Olivo Barbieri (born 1954 in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna) is an Italian artist and photographer known for his exploration of urban environments. He lives and works in Milan.
He is particularly recognized for his innovative use of tilt-shift lens photography, which creates the illusion of miniature scenes from real cityscapes. By manipulating focus through a technique called selected focus, Barbieri produces images where the shallow depth of field makes actual cities appear like scale models.
Barbieri began studying photography at DAMS (Drama, Art and Music Studies) at the University of Bologna. After 1971, he developed a growing interest in photography, initially concentrating on artificial lighting. From 1978, he participated in exhibitions both in Italy and internationally. In 1989, he began traveling regularly to the Far East, especially China. He exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1993, 1995, and 1997, and has shown his work in numerous international exhibitions, galleries, and museums across Europe, North America, and China. In 1996, the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany, held a retrospective of his work, which is now part of various museum collections worldwide.
In 2003, Barbieri launched the Site Specific project, which includes photographs and films depicting cities such as Rome, Turin, Montreal, Amman, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Seville, New York, and others. As part of this project, he created several 35mm films, including: site specific_ROMA 04, site specific_SHANGHAI 04, site specific_LAS VEGAS 05, SEVILLA → (∞) 06, site specific_MODENA 08.
site specific_ROMA 04 was exhibited in 2005 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Hayward Gallery in London, and the Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART).
