Salvatore Vitale | 2020 Research Trip
Mainland China | Visual Arts
April/May 2020 — Visual Arts
Nationality: Switzerland
Trip location: Shanghai
Partner organization: TBD
Salvatore Vitale, born in 1986 in Italy, is a Swiss-based visual artist and editor. He studied Fine Arts at the Zurich University of Arts (ZHdK), and is a professor at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU). Vitale received the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia’s grant in 2015-2016; PHmuseum Award Grant in 2017; Swiss Design Awards, FOAM Talent and Punctum Award in 2018.
Vitale’s long-term projects focus on personal and social development, modern societies and power structures, visual politics and technological development. In his multi-layered artistic practice and research, he makes use of different media and multiple levels of visual narratives.
His work has been shown in museums and at photo festivals including the Swiss Foundation for Photography Winterthur, the Photoforum Pasquart Biel/Bienne, FOAM Photography Museum Amsterdam, MOCAK – Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow, FOTODOK Utrecht, Hamburg Triennale of Photography, T3 Photo Festival Tokyo, Jaipur International Photography Festival. Notably, his participation at «Follow_Me» exhibition in OCAT Shanghai and Shenzhen, and at Lianzhou Foto Festival both are supported by Pro Helvetia Shanghai.
Vitale is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of YET magazine, a Swiss-based international photography magazine that focuses on the evolution of photography practice within the contemporary art field.
Vitale describes his proposal for his trip in China as such:
Surveillance, cyber attacks, digital warfare – systems that regulate our life are intangible structures. Due to the growing importance of digital technologies in the political and economic systems of most societies, technological and scientific discourses have gained a top position in social and artistic landscapes. In the context of studies in science and technology, this visual research points to the fruitfulness of paying closer attention to ‘cosmological’ dimensions of techno- science. Starting from Heidegger’s assumption that technological objects are means for ends, and are built and operated by human beings, but the essence of technology is something else entirely, this research project aims at exploring the strong connections between Chinese cultural heritage and the very fast rise of the country in technological capability. The result of this visual research project will be the basis for the creation of a multi-sensorial installation aiming at exploring the dialogue between subjectivity and modern technologies.
