Draft:Marco Brizzi

arch'it (1995–2011)

In 1995, arch'it (www.architettura.it) was founded in Florence by a group of architects and critics — among them Brizzi, who became its editorial director — belonging to the early circle that would later form the internet company DADA. One of the first architecture magazines published online anywhere in the world, and the first of its kind in Italy, the magazine appeared at a moment when digital media was lowering the thresholds of access to publication and beginning to reshape the conditions of architectural criticism. It became a space for following the work of younger firms alongside more established practices, tracking developments across different national traditions. Architecture critic Pippo Ciorra described it as "the most solid and well-known online architecture magazine based in Italy".^[1] Luca Molinari wrote of Brizzi's role in reshaping the conditions of architectural criticism in Italy in the digital era.^[2] As its director, Brizzi was nominated finalist for the Golden Medal for Architectural Criticism awarded by the Triennale di Milano in 2003.

Image and Beyond Media (1997–2009)

In 1997, Brizzi co-founded Image, an interdisciplinary group initially formed around the production of the festival and subsequently active in curating exhibitions, conferences, and architectural events.^[3] As a direct outcome of the festival's activity, Image became the curator and keeper of an archive of over 4,000 architecture videos — a collection documenting a formative phase in architectural culture during the years of digital media's emergence.

That same year, Image organized the first edition of Beyond Media, described by van der Hoorn as an event aimed at "promoting the emergence of a new agenda for contemporary architecture by means of a more widespread awareness of the role of the media of communication in the professional as well as in the didactic field".^[3] The festival's specific field of inquiry was the video made by architects — used not as a tool of commercial promotion, but as an autonomous expressive and critical instrument. Around its core screenings, each edition included talks with architects, scholars, critics, scientists, and artists, as well as exhibitions: among them Spot on Schools, curated by Paola Giaconia, which gathered work from architecture and design schools worldwide investigating the relationship between architecture and media.

Pippo Ciorra characterized Beyond Media as "an important festival dedicated to investigating the intriguing triangle of relationships between media, architecture and communication".^[4] Pedro Gadanho described it as one of the leading international events in this field,^[5] and India Block noted in Dezeen that festivals such as Beyond Media had been instrumental in establishing architecture film as "a genre in the making".^[6]

Over nine editions, the festival was supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Region of Tuscany, the Municipality of Florence, and the University of Florence. The final edition, Visions (2009), presented 80 videos selected from over 600 submissions from 35 countries. Between 2000 and 2010, Brizzi also curated the exhibition program of the Spazio Espositivo di Santa Verdiana (SESV) of the University of Florence.

The Architecture Player (2015–2020)

In 2015, Brizzi founded The Architecture Player (www.architectureplayer.com), an online platform conceived as both an archive and a publication, making the Beyond Media archive accessible to the public. The platform ceased publishing new content in 2020 and remains available online as an archive.

The Architecture Curator (1997–present)

The agency Brizzi has directed since 1997 — founded as Image, evolved into Cultivar in 2018 and subsequently into The Architecture Curator (www.thearchitecturecurator.com), co-directed with Paola Giaconia — works with architects and institutions to support the communicative and expressive forms through which architectural projects take part in broader cultural debate. Among the practices with which Brizzi has collaborated in this capacity are Flores & Prats, WORKac, Alvisi Kirimoto, Maurice Nio, Labics, AMAA, and Ecòl.

Other activity

Between 2009 and 2011, Brizzi served as editor-in-chief of FFF (Firenze Fast Forward), a magazine devoted to design visions for the city of Florence, co-founded with graphic designer Gianni Sinni. He served as architecture advisor to the Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato, contributing to the museum's renewal program in connection with its expansion designed by Maurice Nio, which opened in October 2016.^[7]

Books (as editor or co-editor, selection)

• Marco Brizzi, Paola Giaconia (eds.), Visions: Beyond Media 09, Image Publishing, Florence, 2009. ISBN 9788896531006.
• Marco Brizzi, Rotte Metropolitane. Firenze è sommersa, Maschietto Editore, Florence, 2009. ISBN 978-8863940053.
• Marco Brizzi, Paola Giaconia (eds.), Script: Beyond Media 05, Compositori, Bologna, 2006. ISBN 978-88-7794-664-5.
• Marco Brizzi, Paola Giaconia (eds.), Intimacy: Beyond Media 03, Mandragora, Florence, 2004. ISBN 887461022X.
• 2A+P, Marco Brizzi, Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi, La generazione della rete. Nuove sperimentazioni architettoniche nel panorama italiano, Cooper & Castelvecchi, Rome, 2003. ISBN 88-7394-017-X.

Essays in books (selection)

• "Architectures Mapped Out in Publishing", in: Pino Brugellis, Gianni Pettena, Alberto Salvadori (eds.), Utopie Radicali, Quodlibet, Macerata, 2017.
• "Primo movimento. Allegro vivace e con brio", in: Fabio Cavallucci (ed.), La fine del mondo / The End of the World, Silvana, Milan, 2016.
• "L'architettura sotto gli occhi di tutti / Everyone's Eyes on Architecture", in: Margherita Guccione (ed.), MAXXI. Cantiere d'autore, Electa, Milan, 2006.
• "In Praise of the Fragment", in: Frédéric Migayrou, Marie-Ange Brayer (eds.), Archilab: Radical Experiments in Global Architecture, Thames & Hudson, London, 2001.
• "La pubblica intimità dell'immagine digitale", in: Livio Sacchi, Maurizio Unali (eds.), Architettura e cultura digitale, Skira, Milan, 2003.

Selected press and scholarly coverage

• Pippo Ciorra, Senza architettura. Le ragioni di una crisi, Editori Laterza, Rome-Bari, 2011, pp. 73, 98.
• Gabriele Mastrigli, "Nello spazio di un frame", il manifesto, 4 May 2002.
• Lina Malfona, "La critica in rete", Rassegna di Architettura e Urbanistica, n. 133, Sapienza Università di Roma, January–April 2011, pp. 94–107.
• Pedro Gadanho, "Beyond Media: Visions", Volume, n. 20, July 2009, p. 156.
• Karin Templin, "Festival / Beyond Media", The Architectural Review, n. 1351, September 2009, p. 104.
• Mélanie van der Hoorn, "Archiporn or Storylines?", MAS Context, issue 20 ("Narrative"), Winter 2013, ISSN 2332-5046.
• Eugenio Pandolfini, "Triggering Reality", Domus, 31 January 2013.
• Valentina Ciuffi, "Prato d'Oro", Living – Corriere della Sera, n. 10, October 2016, pp. 105–108.
• India Block, "Architecture film is 'a genre in the making' as festivals multiply", Dezeen, 22 December 2017.
• Salvatore D'Agostino, "Il denotatore digitale: Marco Brizzi", Wilfing Architettura, 31 January 2012.