Franco Vaccari was born in Modena in 1936. He received a Science education and took a degree in Physics. He is recognized as the inventor of the concept of ‘Exhibition in real time’, which he has explored since 1969 in both theoretical and operative ways.
The theme of the trace and the photographic medium are two constants found throughout his entire work. In Traces, 1966, he presents photographs of graffiti as anonymous found poetry. From the outset, Vaccari does not use photography to produce mimetic, analogical images, but as the imprint of a presence, a signal, a physical trace or track of a being-there. In this sense, his project for the Venice Biennale of 1972, _Exhibition in Real Time no.4: Leave on the walls a photographic trace of your fleeting visit _is emblematic. The position of his artwork is tangential to several areas, but what perhaps best expresses its meaning is the term ‘conceptual realism’.
Vaccari has always accompanied his artistic activity with theoretical reflections, and has also published _Duchamp e l’occultamento del lavoro _(1978), _Fotografia e inconscio tecnologico _(1979) published in 1979 and translated immediately also in french. More recently has been published _Duchamp messo a nudo. Daiready made alla finanza creativa _(2009). He has shown in solo spaces at the Venice Biennale in 1972, in 1980 and again in 1993. In 2010 he participated to _Strange Comfort _at Basel Kunsthalle and he has been invited to participate at the Gwangju Biennial in Korea. In 2012 he participated to _Derrière le Rideau – L’Esthétique du photomaton (behind the curtain, the beauty of the photobooth) _at Musée de L’Elysée, Lausanne. In 2013 he has a solo show at Mostyn Museum, Wales (UK) and in 2014 Rumori Telepatici, a solo show at Fondazione Morra Greco in Naples. In 2015 he participated in the shows _Opening: Sanja Ivekovic, Franco Vaccari _at P420, Bologna, and to the show Ennesima, curated by Vincenzo De Bellis, at Triennale in Milano. He also participated to the show Take Me, (I’m Yours), curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Christian Boltansky, and Chiara Parisi at Le Monnaie de Paris (2015) and at Pirelli HangarBicocca (2017) co-curated also by Roberta Tenconi.

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