The Cassa di Risparmio Foundation of Jesi and the Municipality of Senigallia present the photographic exhibition Flat time is the right time, a unique opportunity to see over a hundred emblematic images that investigate the relationship of the photographic medium with bodies, places, surfaces, and still lifes, central subjects in the history of art and photography, from the origins to the present day.

Curated by Roberto Maggiori and Luca Panaro, the exhibition offers a selection of 67 international authors taken from the extensive Pier Luigi Gibelli Collection. The works are organized around these macro-themes and introduced by critical texts that guide the visitor along the exhibition path. The exhibition is divided into two venues: Palazzo Bisaccioni in Jesi, with the section dedicated to bodies, and Palazzo del Duca in Senigallia, which hosts the photographs of places, still lifes, and nature morte.

The exhibition project reflects on the value of the collection as a tool for understanding the evolution of photographic language, through personal choices that highlight both the transformations of the medium and the formal and stylistic recurrences that run through its history. The collection belongs to Pier Luigi Gibelli, a plastic surgeon who began collecting photography in the early 1990s, developing a passion guided by the same aesthetic sensitivity that characterizes his profession.

Beyond the thematic division and distribution in the two venues, a common attitude towards image construction emerges strongly. Many works prioritize close-up shots and an unusual point of view, often inaccessible to the ordinary gaze, opening up new perceptual and research possibilities. Moving beyond the idea of photography as a simple adherence to reality, color and form instead pursue the mediated perception of things, as it is sedimented in the contemporary imaginary.

The photographer appears increasingly less interested in the objective documentation of a place and more involved in the enactment of an action, an event that he himself triggers within the landscape, following exclusively the rules of his own poetics. The exhibition thus highlights some fractures and internal revolutions in the history of photography, often carried out by authors who are difficult to categorize into defined movements or currents, bearers of solitary visions but decisive for the ongoing changes in the current artistic panorama.

Featuring photographs by:

Berenice Abbot, Charlotte Abramow, Giulia Agostini, Nobuyoshi Araki, Evgenia Arbugaeva, Jessica Backhaus, Roger Ballen, Olivo Barbieri, Gabriele Basilico, Hans Bellmer, Jacopo Benassi, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Karl Blossfeldt, Andrea Botto, Piergiorgio Branzi, Brassaï, Sophie Calle, Silvia Camporesi, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Federico Clavarino, Mario Cresci, Gregory Crewdson, Paola Di Bello, Robert Doisneau, Elliott Erwitt, Walker Evans, Joan Fontcuberta, Vittore Fossati, Luigi Ghirri, Mario Giacomelli, Paolo Gioli, Robert Gligorov, Guido Guidi, Florence Henri, Todd Hido, Kenro Izu, Ogawa Kazumasa, Taisuke Koyama, Uliano Lucas, Urs Luthi, Esko Männikkö, Allegra Martin, Nino Migliori, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Walter Niedermayr, Erwin Olaf, Giulia Parlato, Regine Petersen, Paola Pivi, Barbara Probst, Jan Saudek, Ferdinando Scianna, Andres Serrano, Malick Sidibé, William Eugene Smith, Kiki Smith, Alec Soth, Alessandra Spranzi, Tilo & Toni, Franco Vaccari, Paolo Ventura, Weegee, William Wegman, Edward Weston, Joel Peter Witkin, George Woodman, Masao Yamamoto.

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication Flat time is the right time. Bodies, places, and still lifes from the Pier Luigi Gibelli Collection, curated by Roberto Maggiori and Luca Panaro, with texts by Mauro Carbone, Antonello Frongia, Roberto Maggiori, and Luca Panaro. Graphic design by Emiliano Biondelli. Quinlan Publishing, 2025.