From Father to Daughter, in the Name of Photography

BOCCONIAN LORENZA CASTELLI AND HER FATHER FABIO MANAGE MIA PHOTO FAIR, THE INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND MOVING IMAGE ART FAIR

A Bocconian, or better, almost two, are the driving force behind MIA Photo Fair, the international photography and moving image art fair to be held from 29 April to May 2 at The Mall, a polyfunctional space below the Diamond Tower in Porta Nuova, Milan.
 
Lorenza Castelli (pictured above by Angela Lo Priore), a Bocconi alumna with also a Master of Science degree at the Harvard Business School, is the Exhibition Director. Her father Fabio Castelli (pictured below by Gianluigi Di Napoli), a Bocconi nearly-graduate (he moved to the University of Padua for the last three exams) is Director and Founder.
 
In 2015, 22,000 visitors attended the fair. In 2016, 80 galleries from 12 different countries, 230 artists, 15 publishers, 20 independent artists will be featured. “When we began six years ago we didn’t do any market research. We didn’t have a business plan either”, says the founder. Mr. Castelli conceived the fair by merging his experience as a collector and his entrepreneurial culture developed in the steel industry. “We filled a void”, says Lorenza. “There were no similar fairs in Italy. Now photography plays a role between the languages of the contemporary art system”.
 
Steel was the sector of the Castelli family business, where Lorenza began to work. When the business was sold she worked as a controller at HDP Group and then moved into investment banking and corporate finance, and then to Value Partners, a consulting firm where she’s been for 12 years.
 
“My career path has been useful to acquire the skills necessary to manage a complex event and it activities, alchemies and balances”, Lorenza says. “In investment banking I’ve learnt to look at the big picture when facing change, that’s an everyday occurence at MIA Photo Fair”.
 
In the last ten years or so the photography and moving image market has significantly expanded: there’s a growing interest, rising prices do not discourage small collectors, new works are presented by professionals coming from the fashion and the photojournalism areas. During the fair, 70% of the works are sold for 1,500-8,000 euros. But there is still an obstacle to overcome. “Part of the Italian curatorial system disdains the market”, Fabio Castelli says. “It’s seen as a foreign body. Since the first MIA Fair edition in 2011 we have worked hard to reverse this attitude. We have involved the best professionals, we’ve organized cultural events, we’ve worked to provide answers to collectors on how prices are determined, photography being subject to multiple editions”.
 

by Claudio Todesco