Luisa Lambri is an Italian artist whose ephemeral photographs stand in clear contrast to the established practice of architectural photography which has traditionally focused its attention on the exteriors of buildings. She travels the world photographing architectural interiors, often spending extended periods of time experiencing the buildings before she begins shooting. Her images give a sense of experience of being in the space as her photographs not only capture the physical topology of these structures but elaborate on the profound psychological and emotional responses they elicit from their inhabitants. She primarily photographs private houses, focusing on the view from the inside to the outside thereby establishing a physical and conceptual position for herself and the viewer. These delicately crafted images oscillate between objective representations of space and Lambri’s perceptions and reactions.
Luisa Lambri was born in Como, Italy in 1969 and not formally trained as a photographer or filmmaker, she studied at the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Milan and received her PhD from the Department of Visual Arts, Music and Theater, University of Bologna, where she wrote her thesis on the work of Cindy Sherman.
Lambri utilizes traditional as well as new digital printing techniques to move her photographs beyond pure documentation. The photographs reference minimalism and abstract painting, evoking moments of transcendence. Lambri’s selective framing and editing of the images pay homage to the Modernist aesthetic and establish an atmosphere that transcends the immediate function of the structures. The work realizes its full meaning when it is installed in a new space and in so doing establishes a new relationship between the viewer, the object and the space.
Her work has been included in two Venice Biennales: dAPERTutto, the 48th International Art Exposition in 1999, for which the Italian Pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion, and Dreams and Conflicts: The Dictatorship of the Viewer, the 50th International Art Exposition in 2003. Her one-person exhibitions have been presented internationally at venues including the Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; The Menil Collection, Houston, TX; the Palazzo Re Rebaudengo, Guarene d’Alba, Italy and the Hammer Museum of Art in Los Angeles. Forum 57: Luisa Lambri and Ernesto Netowas presented at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh 2006. Lambri’s work has been included in thematic exhibitions including Italics: Italian Art between Tradition and Revolution, 1968-2008, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; 31 Panorama of Brazilian Art, Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the Yale School of Architecture, New Haven; The Shapes of Space, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Grand Promenade, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece; Vanishing Point, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus; Living Inside the Grid, New Museum, New York; and Yesterday Begins Tomorrow: Ideals, Dreams and the Contemporary Awakening, Center for Curatorial Studies Museum, Bard College, New York.
Luisa Lambri currently lives and works in Los Angeles.
Year | Exhibition Title | Gallery/Museum | Solo/Group |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age | Thomas Dane Gallery, London, UK | Group |
2014 | de Marseillaise: Fifteen Years of Collecting | Huis Marseille, Museum of Photography, Amsterdam, the Netherlands | Group |
2014 | Soft Matter | WALLSPACE Gallery, New York, NY | Group |
2013 | Luisa Lambri | Studio Guenzani, Milan, Italy | Solo |
2013 | At the Window: The Photographer‘s View | J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles | Group |
2013 | Lens Drawings | Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris | Group |
2013 | A Window on the World | Fondation de l‘Hermitage, Lausanne | Group |
2013 | Moving | Carré d‘Art, Nimes | Group |
2013 | Prelude: The Insides are on the Outside | Casa de Vidro, Sao Paulo | Group |
2013 | CONCRETE – Photography and Architecture | Fotomuseum Winterthur | Group |
2013 | The Ghost of Architecture: Recent and Promised Gifts | Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA | Group |
2013 | Openness | Museé du Louvre, Paris | Group |
2013 | When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes | Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit | Group |
2013 | Looking Out and Looking In: A Selection of Contemporary Photography | Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo | Group |
2012 | Portrait | Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston | Solo |
2012 | Luisa Lambri | Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
2012 | Luisa Lambri | West Gallery, Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles | Solo |
2012 | Lost Line: Contemporary Art from the Collection | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles | Group |
2012 | A Window on the World | Museo Cantonale d‘Arte, Lugano | Group |
2012 | When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes | Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco | Group |
2012 | Reactivation | 9th Shanghai Biennale | Group |
2011 | Luisa Lambri: Certain Variables | Luhring Augustine, New York | Solo |
2011 | Luisa Lambri: Interiors | Ivorypress Art + Books Space, Madrid, Spain | Solo |
2011 | Envisioning Buildings: Reflecting Architecture in Contemporary Art Photography | MAK, Vienna, Austria, | Group |
2011 | En obras. Coleção Teixeira de Freitas | Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Tenerife, Spain | Group |
2011 | Architectural Environments for Tomorrow - New Spatial Practices in Architecture and Art | Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo | Group |
2011 | About a house | Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo | Group |
2011 | Han Nefkens - 10 Years of Patronage | Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam | Group |
2011 | Videowatercolors: Carel Balth among his contemporaries | Henry Art Gallery, Seattle | Group |
2011 | TRA.Edge of Becoming | Palazzo Fortuny Museum, Venice, Italy | Group |
2011 | Eye Wonder: Photography from the Bank of America Collection | National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington | Group |
2011 | January White Sale: Curated by Beth Rudin Dewoody | Loretta Howard Gallery, New York | Group |
2010 | Being There | The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles | Solo |
2010 | Luisa Lambri | Thomas Dane Gallery, London | Solo |
2010 | 25 or 30 Years Gallery: Photography | Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam | Group |
2010 | Desire | The Blanton Museum of Art, Austin | Group |
2010 | El Gabinete Blanco | La Coleccion Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico | Group |
2010 | Haunted: Contemporary Photography, Video, Performance | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York | Group |
2010 | Il museo privato | Galleria d‘Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo | Group |
2010 | Image. Architecture. Now | Julius Shulman Institute, Woodbury University, Los Angeles | Group |
2010 | Into the Belly of a Dove | Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico | Group |
2010 | Inside Out: Photography after Form? | Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, Miami, FL | Group |
2010 | Luisa Lambri, Hellen van Meene, Thomas Ruff | Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo | Group |
2010 | People meet in Architecture - 12th International Architecture Exhibition | Venice, Italy | Group |
2010 | The Library of Babel - In and Out of Place | Zabludowicz Collection, London | Group |
2010 | The Simulation of Chaos. Contemporary Italian Art | Museo Arte Contemporaneo San Luis Potosi Zona Centro C.P. | Group |
2010 | Summer Loves | Huis Marseille, Museum fir Photography, Amsterdam | Group |
2010 | Twenty Five | Luhring Augustine, New York | Group |
2010 | Let‘s Talk About Houses: When Art Speaks Architecture | Lisbon Architecture Triennale, Museu do Chiado, Lisbon | Group |
2009 | Luisa Lambri | Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo | Solo |
2009 | Luisa Lambri | Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam | Solo |
2009 | Luisa Lambri | Gallery 32, Embassy of Brazil, London | Solo |
2009 | Luisa Lambri | Fundación RAC, Pontevedra | Solo |
2009 | Photographs | Luhring Augustine, New York | Solo |
2009 | Collecting History: Highlighting Recent Acquisitions | Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles | Group |
2009 | Elements of Photography | Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago | Group |
2009 | Italics: Italian Art between Tradition and Revolution, 1968-2008 | Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago | Group |
2009 | Les enfants terribles | Coleccion Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico | Group |
2009 | Panorama da Arte Brasileira | Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo | Group |
2009 | Private Universes | Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas | Group |
2009 | Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture | Mills College Art Museum, Oakland | Group |
2009 | Vortexhibition Polyphonica | Henry Art Gallery, Seattle | Group |
2008 | Luisa Lambri | Studio Guenzani, Milan, Italy | Solo |
2008 | Brasil: desFocos [o olho de fora] | Paço das Artes, São Paulo, Brazil | Group |
2008 | Building Pictures | Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL | Group |
2008 | Focus on Contemporary Italian Art | Museo d‘Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna, Italy | Group |
2008 | Inside Architecture: Selections from the Permanent Collection | MOCA Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2008 | Italics: Arte Italiana tra Tradizione e Rivoluzione 1968-2008 | Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy | Group |
2008 | Italics: Arte Italiana tra Tradizione e Rivoluzione 1968-2008 | Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL | Group |
2008 | Made Up | Liverpool Biennial, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK | Group |
2008 | Once is Nothing | Brussels Biennial, Brussels, Belgium | Group |
2008 | Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture | The Art + Architecture Gallery, Yale School of Architecture, New Haven, CT | Group |
2008 | Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture | The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT | Group |
2008 | Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture | Mills College Art Museum, Oakland | Group |
2008 | REMIX Inner Space: Photography from the Collection | Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY | Group |
2007 | Front Room: Luisa Lambri | Baltimore Museum of Art, curated by Darsie Alexander, Baltimore, MD | Solo |
2007 | Luisa Lambri | Thomas Dane, London, UK | Solo |
2007 | Group Show | Thomas Dane Gallery, London, UK | Group |
2007 | A Proposal | De La War Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, UK | Group |
2007 | Brasil: desFocos [o olho de fora] | Centro Cultural Banco Do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Group |
2007 | The Shapes of Space | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY | Group |
2007 | MCA EXPOSED: Defining Moments in Photography, 1967-2007 | Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL | Group |
2007 | Parts and the Whole | Fundacio‘ Foto Colectania, Barcelona, Spain | Group |
2007 | It Starts From Here | De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, UK | Group |
2007 | Camera con vista. Arte e interni in Italia dal 1900 al 2000 | Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy | Group |
2007 | Pure (on the idea of Pure, White and Clarity) | Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY | Group |
2007 | Spectacular City | NRW-Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft, Düsseldorf, Germany | Group |
2007 | Luisa Lambri, Ann Lislegaard and Nasreen Mohammedi | Lunds Konsthall, Sweden | Group |
2006 | Luisa Lambri | Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, Japan | Solo |
2006 | Forum 57: Luisa Lambri and Ernesto Neto | Forum Gallery, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA | Solo |
2006 | Luisa Lambri | Marc Foxx, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
2006 | Luisa Lambri | Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil | Solo |
2006 | Photographs | Luhring Augustine, New York | Solo |
2006 | Guggenheim Pictures: A Conceptual Portfolio | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY | Group |
2006 | Espaço Aberto - Espaço Fechado: sites for sculpture in modern Brasil | Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK | Group |
2006 | La terra e le nuvole: Fotografiaitaliana da Ghirri a offi | Unicredit Private Banking, Milan, Italy | Group |
2006 | Light-Art: Mystic Crystal Revelation | Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA | Group |
2006 | New Landscapes – Italienische Fotokunst Sammlung der UniCredit Group | HVB Kunst Palais, Munich, Germany | Group |
2006 | Open House | INHOTIM Centro de Arte Contemporanea, Minas Girais, Brazil | Group |
2006 | Spectacular City | Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam, Netherlands | Group |
2006 | The Grand Promenade | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece | Group |
2006 | Whisper Not - A Different Dimension of Seeing | Huis Marseille, Foundation for Photography, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Group |
2005 | Luisa Lambri | Studio Guenzani, Milan, Italy | Solo |
2005 | Luisa Lambri | Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Solo |
2005 | Luisa Lambri | Marc Foxx, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
2005 | Bidibidobidiboo: Opere della Collezione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo per i dieci anni della Fondazione | Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy | Group |
2005 | Generations of Art | Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Italy | Group |
2005 | La dolce crisi | Villa Manin Centro d'Arte Contemporanea, Passariano Codroipo, Italy | Group |
2005 | New Photography | Photo-London, Burlington Gardens, London, UK | Group |
2005 | Principles of Construction? | Kunsthalle Andratx, Mallorca, Spain | Group |
2005 | Romance (a novel) | Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal | Group |
2005 | SANAA | 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan | Group |
2005 | Selection from the Hara Museum‘s Permanent Collection | Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan | Group |
2005 | Some trees | Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, Germany | Group |
2005 | Some trees | SeARCH, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Group |
2005 | Some trees | Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, Germany | Group |
2005 | The Fluidity of Time: Selections from the MCA Collection | Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL | Group |
2005 | Vanishing Point | Wexner Center for the Arts at the Belmont Buildings, Columbus, OH | Group |
2005 | XIV Quadriennale di Roma | Galleria Nazionale d‘Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy | Group |
2004 | Locations | The Menil Collection, Houston, TX | Solo |
2004 | Luisa Lambri | Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam | Solo |
2004 | From Within | Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil | Solo |
2004 | Arti & Architettura 1900-2000 | Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, Italy | Group |
2004 | Artiste italiane nel ventesimo secolo | Palazzo Mediceo di Seravezza, Seravezza, Italy | Group |
2004 | Fiction: Truth in Photography and Painting | Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK | Group |
2004 | Fragmentos e souvenirs paulistanos, Vol. I | Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil | Group |
2004 | Metamorph, 9. Biennale Internazionale di Architettura | Venice, Italy | Group |
2004 | Sistemi Individuali | Museo Archeologico Provinciale, Potenza, Italy | Group |
2003 | Luisa Lambri | Studio Guenzani, Milan, Italy | Solo |
2003 | Elephant Juice (Sexo entre amigos) | Los Manantiales, Xochimilco, Mexico | Group |
2003 | A Nova Geometria | Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil | Group |
2003 | Lei. Donne nelle collezioni italiane | Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy | Group |
2003 | Game Over | Grimm Rosenfeld, Munich, Germany | Group |
2003 | Summer | Marc Foxx, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2003 | Dreams and Conflicts: The Viewer's Dictatorship | 50 Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte, Venice, Italy | Group |
2003 | Form Specific | Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia | Group |
2003 | Trasparente | Museo Nazlonale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, Rome, Italy | Group |
2003 | Living Inside the Grid | New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY | Group |
2003 | Imaxinando espacios, recreando realidades | Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain | Group |
2003 | Urban Utopias. Urban Realities | Mestna Galerlja, Nova Gorica, Slovenia | Group |
2002 | Luisa Lambri | Marc Foxx, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
2002 | Luisa Lambri | Italian Heritage Culture Foundation, Los Angeles, CA | Solo |
2002 | Final Projects | MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Schindler House, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2002 | Fictions: New Narratives in Contemporary Photography and Video | Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA | Group |
2002 | Steeping. Dreaming, Awakening | Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Sakado, Japan | Group |
2002 | Reverberator | Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK. Curated by Michael Archer | Group |
2002 | The Secret of the Shadow—Light and Shadow in Architecture | Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt | Group |
2001 | Luisa Lambri | Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, Japan | Solo |
2001 | Luisa Lambri | Rice Gallery by G2, Tokyo, Japan | Solo |
2001 | Luisa Lambri | Palazzo Re Rebaudengo, Guarene d'Alba, Italy | Solo |
2001 | International Artists' Studio Programme in Sweden | Stockholm, Sweden | Solo |
2001 | Luisa Lambri | Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Germany | Solo |
2001 | The Escape, Tirana Biennale 1 | National Gallery, Tirana | Group |
2001 | Self-Esteem | Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania | Group |
2001 | Strategies against Architecture | Fondazione Teseco per I'Arte, Pisa, Italy | Group |
2001 | Boom! Espresso: Arte oggi in Italia | Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence, Italy | Group |
2001 | Liminal, Minimal, Nominal: Architectural Traces | John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK | Group |
2001 | Milano Europa 2000 | Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy | Group |
2001 | Chain of Visions: Family, Politics, and Religion in the Last Generation of Italian Contemporary Art | Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo | Group |
2001 | Mutamenti e analogie. Spazi contemporaries a Bolzano e altrove | Centro Culturale Trevi, Bolzano, Italy | Group |
2001 | Strategien. Fotokunst der 90er Jahre aus der Sammlung Sandretto Re Rebaudengo | Kunsthalle, Kiel, Germany | Group |
2001 | Strategien. Fotokunst der 90er Jahre aus der Sammlung Sandretto Re Rebaudengo | Museion, Museo d'Arte Moderna, Bolzano, Italy | Group |
2001 | Strategien. Fotokunst der 90er Jahre aus der Sammlung Sandretto Re Rebaudengo | Rupertinum, Salzburg, Germany | Group |
2001 | Magic and Loss: Contemporary Italian Video | Biennal of Moving Images, LUX Center, London, UK | Group |
2001 | Magic and Loss: Contemporary Italian Video | Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania | Group |
2001 | Playing amongst the Ruins | Royal College of Art Galleries, London, UK | Group |
2001 | Dinamiche della vita e dell'arte | Museo d'Arte Modema e Contemporanea, Bergamo, Italy | Group |
2000 | Luisa Lambri | Studio Guenzani, Milan, Italy | Solo |
2000 | Luisa Lambri | Kettle's Yard, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK | Solo |
2000 | Luisa Lambri | Fotogalleriet, Oslo, Norway | Solo |
2000 | Contemporary Photography II: Anti-Memory | Yokohama Museum of Modern Art, Yokohama, Japan | Group |
2000 | La Jeune Scene Artistique Italienne (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo), Domaine de Kerguehennec | Centre d'Art Contemporain, Bignan, France | Group |
2000 | Recent Acquisitions | Palazzo Re Rebaudengo, Guarene d'Alba, Italy | Group |
2000 | Waiting | Mjellby Art Center, Halmstadt, Denmark | Group |
2000 | Group Show | Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, Japan | Group |
2000 | Future Identities: Reflections from a Collection | Sala de Exposiciones del Canal de Isabel II, Madrid, Spain | Group |
1999 | Luisa Lambri | Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania | Solo |
1999 | Luisa Lambri | Institute of Visual Arts, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI | Solo |
1999 | Luisa Lambri | Studio Barbieri, Venice, Italy | Solo |
1999 | Luisa Lambri | Blind Room, Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland | Solo |
1999 | Paesaggi invisibili | Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena, Italy | Group |
1999 | dAPERTutto | 48. Esposizione Internazionale d‘Arte, Venice, Italy | Group |
1999 | Clues | Netherlands Media Art Institute, Monte Video TBA, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Group |
1999 | Sub-Continental Architecture | Nature Morte, New Delhi, India | Group |
1998 | Gel | D'Amelio Terras. New York, NY | Group |
1998 | 1968-1998. Fotografia e Arte in Italia | Galleria Civica, Palazzo Santa Margherita, Modena, Italy | Group |
1998 | Yesterday Begins Tomorrow: Ideals, Dreams and the Contemporary Awakening | Center for Curatorial Studies Museum, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York | Group |
1998 | Le arti delta fotografia | Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Varese, Italy | Group |
1998 | Spectacular Optical | Thread Waxing Space, New York, NY | Group |
1998 | Spectacular Optical | Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL | Group |
1998 | Spectacular Optical | CU Art Galleries, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO | Group |
1997 | Che cosa sono le nuvole? Appunti italiani per una collezione | Palazzo Re Rebaudengo, Guarene d'Alba, Italy | Group |
1997 | Vertigo | Galleria Emi Fontana, Milan, Italy | Group |
1997 | Fotografia italiana per una collezione (Sandretto Re Rebaudengo) | Fondazione Italiana per la Fotografia, Museo della Fotografia Storica e Contemporanea, Turin, Italy | Group |
1997 | Romantica, VII Biennale Internazionale di Fotografia | Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, Italy | Group |
1997 | Camera | Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland | Group |
1996 | Luisa Lambri | Galleria Galliani, Genoa, Italy | Solo |
1996 | Partito preso | Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy | Group |
1996 | Passaggi. Fotografia nell'arte Contemporanea italiana | Fondazione Sandretto re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy | Group |
1996 | Ultime Generazioni | XII Quadriennale d'Arte, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy | Group |
1996 | A Month on the Lake, Advanced Course in Visual Arts | ex chiesa di San Francesco, Como, Italy | Group |
1996 | L‘ Evidence | Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland | Group |