Bar Stories on Camera is the first exhibition created by Galleria Campari in partnership with Magnum Photos. The intention of the project is to outline a portrait of the world of the bar from the 1930s to the early 2000s, told through a body of images from Galleria Campari’s Historical Archives in dialogue with shots by international photographers from the Magnum agency, including authors such as Robert Capa, Elliott Erwitt, Martin Parr and Ferdinando Scianna. From moments of everyday sharing to the faces of famous actors and artists, the bar space is revealed in a journey through eras and cities, with Campari a protagonist since 1860.
The exhibition, when and where
From Thursday, July 25 to Sunday, October 6, 2024, Bar Stories on Camera by Galleria Campari and Magnum Photos opens to the public in the spaces of CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia in Turin. This is not the first time the project has been presented to the public. Its official debut was in October 2023 at Galleria Campari in Sesto San Giovanni, while last June it was exhibited in the Davide Campari Lounge at Art Basel in Basel, presenting a selection of twenty-five images curated by Martin Parr.
Not only photographs, also sketches and neon signs
In addition to archival and Magnum photographs, the Turin exhibition at CAMERA is enriched by a selection of original menu sketches made for Campari in the 1930s by Fortunato Depero, a celebrated exponent of Futurism, and a collection of studies of Campari neon signs from the 1950s, which enliven the well-known red Bitter with a range of unexpected colors.
All sections of the exhibition
The Bar Stories on Camera exhibition traverses three thematic sections in a chronological narrative that renders all the multifaceted vitality of the bar world and its transformations over time. First, Sharing Moments, a section of daily shots inside bars. The protagonists of the images are bartenders, bartenders, musicians, waiters and patrons who experience the bar as a shared and collective space. Then there is the Bar Campari section that highlights Campari as one of the protagonists of the bar universe since 1860. Shots depict the historic Caffè Campari, neon Campari signs and branded storefronts, in dialogue with photos of bar setups on Italian beaches in the 1960s. Finally, The Icons, dedicated to Hollywood actors, writers and entertainment personalities caught in the everyday space of a café or bar. Representations by Magnum photographers of such emblematic locales as the Camparino in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan and the Florian café in Venice find space in this section.
