Luca Locatelli

© Luca Locatelli

“I’m taking you on a journey to a future
that already exists, to a hypothetical world,
one that’s no doubt full of promise but is
certainly unknown. Our politically and economically
unstable times cannot ignore the ecological
crisis we’re going through.“

Luca Locatelli

For centuries, humanity has always united around a common, deep-seated hope: that the future will be better than the present. That what is to come will heal the wounds of what has been. However, after a century of unprecedented technological leaps, at the dawn of which the greatest upheavals in history rocked the status quo in every field (education, medicine, space travel, food supply, etc.), Western societies broadly find themselves struck by a loss of hope in a better future.

This feeling reaches far beyond the boundaries of activist movements led by frightened younger generations, touching every strata of society. Today, technological advances no longer inspire wonder. At best, we are indifferent. At worst, afraid. Faced with this, it’s worth asking the question: What is the difference between progress and innovation?

This is the question posed by the Luca Locatelli photographs presented in this exhibition. If this image of a wind farm piercing the sea fog makes you think of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, if this one of dozens of planes squeezed together on a vacant lot in the US evokes a scene from a post-apocalyptic film, if these futuristic cities rising from the sands seem strangely like a set from Star Wars, it’s no accident. For this series, begun in 2011, the Italian photographer and frequent National Geographic contributor, who has received a World Press Photo award, draws inspiration from the aesthetic of sci-fi films, inspiring viewers to engage in critical debate around humanity’s precarious position here on Earth. Also, and above all, these images strive to give us back our hope.