A Day with Oliviero Toscani

Creativity has to be visionary, subversive, disturbing. It must be innovative. It must drive ideas and concepts. It has to question stereotypes and models rooted in time.

Oliviero Toscani

Creative. Combattive. Conceptual. Controversal. On April 2, 2008 the true colors of renowned photographer and advertiser Oliviero Toscani came through loud and clear as he challenged the mindsets of SUF students and the Florentine public in an eventful day which included a press conference, lunch with students, a critique of student art work, a lecture open to the public and the inauguration of the exhibit “Selected works by OlivieroToscani.” And from start to finish, the day was an unqualified success.

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At 11:30am a select group of journalists and SUF studio art students, staff, and faculty members convened in the SUF Art Gallery in the midst of Toscani’s exhibition panels on the death penalty for a press conference. SU Florence Director Barbara Deimling stated candidly that SU Florence is not a ‘finishing school,’ where students can sit comfortably and study about Italy; rather, the SUF program is purposefully structured so as to create a certain tension, and thus, heightened awareness of the experience of engaging with the host culture. “The more Oliviero Toscani makes us uncomfortable, rises us to action by violating our thresholds of the expected with his colors, faces, challenges, and tragedies—politics not in the abstract, but in the faces pinioned between life and death—the more welcome he is at any institution that values learning not as an end, but as a beginning.” Toscani spoke briefly on his work as a whole, then focused on the death penalty panels and the how and why they came about, stating categorically that they are, to him, the most important work he has ever done.

At 1pm the entire group adjourned to the Gallery terrace for a catered lunch, where students had the rare opportunity to sit and converse with Toscani about art and its function.

At 3pm the focus shifted to studio arts, where for two hours Toscani relentlessly examined and critiqued a selection of SUF student artwork ranging from photography to printmaking to painting to sculpture to video.

He rapidly fired questions to the students, intensely pushing, poking, and prodding until their answers were stripped of any excess and the concept behind each creative choice came forth. Said printmaker/painter Jessica Ginsberg, from SU VPA, “The most important part about the Toscani critique was the way we as artists were put on the spot—I think many of us are not used to that. In this critique we were being challenged to justify what we were doing, even if we didn't agree with what was being said. It was a taste of what one must deal with in the world—in art or in business or in teaching there will always be challenges, and people who disagree with you. You have to either be open to what they are saying and open to change, or you have to be strong and stand by your work.”

Nerves stretched and emotions ran high. Samantha Harmon, also from SU VPA, said that as she spoke to Toscani about her miniature sculptures she was “nervous, so nervous, yet it was extremely valuable to hear honest and off-the-cuff criticism from someone who had absolutely no personal relationship with you.”

At 6pm the focus shifted yet again, off-campus to the Ospedale degli Innocenti as Toscani delivered a thought-provoking lecture entitled Art in the Service of Power: Ethics and Social Responsibility in Advertising, which completely captivated the attention of over 500 people. During a fascinating overview of his career and work spanning over thirty years, Toscani led up to his personal approach to communication, where no subject is taboo and where creativity leads inescapably to dialogue and, hopefully, to the courage to change for the better. “The day that we are really civilized is the day that no image will have the power to shock us," said Toscani. "Today, we like to look in the rear view mirror because we already know what we will see. It takes courage to look ahead.”

The conference was broadcast live from SUF’s website, with so many viewers that the bandwidth maxed out and couldn’t accommodate all the requests.

Finally, at 8pm the exhibition A Selection of Work by Olivier Toscani was inaugurated at the SUF Art Gallery, with attendance by an enthusiastic and numerous crowd of over 200 people. Conversation flowed and focused on the day’s events, from the press conference to the critique of the student artwork to the conference and the exhibition, and on to the purpose of art and communication.

Madeleine Lux, (SU Arts & Sciences), commented, “I admire what Toscani said in his lecture: that the point of art is to bring us somewhere, mentally, that we wouldn’t have gone on our own. In the work he creates, his goal is to shake people up, to stir up thought and conversation. This lecture and exhibit really opened my eyes about the power of images.”

Says Deimling, “The day went beyond my expectations, and most certainly Toscani's directness, availability and even gentility were striking. He gave a thought-provoking and stimulating message on creativity, courage, the arts and its role, and a world without any limitations on communication.”