VISIO Moving Images in Europe Since the 2010s

VISIO – Moving Images in Europe since the 2010s is a book born from the desire to contribute to the international debate on moving images and disseminate the results of over a decade of research and conversations.

The book brings together visions, experiences, and interdisciplinary critical methodologies that have been fundamental to the development of the language of moving images since 2010. New essays and conversations reflect on the radical technological and formal transformations in the works of a generation of digital-native artists, addressing shared processes developed during the first twelve editions of VISIO – European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images, a research, production, and residency project promoted and organized by Lo schermo dell’arte in Florence.

The book features original contributions from twenty-three authors who have participated in the program over the years: Antonia Alampi, Erika Balsom, Andrea Bellini, Leonardo Bigazzi, Federica Bueti, Beatrice Bulgari, Barbara Casavecchia, Sophie Cavoulacos, Manuel Cirauqui, Ilaria Gianni, Hassan Khan, Oliver Laric, Maria Lind, Andrea Lissoni, Philippe-Alain Michaud, Han Nefkens, Emily Pethick, Julian Ross, Aura Satz, Hito Steyerl, Bianca Stoppani, Robert Trafford, Valentine Umansky, and Francesco Urbano Ragazzi.

The volume is divided into two main sections: the first reflects the theoretical and discursive nature of VISIO, alternating essays and conversations; the second comprises an extensive archival section of the program’s first twelve editions and nine exhibition projects organized in Florence. The contributions explore the disillusionments that have redefined European identity, the accessibility and function of academic institutions and residencies, and the changing role of images in the digital age. They also examine the virtual as both an exhibition space and a research territory, the influence of documentary practices on contemporary production, and the rise of investigative aesthetics and the exhibition as a means to renegotiate truth. Other topics include the commodification of digital images and their impact on energy consumption, curatorial boundaries between physical and virtual spaces, the practices of artists from the VISIO generation, and how public and private institutions commission and collect moving images.

This publication was made possible thanks to the support of Regione Toscana | Giovanisì | Toscanaincontemporanea2022, Fondazione CR Firenze, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain, Institut français Firenze, and the Cecchi Family.