In 2004, the Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea published a collection of essays titled E' contemporanea la fotografia? In the brief texts written by critics, historians, museum directors, and institutions, numerous open questions emerged. The study seminars from which the book originated took place during a period of radical change for photography: on one hand, through its presence in galleries, collections, and biennials, photography was firmly established in the world of contemporary art; on the other, with the abrupt transition to digital, it faced a technical, theoretical, and linguistic future clearly different from everything it had represented since its inception and for over 150 years within modernity.

In April 2010, under the more drastic title Is Photography Over?, the SFMOMA Museo di Arte Contemporanea di San Francisco revisited the issue by engaging critics, curators, and artists in two days of study, as part of the exhibition The View from Here.

So: what can photography say today? Careof and the Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea launched a workshop that opens a dialogue around this question.

During June and July, the Careof space at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan transforms into a dynamic research space focused on the latest production by artists and photographers through a series of meetings (June 7–21 and July 5) with photography professors from academies, specialization masters, universities, and photography schools invited to present the paths of some of their most interesting students. In the two weeks following each meeting, the selected students’ works remain on view in the exhibition space through a series of slideshows.

At the same time, the debate is enriched by a series of 100x70 posters featuring contributions from various artists from the Archivio DOCVA, invited to respond to some questions about the role of photography in their work: Luca Bolognesi, Marco Campanini, Lorenzo Casali, Cristian Chironi, Cleo Fariselli, Gianni Ferrero Merlino, Linda Fregni Nagler, Marcello Galvani, Simona Ghizzoni, Elena Givone, Alessandro Mancassola and Barbara Ceriani Basilico, Diego Marcon, Marcello Mariana, Cecilia Pirovano, Richard Sympson, Antonio Rovaldi, Mirko Smerdel, Annalisa Sonzogni.

The space for dialogue and reflection on photography is expanded by a selection of artist portfolios from the Archivio DOCVA available to professors, curators, and gallerists. Throughout the period, Careof is available to organize meetings and studio visits with the selected artists and with the artists from the archive.

Publications from Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Fondazione Fotografia di Modena, and Fotografia Europea di Reggio Emilia are also available for consultation. On the occasion of the meetings, Silvana Editoriale sets up a bookshop with the most recent editions related to photography.

Within a cycle of meetings, critics, artists, and photography course instructors present the paths of some students from recent years.