Giacomo Costa: A helpful guide to nowhere

Futuristic megalopolises, post-atomic sludge, urban ruins. These have been the subjects of Giacomo Costa’s work since the early Agglomerati series with which he made his debut in the world of art in 1996. Since then all Costa’s works have contributed to an imagery that uses the fascination of landscapes and their undeniably repellent beauty to reflect on the effects of human actions on the planet we live on. With his work, Costa does not offer us solutions or answers, but uses his ability to build fascinating and terrifying images to generate a restless state that encourages us to ask questions. Neither he nor any one of us has the answers; we must find them together. Hoping they take us in the right direction. Giacomo Costa’s research initially began with the study of photography before moving gradually in a direction that has lost all contact with traditional technique, employing sophisticated digital techniques borrowed from the world of cinema. The new book, A helpful guide to nowhere, starts again from the beginning of Costa’s work, focusing on the last ten years with many previously unseen and unpublished images.