci and the illustrator Angelo Ruta.

2019, Modena. Parallel Photo Platform
Photography & curatorial practice, contemporary image production and presentation. Workshop with the photographer and curator Marina Paulenka.

Grants and Awards

2023 ArtHouse Residency grant, founded by Regione Basilicata and MiC, Ministero Italiano della cultura

2023 BAW Bolzano Art Weeks, with ‘Bon Ton’ winner project and a grant to develop the installation and short film

2023 Kautik International Film Festival, India - Official selection, ‘Marie’

2023 Luksuz Film Festival, Slovenia - Official selection, ‘Marie’

2022 Premio Maria Montessori Città di Voghera

2021 Orografie grant for the winner story at EDIT Napoli contest

2021 Sabam SC Bruxelles grant and sponsorship for the production, ‘Marie’