Ugo Locatelli, born in Brussels in 1940, graduated in
architecture from the Politecnico di Milano, lived and worked in
Piacenza where he died in 2023. His research on visual languages began in 1962, based on the
capacity of photographic language to extract signs of the ‘real’ from
superficial and uniform gazes. His early experiences in shooting and
darkroom printing revealed the possibilities of ‘writing with light’ and
considering the image as an open system, a dialogue between
non-conformist ideas. Since 1965, a series of exhibitions, events, and
reflections have extended his work, nourished by explorers of thought,
vision, and the capacity to wonder, met along the way (a mental
geography).
Some projects
were realized together with other authors, for example: with Luciano
Caruso the verbo-visual work ‘Storia di un pedone bianco (innamorato) di
una regina nera’ in 1968; with Ben Vautier of the Fluxus Group, the
Non-Art International Festival in 1969; with Sebastiano Vassalli the
work ‘Teatro Uno-Il Mazzo. Il Gioco del Teatro del Mondo,’ exhibited at
the Venice Biennale in 1972 in the ‘The book as a place of research’
section; and interacting with museum structures: Museo della fotografia
storica e contemporanea, Turin (1997, 1999, 2004, 2005); Salone della
Fotografia, Venice (1999, 2000); Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg
(2000); Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Piacenza (2002, 2003); Museo Archivio
Politecnico, Turin (2004, 2006); Museo della Carale, Ivrea (2007); 91mQ
Art Project Space, Berlin (2010); Museo Civico di Storia Naturale,
Piacenza (2014, 2015, 2017); Museo Astrofisico dell’Osservatorio, Turin
(2016); Museo dei sanatori di Sondalo-Sondrio (2017);
FilmForum-International Film Studies Conference, Gorizia (2018); Museo
Civico d’Arte, Modena (2018/2019); Museo Geologico di Castell’Arquato,
Piacenza (2018/2019, 2021).
In
1997, he started Areale, an interdisciplinary laboratory on possible
readings of levels of reality. A process of learning through discovery
of the qualities of vision and thought, a never-ending or final
reconnaissance. From objects to relationships, from the known to the
unexpected, in material, emotional, mental places: every place is like a
darkroom. Two theses have been written on his work: ‘Ugo Locatelli
1962-1972. Photography, writing, experimentation’ (Filippo Lezoli,
University of Parma, published by Fondazione Italiana per la Fotografia,
Turin 2003); and ‘Mente Areale: Perspective of multisensory
communication’ (Simona Licata, University of Catania, 2006).