ANDANTE LENTO
In the vocabulary of music, the term “Andante” indicates a tempo characterized by an intermediate speed between adagio and allegro; it can be further specified, with different nuances which catch different possible moods: moderato, con moto, con brio. The title conceived for this exhibition is drawn from musical terminology - even if we are conscious that, applied to music, it would be an oxymoron. If we apply it to visual experience, on the contrary, the reference to two different tempos is meant to suggest an essential feature of the process leading to the present work: Andante Lento aims to describe the pace of those who travel fast enough to cover distances, but who are as well able to linger in places, on things, on those natural and human details that travellers recognize as the very essence of travel. You go, but you are willing to slow down when circumstances demand it. The collection includes 22 images about Italy, they are photographs of places well-known, but they are not usual: faithful to the principle of going slow, the photographer took a few steps off the marked path, stopped, waited, contemplated, and took the picture. The choice of the format is not accidental either: the reading of a panorama picture, like its composition, requires an extra effort to control all the elements, but is more respectful of the nature of the human gaze that lingers on point after point in order to understand the whole.
Photos by STEFANO AMANTINI , MASSIMO BORCHI and GUIDO COZZI
