The art project “Iceland still”, conceived by Roberto Ghezzi and dedicated to a new research expedition in Iceland, focused in June and July on the least civilised part of the island, the eastern part, between Egilsstaðir, Höfn and Landmannalaugar. ìIt was carried out in collaboration with photographer Antonio Manta and drone pilot Leonardo Vianello Mizar, technical sponsors Light Adventures, Antonio Manta’s BAM, and the support of Phoresta ETS.
My reflection on Roberto Ghezzi’s work leads me unequivocally to speak in critical terms of a term that is now happily undergoing a re-examination by the industry: time.There is no doubt that computer and technological advances have, first and foremost, an impact on human life and the natural time of the individual. A scanning of the hours that does not even find its correspondence in the flow of time circumscribed by the measuring instrument, the clock, an artificial invention of man himself.
Reference can already be made, with this connotation, to Aristotle who spoke of it in relation to the unfolding of events and in connection with metamorphosis. And it is precisely this change that our artist investigates, seeking the possibility of a simultaneous subsistence of that natural flow of time in a latitude where everything seems to flow more slowly, almost at a standstill, in a landscape that ‘has no trees, no people, it is motionless’ – argues Ghezzi.
It should also be emphasised that the artist distances himself from the Jeweiligkei, that natural time that has always dwelt in the determination of human existence, in the being of being as time. He refers, in fact, as an authentic continuation of a research in itinere and generative of new connections, to an inversion of gaze that wants Nature as the main subject and agent of his own work. I discuss about this, in dialogue with the artist.
Laura Catini: Time has been present, albeit dormant until now, in your exploration and restitution of Nature. The research on its scanning takes place, in a landscape that seems to be an oxymoron for investigation, in Iceland. In a latitude in which you claim to be all suspended. Almost as if to make evident something that is not there but is perceived. It is an examination very much related to one’s own psyche….
I chose Iceland for this very reason. On this island “evident” events are rare, clouds, icebergs, sea waves move, but no trees and, where I am, no humans or animals except for rare birds to betray the presence of time. Which “maybe” is there, but cannot be seen. Yes, it can be sensed, within us. But what if we just let what surrounds us speak? Would we still feel it so well, this flow, this arrow towards the future?
It is difficult to declare the current research expedition as a fusion of art and science, as quantum physics claims in relation to time and despite the most recent discoveries…
Although my background does not allow me to be a devotee of the subject, I am fascinated by the latest studies on time undertaken by many physicists over the years. Relativity still shocks me, and we have been aware of it for over 100 years. Let alone think about the hypothesis of the “non-existence” of time.
Having always worked with long exposures (naturography, pinhole photography, etc.), one can say, however, that I have always worked with a succession of events, with an accumulation of traces. Well, in this case, the study was deepened precisely in this sense, by following the sequence of these traces, focusing on what, given a certain landscape, varied with respect to the previous moment in that same landscape. And I can assure you that in 24 hours, even in a motionless territory like the Iceland of the interior highlands, a lot of things move.
On this occasion you decided to abandon the ‘dark rooms’ of Annapurna in Nepal to make use of state-of-the-art technology…
Yes, I always like to vary my approach to landscape, while remaining faithful to my research. Thanks to the support of photographer and printer Antonio Manta, I made use of state-of-the-art equipment: it may seem trivial, but photographing the same landscape uninterruptedly for 24 hours requires really high performance, in terms of camera, batteries, memory cards… and if you then add the arctic climate.
Despite the use of sophisticated instrumentation, some compromises are expected in the creative process…
I still don’t know how I will realise the final rendering of the work. It is not certain that it will be a digital photograph (which already in itself, I anticipate, would be a work of extreme complexity because imagine what it can mean to superimpose 1500 shots of 300 megabytes each, in a single layer, preserving transparencies and visibility). However, it could also be an analogue installation. Ultimately, as has often happened in the past with other research, it is in the process, the journey, that I have had the greatest satisfaction.
ICELAND STILL, project by Roberto Ghezzi, East Iceland, Research expedition between art and science
Various locations: Egilsstaðir – Höfn – Landmannalaugar, June-July 2025
In collaboration with Antonio Manta and Leonardo Vianello Mizar
Technical sponsors Light Adventures and BAM by Antonio Manta | Support Phoresta ETS
Communication Manager: Amalia Di Lanno
images: (cover 1): Roberto Ghezzi, «Iceland Still», 2025, Courtesy the Artist (2) Roberto Ghezzi, «Iceland Still», 2025, Courtesy the Artist (3) Roberto Ghezzi, «Iceland Still», frozen lagoon, multiple exposure 22′, 2025 (4) Roberto Ghezzi, «Iceland Still», Inner Iceland, long and multiple exposure 10′, 2025 (5) Roberto Ghezzi, «Iceland Still», black deserts, long exposure, 2025
