EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival - Beneath the Surface

For the second year in a row, FUTURES Directors Menno Liauw and Salvatore Vitale have curated the EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival, an event that brings together the city’s leading art institutions with the support of the City of Turin. With the FUTURES vision more deeply embedded than ever, this edition builds on last year’s theme, New Landscapes, and takes it even further.

The 2025 edition of EXPOSED—Beneath the Surface—explores how the physical world connects to the forces that shape our lives. Materials are not just static objects; they shift and evolve, responding to systems like nature, politics, and technology. By examining how materials change, we uncover the stories they carry about power, control, and resistance. In a world that often feels abstract and overwhelming, paying attention to the physical world helps us make sense of these forces and their impact on us.

“The EXPOSED 2025 program is highly diverse, but all projects share a common thread: they are deeply intertwined with invisible forces that influence the tangible world.” — EXPOSED Artistic Director Menno Liauw

A key highlight of the festival is Photomatch, an innovative portfolio review format created by Fotofestiwal. This approach reimagines traditional portfolio reviews by focusing on open networking and public presentations. Free of charge and based on a democratic model, Photomatch allows artists and experts to share experiences and foster meaningful connections through one-on-one meetings.

The festival features FUTURES artists, including Valeria Cherchi, Olga Cafiero, Sheng-Wen Lo, and Silvia Rosi:

• Valeria Cherchi’s RE:Birth addresses the theme of obstetric and gynecological violence and the resulting trauma, examining its individual, social, and political dimensions.
  
  
• Olga Cafiero’s Cultus Langarum explores the history and oenological culture of the Langhe of Barolo, investigating the essential tension between the working world and environmental sustainability.
  
  
• Sheng-Wen Lo’s Not Bad Intentions: Attempts to Coexist examines the interactions between human and nonhuman worlds, challenging anthropocentric views with critical discussions on sustainability.
  
  
• Silvia Rosi’s Disintegrata investigates the link between photography, memory, and the diaspora, narrating a story of family mobility.
  
  

With its curatorial vision and commitment to fostering meaningful dialogue, EXPOSED is not only a festival but also an engine of new ideas—a place where artistic visions and critical reflections transcend geographical boundaries to address the challenges of our time with a creative and inclusive perspective.

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