TERESA GIANNICO
Alphabet
Curated by Arianna Catania
Giannico’s research investigates photography’s ability to shape our perception of reality. Through the archive of images circulating online, the artist explores the way these images influence her own creative thinking and, more broadly, the collective processes through which identity and desire are constructed. The main body of works on display originates from the use of Google’s reverse image search: starting from an initial photograph, the artist entrusts the algorithm with the task of identifying similar images. From the results obtained, she selects and digitally cuts out fragments, which are then recomposed into collages of new subjects and new visual narratives. This process, inspired by the generative models of artificial intelligence, retains a strong authorial dimension and reflects on the possibilities of digital abstraction, as well as on the ways in which visual thought is constructed within the contemporary flow of images. The portraits at the centre of the exhibition also come from photographs found online, which are subsequently reworked until they acquire an almost painterly quality. Their evident standardisation led the artist to question the very concept of individual choice. From this dialogue with artificial intelligence, what emerges is a portrait of the author herself — more or less faithful to reality — in which the boundaries of authorship become ambiguous, leaving open the question of who the real author is: the artist or the algorithm.
BIO
Teresa Giannico (Bari, 1985) graduated in Fine Arts from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bari, specialising in Drawing and Painting, before gradually approaching photography through an interest in set design and theatre. In 2012, she moved to Milan, where she attended the Master’s programme in Photography and Visual Design at NABA. Since 2015, her work has been presented in international contexts such as Plat(t)form at Fotomuseum Winterthur, Circulation(s) in Paris, Fotopub Festival in Slovenia, Unseen Amsterdam and Photo Israel. She has also exhibited in institutions and spaces including CAMERA Torino, Fotohof Salzburg, Fundació Enric Miralles in Barcelona and Viasaterna Milano, where in 2019 she held her first solo exhibition, Kaleidos. In 2022, she won the VANNI #artistroom prize at Artissima; in 2023, she presented the solo exhibition Archives of Empathy. In 2024, she was selected for the VAF-Stiftung Prize, and in 2025 she was invited to the 18th Quadriennale di Roma.