Firenze Versus The World
© RiverboomChildren often fancy far-fetched comparisons: which is stronger, an elephant or a whale? Which is uglier, a brontosaurus or a rhino? Who is older, Noah or my daddy? Riverboom, taking inspiration from Voltaire’s Candide, loves spontaneous comparisons. Which monument is more impressive, Santa Croce’s Basilica in Florence or the Great Iceberg of Ilulissat in the Arctic? What is more necessary, a keyring with Michelangelo’s David or a Mao Chinese lighter? What is more devastating, an invasion of tourist buses or of American Humvees?
Welcome to Riverboom’s evident and marvellous universe.
“Florence vs The World” is a visual confrontation between Florentine clichés and those from the rest of the world. It is a battle of visual identities, with an indomitable craving for encyclopaedic classification.
The artistic project “Florence vs The World” was born within the ambit of the Florentine May events curated by Valentina Gensini and was introduced for the first time on April 30th, 2011, on the occasion of the White Night in Florence, as a projection on the legendary façade of Santo Spirito’s Church. Then, it developed into an exhibition of 700 advertising spaces, spread around the Tuscan city, on which the greatest en plain air photographic display ever realised in Italy was set, instead of the usual billpostings. Soon, a book and an iPad/ iPhone app will be released.
click to view the complete set in the archive
click to view the book
