Since 2007, Claudio Gobbi (born 1971) has been systematically documenting Armenian religious architecture from the Middle Ages to the present. Besides the photographer’s own photographs, the series, titled Arménie Ville, also comprises found images from archives, pictures from the Internet and from commissioned artists.
Spanning more than 25 countries from Western Europe to the Caucasus, the Berlin-based Italian photographer traces the specific features of sacral Armenian architecture and the captivating simplicity of its forms, which have remained unchanged for more than 1,500 years. Investigating the concepts of authorship, serialization and representation, Gobbi carries on his quest for key images of Armenian cultures and in the process addresses themes of time, memory, migration and the cultural legacy of a people.

L’immagine vive in relazione allo spazio che la contiene. La scena, trovata o costruita, suggerisce un’azione lasciando alla fotografia un prima e un dopo istintivamente percepibile. Lo sfondo, l’ambiente, le condizioni, sono i limiti in cui l’azione si svolge o accadrà. Da un lato lo scenario è uno stage teatrale, dall’altro è un luogo perfetto in cui assistere a un racconto.

The image lives in connection with the space in which it is. The scene, which may be found or built, suggests an action leaving an immediately perceptible “before” and “after” to photography. The background, the environment, the conditions, are the limits in which the action is taking place or will happen. From one side the scenery is a theatrical stage, from the other side it is a perfect place to attend a story.

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‘Genda’ continues its intersection of Western and Eastern culture by providing a platform for accidental, compressed, and distant yet dangerously similar material. The images here live in connection with the spaces they inhabit. The scene, which may be found or constructed, suggests an action leaving an immediately perceptible “before” and “after” in the photography, with its background, environment, and conditions. This issue features photographers Todd Hido, Federico Clavarino, Morgan Ashcom, Zhao Qian, Zhu Mo, Yishu Wang, Claudio Gobbi, Zhang Xiao, Ronghui Chen, Matteo Mastronardi, Sarah Pickering, Amiko Lee, Yifan Hu, and Pietro Mattioli.