ABOUT THE ARTIST
What Michele Nastasi sees through his lens is a wide field where the urban takes place. He has a vision of the global city as meaningful and humane, his pictures conveying a distinctive sense of presence.
His work, as a photographer and scholar, is focused on the imagery of contemporary cities and architecture, and he has carried out long-term research in the Emirates and in the Gulf countries.
His photographs have been exhibited internationally in venues such as the MIT Museum in Cambridge, the New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi, the Institute for Italian Culture in Paris, the MAXXI in Rome, the Festival of European Photography in Reggio Emilia, the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, the Venice Biennale.
He is author of books, among which “Arabian Transfer” (Hatje Cantz 2021), on the cities of the Arabian Peninsula; “Starchitecture. Scenes, Actors, and Spectacles in Contemporary Cities” (Allemandi 2011/The Monacelli Press 2016; co-authored with the urbanist Davide Ponzini), on the spectacularization of architecture and the urban environment; “Suspended City: L’Aquila after the Earthquake” (ACTAR 2015), where the city appears as a place which it has become impossible to live.
From 2007 to 2019 he has been editor of the architectural review Lotus International. He holds a PhD in History of the Arts from the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, and he has taught Architectural Photography at the Politecnico di Milano and other schools. He has curated exhibitions, among which the recent “Luigi Ghirri. The Landscape of Architecture” at the Milan Triennale. He lives in Milan.