The exhibition featured a collection of large-format photographic prints of abandoned factories and warehouses, most of them located in Northern Italy, whose ponderous and at the same time fragile beauty - which Lyle Roblin captures with the eye of a poet - arouses in the viewer ever-novel feelings and emotions.

The images included in the collection capture the suspended life of factories which, depite having been abandoned for decades, still display the vestiges of a life suddenly interrupted, so to speak, in mid-stride: tools hang in perfect order on a bench, a plastic plant continues to embellish an abandoned desk, a pin-up smiles from a yellowed calendar. Time - the great destroyer - has wrought havoc on the buildings and their contents, but has not managed to kill their beauty. Colours shine as vivid as ever, with a vibrant vitality that is matched by the resurgence of nature from the concrete, featured in several of the images.

Another group of pictures rely on the suggestiveness of black-and-white to convey the desperate resistance of massive industrial buildings minutes before they are taken down. The photographs convey a deeply felt sensitivity which verges on the religious, with an intensity which instantly communicates to the viewer emotions unknown before.

The large format chosen for the exhibition enhances the powerfulness of the images. The solid board on which they are mounted, the superb quality of the printing and the innovatiness of the finish make these panels unique works of art.

La vita sospesa delle cose:

- Milan - Società Umanitaria, Milano, via Daverio, 7 - May 2008
- Argenta (Ferrara) from October 24th to November 9th
- Milan - Nhow Hotel via Tortona -From november 2009 to March 2010
- Milan - Boscolo Exedra Hotel - From April 2010 to May 2010. In collaboration with Artnetworth

Metamorphosis - Photographs along the Road of Wool

Fabbrica della Ruota - Biella - From May 2008 to December 2008
Moncalieri Castello Reale - From October 2009 to December 2010

The project
Metamorphosis is the result of the dialectic relationship between the Canadian photographer Lyle Roblin and DocBi, who have joined forces to develop a project which combines artistic inspiration and documentary intent in journey - both real and metaphorical - through the traditional sites of the Biella wool industry. The Road of Wool, which runs from Biella to Borgosesia through a territory whose history is closely intertwined with that of the wool industry, is a particularly interesting subject from a socio-historical point of view, not only by virtue of the impact that the factories have had on the development of the area, but also as a testimony of the continuous evolution of the wool industry, which has proved capable of extraordinary versatility even while remaining firmly attached to its roots.

The territories along the Road of Wool - namely, the Valsessera and Strona valleys - have a century-old wool manufactory tradition. In the mountain villages of Pettinengo, Mosso, Trivero and Portula the domestic production of woollen textiles by independent weavers and small merchant-entrepreneurs dates back to the Middle Ages. It was only in the early nineteenth century, however, that development on an industrial scale began, as the oldest families of wool manufacturers transferred their activities to the bottom of the valleys so as to better exploit the motor power of the water, setting up factories along the Strona, Sessera and Ponzone rivers and their smaller tributaries. The first factories were established in buildings that had been originally built for other purposes - mills, foundries and paper mills. The first purpose-built textile factories did not start to be erected until the second half of the century, but the development was such that at the beginning of the twentieth century the area counted dozens of wool factories which employed thousands of workers, one of the highest industrial concentrations in Italy. In the following decades the evolution of the production processes, together with economic and geo-political changes, strongly impacted on the sector, making it necessary for the textile industry as a whole to adapt to new and different conditions - a challenge which the Biella wool manufactory industry was able to meet through a huge adaptation effort. Of the dozens of factories built in the eighteenth century, many have been destroyed by fire or floods, while others have been taken down and replaced with new ones. Some, however, still maintain at least part of the original structures, representing therefore an important aspect of the Biella historical and cultural heritage which deserves to be preserved as a testimony of the evolution of the wool textile industry as a whole.

The metamorphosis the photographs aim to portray, therefore, is the one pursued - rather than passively accepted - by the Biella wool industry over the last few decades. This metamorphosis has been both necessary, being the direct consequence of an increasingly globalised marketplace in which patterns of production and consumption are constantly evolving, and at the same time voluntary and deliberate, resulting from a growing awareness on the part of the key players in the Biella wool industry of the crucial role the sector continues to play in the region. It is in this light that the involvement with the arts of the Zegna and Pistoletto Foundations should be interpreted: many of their projects feature large-scale installations set against the background of the industrial landscape, which is transformed into a work of art. And it is in the same light that Metamorphosis should be read, as a project which aims to provide not only a documentary, but also an artistic interpretation of the metamorphoses undergone by the Biella textile industry in its century-old history.

A synchronic perspective: the past in the present

If evolution and change are an integral part of both personal and social history and, as such, usually have a psychological dimension (especially for those who have a historical memory of the change), seeing the traces of the past in the present is much harder, particularly where these traces are multiple and stratified. Familiarity and ordinariness tend to erase the awareness of the complexity of history, which can often only be recovered in a diachronic perspective thanks to the distancing effect of a time gap that makes it possible to compare the past with the present. Metamorphosis, though, adopts a deliberately synchronic perspective. It is not change per se which is the topic of the project, but rather its manifestation in everyday life, the way in which the present bears the traces of the past, and the insights this gives into the evolution of a place and of its people. Not an easy feat to accomplish precisely because of this immanence of the past in the present - an immanence which blurs boundaries and identities, and which Lyle Roblin has succeeded in capturing and representing thanks to his ability to look at the Road of Wool with eyes at the same time ingenuous and audacious, exploring perspectives never seen before and capturing images as fresh as they are intense.

"What I find fascinating about the Biella industrial landscape is its relationship with the territory and the communities which live in it," says Lyle Roblin. "The chimneys of the old plants rising by the side of rivers against the background of the woods and the mountains are a tangible sign of the centrality of the factories in the life of the residents. To me they are like contemporary cathedrals devoted to the cult of work. In the severity of their architecture, characterised by clean lines and simple materials - brick, metal, stone - they evoke an almost religious feeling of community life which lingers on even today, in spite of the economic and social changes which have happened since they were built. Their beauty is the result of the gradual and imperceptible accumulation, over the years, of work and dedication, labour and hope, wealth and hard times. The Road of Wool is a life journey in which the collective history of the people from these places is inscribed."

"Even though I talked extensively about the project with Giovanni Vachino, and, occasionally, with other local experts," continues Roblin, "I did not want to find out a lot about the history of the Biella area until I had finished taking the pictures, as I was concerned that this would distort my vision, which I wanted to be free of preconceptions. For the same reason I decided not to look at pictures of the area taken by other photographers. I wanted to give my own interpretation of what I saw. Obviously, this does not mean that my approach was entirely neutral: like everybody, I am influenced by my past experiences and preconceived opinions, which include a vision of Italy and of its industrialisation filtered through the lens of my cultural diversity. And, of course, my pictures are influenced by the works of innumerable artists and photographers who have come before me, and which I have seen at various stages in my life. Nobody is completely neutral, or completely original. Each of us, however, is unique. What I tried to do is give a personal interpretation of a history which did not belong to me, but which I have learnt to know and appreciate."

From documentation to artistic transfiguration

If the concept of metamorphosis is central to the theme of the exhibition, it is even more crucial for understanding Lyle Roblin's approach to photography. "When I take a picture," says Roblin, "I always try to reproduce exactly what I have seen. To me it is crucial that I should represent reality exactly as it is: I never manipulate my pictures or their subjects - everything is exactly as it appeared to my eyes. At the same time, though, photography transfigures reality, as it affords a view of those aspects which everyday experience tends to obliterate. Through photography, reality is metamorphosed into spiritual essence, the nitty-gritty of everyday life into something ideal. For me, this is the real purpose of all artistic endeavours - a purpose which I have constantly pursued in all my projects."

Lyle Roblin's ability to transform reality into art is particularly evident in his still-lifes. The pictures he captures in abandoned buildings - crumbling walls, rusted machinery, forgotten mannequins - should not be interpreted as icons of decadence, but rather as examples of how time is not only the great destroyer, but also a means through which everyday things become precious artifacts endowed with a transcendent beauty. As in Shakespeare's The Tempest, which has inspired the title, through time, material reality suffers "a sea change" - a change which transforms the flesh and blood of everyday toil into a work of art.

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are corals made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them - ding-dong, bell