After studying Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan (1973), Gabriele Basilico focused on architecture photography. In 1976 he produced the 16 mm film Milano, Proletariato Giovanile, which he premiered at the Venice Festival. In 1980 and 1981 he worked on a project on the architecture of Milan in the 1920s and 1930s. The following year he was part of a project on Naples entitled Napoli, città de mare con porto. Basilico then went on to the DATAR photo missions commissioned by the French Government between 1984 and 1985. He subsequently produced reports on ports – Genoa, Trieste, Hamburg, Barcelona, Antwerp, Rotterdam – that led to Porti di mare, published in 1990. But he made his mark on the international scene with a series of photographs on Beirut during the 1991 Lebanon War. He went on to produce series in different cities around the world. His photographs, taken using analogue techniques and mainly in black and white, acquire social importance due to their recording of the transformation of the urban fabric, due to economic growth or war. Basilico goes beyond mere description and reads cities as complex bodies that breathe and grow through their architecture. He focuses his interest on peripheral, anonymous areas where social complexity becomes evident.
His work earned him the Grand Prix International du Mois de la Photo (Paris, 1990), the Award of the Venice Architectural Biennial (1996) and the Astroc Foundation Award (2007). He took part in the São Paulo International Architecture Biennial (2003), the Milan Triennial (2004), the Istanbul Biennial (2005) and the Venice Biennale (2007 and 2012). From 1978 onwards, his work was shown in solo exhibitions at the Fundação Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon, 1997), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, 2000), the Portuguese Photography Centre (Oporto, Portugal, 1995), the Trento and Rovereto Contemporary and Modern Art Museum (Italy, 2003), the Valencia Institute of Modern Art (Valencia, 2000-2001), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, United States, 2004), the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Lisbon and Paris, 2006), the San Francisco Museum of Art (San Francisco, United States, 2008) and the ICO Museum as part of PHotoEspaña (Madrid, 2017).
After studying Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan (1973), Gabriele Basilico focused on architecture photography. In 1976 he produced the 16 mm film Milano, Proletariato Giovanile, which he premiered at the Venice Festival. In 1980 and 1981 he worked on a project on the architecture of Milan in the 1920s and 1930s. The following year he was part of a project on Naples entitled Napoli, città de mare con porto. Basilico then went on to the DATAR photo missions commissioned by the French Government between 1984 and 1985. He subsequently produced reports on ports – Genoa, Trieste, Hamburg, Barcelona, Antwerp, Rotterdam – that led to Porti di mare, published in 1990. But he made his mark on the international scene with a series of photographs on Beirut during the 1991 Lebanon War. He went on to produce series in different cities around the world. His photographs, taken using analogue techniques and mainly in black and white, acquire social importance due to their recording of the transformation of the urban fabric, due to economic growth or war. Basilico goes beyond mere description and reads cities as complex bodies that breathe and grow through their architecture. He focuses his interest on peripheral, anonymous areas where social complexity becomes evident.
His work earned him the Grand Prix International du Mois de la Photo (Paris, 1990), the Award of the Venice Architectural Biennial (1996) and the Astroc Foundation Award (2007). He took part in the São Paulo International Architecture Biennial (2003), the Milan Triennial (2004), the Istanbul Biennial (2005) and the Venice Biennale (2007 and 2012). From 1978 onwards, his work was shown in solo exhibitions at the Fundação Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon, 1997), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, 2000), the Portuguese Photography Centre (Oporto, Portugal, 1995), the Trento and Rovereto Contemporary and Modern Art Museum (Italy, 2003), the Valencia Institute of Modern Art (Valencia, 2000-2001), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, United States, 2004), the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Lisbon and Paris, 2006), the San Francisco Museum of Art (San Francisco, United States, 2008) and the ICO Museum as part of PHotoEspaña (Madrid, 2017).