The Gallery's calendar of events for this year is almost completely about photography. Next event is a retrospective exhibition on the 45 years of the most important photo award in the world. Mounted in association with Grazia Neri Photo Agency under Robert Pledge's supervision, the exhibition is presenting all the photographs that have been awarded the World Press Photo since it was established in 1955.
Images that competed for the prize every year are also exhibited at the gallery in Milan. A collection of 220 black and white as well as colour photographs, which have been published in the press and in magazines all around the world since the '50s. Yes, because what really characterizes the second half of the XX century is the fact that talented press photographers very keen on their job and ready to run the risk of losing their life have reported topical events by images, helping us understand the complicated world in which we are living. So, they also contributed to make History. In 50 years, in fact, since the first World Press Photo, the world has undergone several changes. Immediately after the war, we struggled against the menace of atom bombs, while new geopolitical realities were coming out on the scene - two great powers controlling each other about the use of nuclear weapons, trying at the same time to come to an agreement with the aspirations of the third world. Then, in the '60s, idealism and hope fostered the struggles for justice and civil rights. For mankind, it was a time to dream of peace and to start fulfilling that dream.
Pangs of death in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, Vietnam and Lebanon, Chile and South Africa. An inconsistent world, in which increasing wealth co-existed with problems such as overpopulation, famines and wars, was beginning to take shape. Mikhail Gorbachov's coming into power in the Soviet Union seemed to announce a cut in the military power. The world was surprised at the irreversible changes that rapidly occurred in Eastern Europe. In the space of a few months, rather than in years, concepts such as the "iron curtain" and the "cold war", which the press had used to describe the current political situation, became out-of-date. The building of the Wall of Berlin had been a symbol of separation. Its demolition announced reunification, harmony and hope.

A few months before 1987, when the first retrospective exhibition on the World Press Photo was hosted in New York, nobody would predict the tragic events of Tienanmen. Nor could they predict the even more important changes of the following 12 years, which would lead to the end of the XX century. From the almost invisible high-grade conflict in the Arab Gulf to the end of the apartheid in South Africa; from civil wars and genocides in Sierra Leone, Bosnia, Algeria and Rwanda to those in Liberia, Kosovo, Timor East and Cecenia. The sore of the AIDS and the revolution of the Internet. The retrospective exhibition on the 45 years of the most important press photo award in the world is presenting all the above-mentioned events. The exhibition shows images - certainly not glossy images - which tell us about the everyday suffering of both the common people and of whole countries, about violence, public insanity, showing what atrocities men can do. The publication of such images in the press and in magazines all around the world has definitely contributed to awaken the readers' social and political awareness and to bring to light the truth that is too often concealed. The exhibition is definitely meant to help us better understand the human nature. Since its establishment, the World Press Photo has been characterised by a strong social commitment and the wish to support the freedom of the press around the world. Each photo was taken in the space of a few split seconds, equivalent in all to two-three seconds at the most. And still, to us, these few seconds represent half a century of human history: the history of the generations of today.