Magnum photographer Alec Soth is shooting a series of images at the Hotel Danieli in Venice, inspired by early color work by fellow Magnum photographers Dennis Stock and Erich Hartmann.
“Photography is always a balancing act between reality and the world of the imagination. In Venice, the only way I could process this mythic place was in the confines of my hotel room.”
A World in Color: a collaboration between MAGNUM Photos and FUJIFILM
The genesis of Alec Soth’s new project, Room 303, is part of A World in Color, a collaboration between Magnum Photos and Fujifilm. This collaboration involves digitizing slides from the Magnum archive in Paris using FUJIFILM equipment, specifically the mirrorless Large Format GFX100 II. As a result of this collaboration, a series of digitized color slides are being exhibited for the first time at FUJIKINA, a series of events promoted by Fujifilm across Europe.
Earlier this year, Alec Soth delved into Magnum’s vast Italian archive, a collection of over 5,000 unseen color images documenting the country’s landscapes, traditions, and spirited streets. Inspired by the visual narratives of Venice, he selected 10 unseen images of the city from the 1960s-80s, unearthing a vignette of the city’s past.
For the occasion of FUJIKINA Milan, Italy, Alec Soth was entrusted with curating the third chapter of A World in Color by Magnum dedicated to Italy and Venice. Starting from the view of these unseen slides from the Magnum archive, Soth questioned how he could tell the story of this dream-like city, one of the most visited and perhaps stereotyped in the world today.
Following in Stock’s steps at Hotel Danieli, Soth traveled to Venice for the first time to create a new series in response to his curation. The hotel became a sort of non-place, and room 303, where Soth stayed for a few days, transformed into a temporary photography studio, his artist studio. The series, shot with FUJIFILM GFX100 II, immerses us in a visual diary, constructing a poetic dialogue between past and present and revealing a personal, enigmatic vision of the city.
“With this project, I wanted to think of the hotel room as my studio and the GFX 100 II as my primary tool. That I’m using in lots of different ways, so I’m using it as a telephoto out the window. I’m making still life images with a tilt and shift lens. And then I added another element which is new for me, which is shooting video as well.” – explains Alec Soth as he introduces us to his experimental approach behind this project.
While Room 303 aims to provide a glimpse of Venice observed from the window of the Hotel and inside the Hotel, it also represents an introspective journey for the Magnum photographer, known for his documentary projects that often focus on what is “inside” rather than “outside.” Soth remarked, “I decided to keep Venice mostly in my imagination. The gondolas were right outside my window, but I stayed in my hotel. I made Room 303 at Hotel Danieli a kind of art studio to process the dream world outside my window.”
