Marco Zanta was born in Treviso on 1st September 1962 and started his career in photography in the 1980s working with the critics Paolo Costantini and Italo Zannier. Zanta’s research concentrates on how to represent urban spaces, and focuses attention on architecture and industrial spaces. He has always taught as well as exhibited, and has collaborated with a number of universities. Between 2006-2011 he was a lecturer in Photography at IUAV University in Venice, teaching on the claVES course in the Faculty of Visual Arts and on the claDIS course in the Faculty of Art and Design. He has also worked with a number of architecture firms, contributing various monographs for firms such as John Pawson Studio, Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Alberto Campo Baeza, MZC+, Sybarite, Boris Podrecca, Tadao Ando, Studiomas, Modus Architects. Zanta’s research has also led to a number of publications on the History of Photography and the History of Architecture. In addition, he has published a range of monographs including Red Noise/Rumore Rosso (Charta, 2000), UrbanEurope (Contrasto, 2008) and It’s all one song (Hartmann Books, 2022). Marco’s images are on show in a number of galleries and international art institutes including La Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai, the Fondazione Forma in Milan, the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal, l’Espace Contretype in Bruxelles, MAST in Bologna, the Triennale in Milan, and La Maison de l’Architecture in Marseille. He has also exhibited at the Biennale in Venice on a number of occasions. Marco Zanta was further awarded the Mosaique Prize by the Centre national de l’audiovisuel (CNA) in Luxembourg. His works also feature in prestigious private and public collections including the Collezione Unicredit in Milan, the CCA in Montreal, the Fondazione Forma in Milan, the Musée de la Photographie in Charleroi, the MAXXI Architettura in Rome and the Fondo Fotografia Europea in Reggio Emilia.
Public campaigns
Abitare sociale, un’indagine fotografica per Bologna, Urban Center, Bologna, 2016
In Principio, Città Invisibili, Porto Viro, 2015
Sin_tesis, SIFest, Savignano, 2009
Storie Urbane, Reggio Emilia, 2006
Sguardi Fotografici, Poste Italiane, Milano, 2005
Il Paesaggio Tradito, Milano, 2005
Sguardi Contemporanei, Venezia, 2004
Rappresentare il Limite, Trieste, 2004
Spaziomerci, Rubiera, 2002
Gardenia.Reggio Emilia 1996, Rubiera, 1997
Venezia-Marghera; Fotografia e trasformazioni nella città contemporanea, Venezia/Montreal, 1997
Terre a NordEst, Spilimbergo, 1996
Dixie. 10 fotografi per Milano, Milano, 1995
L’immagine della Città, Prato, 1994
Exhibitions (selection)
Archifoto 22 - Architectures & Ressources, La Chambre, Strasbourg, 2022
OMNEFEST - Beauty, Villa Bolasco, Castelfranco Veneto, 2021
A Tile, Some Milk, a Machine and Logistics – Photographs of Emilia Romagna at Work, MAST, Bologna, 2016
Tripoli talks.Unfinished works. Global Photography, SIFest, Savignano 2011
54^ Esposizione d’Arte Internazionale della Biennale di Venezia, Corderie dell’Arsenale, Venezia, 2011
Urban Semiotics, BugnoArtGallery, Venezia, 2010
Piazze di Roma, MoCA, Shanghai, 2010
Cities-Places Visionaires, Auditorium Arte, Parco della Musica, Roma, 2009
20 fotografie e 6 appunti, SIFest, Savignano, 2009
10 fotografi d’oro, Museo Diocesano, Padova 2009
UrbanEurope, Maison de l’Architecture, Marseille, 2009
UrbanEurope, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, 2008
UrbanEurope, Forma, Milano 2008
UrbanEurope, BugnoArtGallery, Venezia, 2008
De l'Europe, Prix Mosaïque, Dudelange, Luxembourg, 2007
Quarantanovegradi, Fotografia Italiana, Milano, 2006
Residence Belvedere, Settimana della Fotografia Europea, Reggio Emilia, 2006
Il Paesaggio Tradito, Galleria San Fedele, Milano, 2005
Orientalismi, Galleria Studio la Città, Verona, 2005
Sulle Apparenze, BugnoArtGallery, Venezia, 2005
Cantieri dell’Arte, Ex Cartiere Binda, Milano, 2004
Sguardi Contemporanei_50 anni di architettura italiana, 9^ Biennale Internazionale di Architettura, Venezia, 2004
Le Città Invisibili, Palazzo della Triennale, Milano, 2002
The Space Between, Linea di Confine, Rubiera, 2002
Lontano, Galleria San Fedele, Milano, 2002
Luoghi come Paesaggi, Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze, 2000
32 Italian Photographers, C.C.A., Montreal, 1998
DNA, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venezia, 1998
Venezia–Marghera, Biennale d’Arte di Venezia, Venezia, 1997
Marco Zanta, Spazio Immagine, Bari, 1997
L’insistenza dello sguardo. Fotografie italiane 1839-1989,
Palazzo Fortuny, Venezia,1989
L’image de l’architecture, Musée des Beaux Arts, Charleroi, 1987
Publications (monographs)
It’s all one song, Hartmann Books, Stuttgart, 2022
In Principio, Linea di Confine, Rubiera, 2015
UrbanEurope, Contrasto, Roma, 2008
Quarantanovegradi, Fotografia Italiana, Milano, 2006
Upon Apparances, EdM, Firenze 2005
Europa Europa, Vianello Libri, Ponzano, 2004
Lontano, San Fedele Arte, Milano 2002
The Space Between. Photographs about Japan, Charta, Milano 2001
Red Noise, Photographs 1989-2000, Charta, Milano 2000
Iconema, Imagina, Venezia 1999
Awards
Prize Hemingway 2023, Lignano Sabbiadoro, 2023
Prize Friuli Venezia Giulia 2004, C.R.A.F. Spilimbergo, 2004
Programme Mosaique, CNA, Luxembourg, 2003
Prize Oscar Goldoni, Modena per la Fotografia, 2001
Prize Orvieto Fotografia, 2001
