Bologna's Foto/Industria Biennial Explores the Multifaceted Meaning of 'Home'

The seventh edition of Foto/Industria, Bologna's renowned industrial photography biennial, offers a profound exploration of the concept of 'home.' With 11 diverse exhibitions spread across the city until December 14th, the festival weaves together an intricate narrative, examining 'home' through the lenses of architecture, social planning, class dynamics, gender roles, conflict, displacement, belonging, identity, memory, and even fantasy. This compelling curation challenges traditional notions of domesticity, presenting a multi-layered understanding of what it means to belong and to have a place in the world.

Foto/Industria Biennial Unveils Diverse Interpretations of 'Home' Across Bologna

The Foto/Industria biennial in Bologna, currently captivating audiences until December 14th, presents an extraordinary and multifaceted investigation into the theme of 'home.' Across 11 distinct exhibitions throughout the city, artists delve into the profound and often complex dimensions of this universal concept. One striking example is Vuyo Mabheka's immersive installation, 'Popihuis.' Drawing visitors into his personal history, Mabheka uses hand-drawn scenes combined with photographic cutouts of himself and his family to construct visual memories that were absent from his transient childhood. This evocative work reimagines 'home' as a space of self-creation and emotional reconstruction.

In stark contrast, Forensic Architecture's 'Looking for Palestine' reconstructs the visual history of Palestinian villages through 'memory maps' printed on fabric. These maps, derived from interviews with descendants and computer-generated imagery, reclaim histories erased from official records. The exhibition powerfully underscores the ongoing destruction of homes, with a poignant video installation serving as a contemporary window into the realities of Gaza. These two projects, though vastly different in their approaches, highlight the personal and geopolitical struggles associated with the idea of home.

Further exploring the physical and communal aspects of home, Matei Bejenaru's 'Prut' documents communities along the Prut river, a de facto border of the European Union, illustrating how physical boundaries shape collective identity. Moira Ricci's work offers a folklore-infused portrayal of the Maremma region, showcasing deep-rooted connections to a specific land. Meanwhile, Sisto Sisti's historical documentation from 1935-1950 provides a glimpse into the daily lives of factory workers in a chemical plant village, depicting the communal experience of home within an industrial setting.

The architectural dimension of home is also a significant focus. Alejandro Cartagena's exhibition at Palazzo Vizzani, an adaptation of his Deutsche Börse-nominated book 'A Small Guide to Home Ownership,' critically examines the impacts of urban sprawl in northern Mexico. His installation, with images suspended from the ceiling, mirrors the fluidity of life in Latin America, showcasing rows of identical pastel-colored buildings alongside images of residents carpooling, a testament to overlooked infrastructure needs. The exhibition cleverly incorporates American real estate advertisements, subtly highlighting external influences on local housing development.

Conversely, Julia Gaisbacher showcases a utopian 1970s Austrian social housing project, where architect Eilfreid Huth collaborated with young families to custom-design their homes. Through images, a documentary, and personal snapshots, Gaisbacher reveals a project that, despite its success in meeting individual needs, was ultimately deemed too expensive for wider implementation. Ursula Schultz-Dornburg's display at the National Art Gallery of Bologna further emphasizes the global diversity of housing constructions, from Iraq to Russia, Georgia to Indonesia, each shaped by unique cultural and environmental factors.

Subtle thematic echoes connect these diverse projects throughout the biennial. The dollhouse-like cutouts in Monica Ricci's work resonate with Mabheka's 'Popihuis,' illustrating shared artistic languages. Mikael Olsen's photographs of architect Bruno Mathsson's now-empty homes reveal the lingering presence of former inhabitants in desolate spaces, a departure from idealized design portrayals. Kelly O'Brien's 'No Rest For the Wicked' pays homage to her mother and grandmother, cleaners whose labor in domestic settings often goes unrecognized. O'Brien's work, through both documentary and conceptual pieces, including a poignant portrait with a mop obscuring her mother's face and a tribute at an altar, elevates the unseen work that sustains homes.

Jeff Wall's 'LIVING, WORKING, SURVIVING' at Fondazione MAST, continuing until March 8, 2026, presents 'near documentary' images. Wall's approach involves observing everyday phenomena—such as rural workers migrating to cities or suburban hunters—and then meticulously staging these observations. His large-scale images are not linear narratives but rather perpetual middles, inviting viewers to engage actively and fill in the unspoken stories, further expanding the festival's contemplation of human existence within and around 'home.'

Artistic Director Francesco Zanot's vision for Foto/Industria draws inspiration from a 1986 exhibition staged in homes across a city and Joseph Beuys' durational performance 'I Like America and America Likes Me.' These influences underscore the idea that art itself can be a transient home, and conversely, 'home' can be an artistic space—a gallery, a stage, or a 'popihuis.' This perspective frames 'home' not as a fixed entity but as a dynamic, ever-reconstructing, and infinitely layered concept, full of play and possibility, existing both in the physical world and in the human imagination.