Frontiere di Sabbia exhibition
Giacomo Bastianelli is an Italian graphic designer known for his visual communication projects in artistic and cultural contexts. He collaborated with the Master program in Photography at ECAL to design the signage for the exhibition Frontiere di Sabbia, held at Ex Saceba in Morbio Inferiore, Ticino, in collaboration with the Biennale dell’Immagine di Chiasso.
The exhibition features works by students from ECAL’s Master in Photography. The collection of projects was created using drones—aircraft originally developed for warfare that have since been transformed into popular civilian forms. In just a few years, drones have undergone rapid technological advancements and achieved widespread commercial success. These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used for various purposes—recreational and professional, political and subversive—and can easily be purchased and controlled remotely, like a video game. However, the benefits of civilian drones are paired with negative consequences: blurred lines between reality and simulation, privacy violations, and their use in illegal or violent actions.
From a photographic perspective, drones provide infinite vantage points for exceptional, vertical, and total views. Equipped with omnidirectional sensors, they autonomously follow programmed routes, surveilling both land and people. The Frontiere di Sabbia exhibition, presented in the former Saceba building—a former cement factory located a few kilometers from the border—recalls the history of this site, once used to produce materials for constructing homes, bridges, highways, as well as walls and barriers. By diverting pre-defined and automated paths, a new generation of image creators questions our perception of boundaries: human, political, and technological.
For the visual identity of this exhibition, Bastianelli utilized Slussen Stencil, designed by Hugo Jourdan from Blaze Type, bringing a distinctive aesthetic to the project. His minimalist and conceptual approach, coupled with the unique typography, enhances the exhibition’s narrative and visitor experience.
