Giancarlo Leone – The City On The Water. Seeking the City Elsewhere – Preview
Organised by the Italian Cultural Institute of Melbourne on the occasion of the Italian Festa & Expo 2026, taking place on 17 and 18 October 2026 at the Royal Exhibition Building, 9 Nicholson Street, Carlton, Melbourne.
The six works presented will mark the first presentation of Giancarlo Leone’s photographic work in Australia, and will serve as an introduction to the larger 2027 exhibition of The City On The Water, curated by Luta Bettonica, which the Italian Cultural Institute will organise in Melbourne, featuring approximately 50 works from Leone’s ongoing research:
- L’Acqua della Domenica
- L’Acqua dell’Acqua
- L’Acqua del Martedì
- Uomo d’Acqua Dolce
- Fumi di Lago
- D’Umanità Disunita
The preview offers Australian audiences their first encounter with a photographic project that Leone has developed across European and Mediterranean cities, including Milan, Venice, Florence, Comacchio, Belfort (France), St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Lugano (Switzerland).
Over the years, the project The City On The Water. Seeking the City Elsewhere has been presented to the public through an extensive exhibition programme across Italy and Switzerland: from major cities such as Milan (Civic Aquarium, Bocconi Art Gallery), Venice (Biennale) and Catania, to distinctive locations such as Malpensa, Lugano and Morcote (Switzerland), as well as important art centres including Scicli and Campo Calabro.
Leone has never previously exhibited, lived in or visited Australia, and he has not photographed the Yarra River. Nevertheless, the Yarra offers Melbourne audiences a natural point of connection with his work: a waterway that runs through the urban environment and contributes to the rhythms, perceptions and everyday life of the city.
The presentation in Melbourne does not, therefore, seek to depict the Yarra through Leone’s photographs. Instead, it draws on the natural affinity with the Yarra River to offer a new way of looking at the city, inviting viewers to reconsider their own urban landscape through the questions raised by his images: What happens to a city when it is seen reflected in water? Can the flow of water generate a new urban rhythm? Can a gaze that distorts architecture reveal an unprecedented way of experiencing the city?
Italian Festa & Expo 2026
LEVEL 1, Royal Exhibition Building, 9 Nicholson Street, Carlton, Melbourne
17 October 2026 (11am – 10.30pm) and 18 October 2026 (11am – 8.30pm)
