Published by Damiani. Text by Luca Beatrice, Daniela Ferretti.
Since the mid-1990s, when he debuted his Agglomerati series, Florentine photographer Giacomo Costa (born 1970) has been creating large-format photographs that employ Hollywood blockbuster–style digital techniques to portray unreal, fantastical cityscapes straight out of science fiction.
In 2009 Damiani published The Chronicles of Time, with an introduction by Norman Foster. By turns historical and contemporary, real and imagined, the images in The Chronicles of Time could be the result of natural catastrophe or nuclear war. His latest monograph, A Helpful Guide to Nowhere, presents his latest fascinating, majestic and terrifying images of ominous yet nondidactic dystopias and cityscapes, focusing on work from the last ten years, with numerous previously unpublished images.
Florence-based photographer Giacomo Costa employs Hollywood-blockbuster-style digital techniques in his large-scale photographs, which reshape our collective idea of the metropolis through fantastic cityscapes straight out of science fiction. At turns historical and contemporary, real and imagined, the images in The Chronicles of Time could be the result of natural catastrophe or nuclear war. At the same time, they are so rich with meticulous detail and intricate perspective that they recall classical Florentine architect Antonio di Pietro Averlino's ideal city. An excellent introduction to Costa's work, this volume includes photographs from the past 12 years.
Giacomo Costa, born in 1970, dropped out of high school to devote himself to motocross while working as a mechanic. In the 1990s he set up a photography studio, concentrating mainly on portraiture until 1996, when he arrived at his current fusion of traditional photography and digital technologies.
Giacomo Costa: The Chronicles of Time