'Fail' is a book depicting the aesthetics of failure in archiving memories. Memories become stutterer, volatile, and uncertain. Their profiles - evanescent per se - need to be clarified. Their meanings are scattered and lost in an endless ocean of images. Hence, the title "Fail" can mean disappointment, omission, damage, or failure. According to Plato, "to know" is "to remember". As a fact, without memories, we do not exist. Humans find in memories the solution for their experience not to be excluded from the world, to create that mark that makes it unique, and to compensate for a weak instinct. For this reason, since ancient times, communities have strived to pass on, preserve, and store memories. Oral tradition, writings, and arts were originally all different types of collective memory. On the contrary, individual memory storage is quite a recent conquest that became endemic thanks to evolving means of duplication and the spread of images. Technology is substituting personal memories since the present moment can be immediately shared, and efforts in remembering are no longer necessary.
Stefano Parrini
urbanautica.com (review)
'Fail' is a book depicting the aesthetics of failure in archiving memories. Memories become stutterer, volatile, and uncertain. Their profiles - evanescent per se - need to be clarified. Their meanings are scattered and lost in an endless ocean of images. Hence, the title "Fail" can mean disappointment, omission, damage, or failure. According to Plato, "to know" is "to remember". As a fact, without memories, we do not exist. Humans find in memories the solution for their experience not to be excluded from the world, to create that mark that makes it unique, and to compensate for a weak instinct. For this reason, since ancient times, communities have strived to pass on, preserve, and store memories. Oral tradition, writings, and arts were originally all different types of collective memory. On the contrary, individual memory storage is quite a recent conquest that became endemic thanks to evolving means of duplication and the spread of images. Technology is substituting personal memories since the present moment can be immediately shared, and efforts in remembering are no longer necessary.
Stefano Parrini
urbanautica.com (review)
Hi! I am Steve, a professional in the field of photography and visual arts, with a background as a curator, art director, and educator.
I’m a “mestizo,” as they say—Venetian on my father’s side, with a French surname that dates back to Napoleon’s campaigns, and a soldier from around Montpellier. My mother was born in Belgium to a Dutch family. My grandfather from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the Hudson River. I grew up a bit here and there; I currently live in Paris.
I have known the world before smartphones, computers, and the internet. Before low-cost flights. The backseat of my father's car was my window. Studies pushed me to embrace complexity, a quite observation. A gaze that "touches," that dares in some way, that strives to forge a connection.
I spent the past 20 years questioning the role of images in society.
• Teaching
As an educator, Steve Bisson taught photography and visual arts at various academic institutions. His teaching style is characterized by a combination of practical and theoretical approaches, aiming to stimulate creativity in students and deepen their understanding of the cultural and social dynamics associated with photography. In 2016, in collaboration with Klaus Fruchtnis, he co-founded Blurring the Lines, an academic network that fosters talent and dialogue in the visual realm. In 2018, Steve Bisson joined Paris College of Art as adjunct faculty and has since then taught in different courses in the Masters of Art (MA) / Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in Photography and Image Making, Masters of Art (MA) in Fashion Film & Photography, Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Photography. In 2022 he was appointed Chair of Photography Department.
Steve Bisson has also been giving lectures, mentoring, and collaborating with cultural and educational institutions worldwide such as: Lasalle College of Arts (Singapore) | Novia University, Master of Culture and Arts, Entrepreneurship in the Arts, and Photography (Finland) | FotoDepartment (Russia) | Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina (Serbia) | FAAP – Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (Brazil) | Fondazione Benetton Studi e Ricerche (Italy) and multiple other academies and institutions.
• Curator
Steve Bisson has curated numerous exhibitions, festivals, workshop and photographic events both in Italy and internationally. His expertise in selecting and presenting visual has allowed him to collaborate with emerging and established artists, contributing to significant exhibition projects that explore contemporary social and cultural themes, as much as exploring civic participatory approaches. He is currently art director of Lab27 cultural centre in Italy.
• Publications
Steve Bisson is the chief-editor of Urbanautica Journal of Visual Anthropology and Cultural Landscapes, and the founder of the publishing house Penisola Edizioni. Urbanautica is an international editorial platform focused on contemporary photography and visual research, serving as a space for dialogue and reflection with a strong emphasis on themes related to visual anthropology, urbanism, and social sciences. Bisson also contributed to countless texts, books, studies, magazines, juries.
• Education
Bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning from the Istituto Universitario di Architettura – IUAV of Venice, Italy (2002), and MBA from Kansas University, USA (2004).
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Design by Roberto Vito D'Amico
Hi! I am Steve, a professional in the field of photography and visual arts, with a background as a curator, art director, and educator.
I’m a “mestizo,” as they say—Venetian on my father’s side, with a French surname that dates back to Napoleon’s campaigns, and a soldier from around Montpellier. My mother was born in Belgium to a Dutch family. My grandfather from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the Hudson River. I grew up a bit here and there; I currently live in Paris.
I have known the world before smartphones, computers, and the internet. Before low-cost flights. The backseat of my father's car was my window. Studies pushed me to embrace complexity, a quite observation. A gaze that "touches," that dares in some way, that strives to forge a connection.
I spent the past 20 years questioning the role of images in society.
• Teaching
As an educator, Steve Bisson taught photography and visual arts at various academic institutions. His teaching style is characterized by a combination of practical and theoretical approaches, aiming to stimulate creativity in students and deepen their understanding of the cultural and social dynamics associated with photography. In 2016, in collaboration with Klaus Fruchtnis, he co-founded Blurring the Lines, an academic network that fosters talent and dialogue in the visual realm. In 2018, Steve Bisson joined Paris College of Art as adjunct faculty and has since then taught in different courses in the Masters of Art (MA) / Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in Photography and Image Making, Masters of Art (MA) in Fashion Film & Photography, Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Photography. In 2022 he was appointed Chair of Photography Department.
Steve Bisson has also been giving lectures, mentoring, and collaborating with cultural and educational institutions worldwide such as: Lasalle College of Arts (Singapore) | Novia University, Master of Culture and Arts, Entrepreneurship in the Arts, and Photography (Finland) | FotoDepartment (Russia) | Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina (Serbia) | FAAP – Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (Brazil) | Fondazione Benetton Studi e Ricerche (Italy) and multiple other academies and institutions.
• Curator
Steve Bisson has curated numerous exhibitions, festivals, workshop and photographic events both in Italy and internationally. His expertise in selecting and presenting visual has allowed him to collaborate with emerging and established artists, contributing to significant exhibition projects that explore contemporary social and cultural themes, as much as exploring civic participatory approaches. He is currently art director of Lab27 cultural centre in Italy.
• Publications
Steve Bisson is the chief-editor of Urbanautica Journal of Visual Anthropology and Cultural Landscapes, and the founder of the publishing house Penisola Edizioni. Urbanautica is an international editorial platform focused on contemporary photography and visual research, serving as a space for dialogue and reflection with a strong emphasis on themes related to visual anthropology, urbanism, and social sciences. Bisson also contributed to countless texts, books, studies, magazines, juries.
• Education
Bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning from the Istituto Universitario di Architettura – IUAV of Venice, Italy (2002), and MBA from Kansas University, USA (2004).
—
Design by Roberto Vito D'Amico