Salvatore Vitale

Brief Biography

Salvatore Vitale (b. 1986, Palermo, Italy) is a Swiss-based visual artist, editor and educator. In his multi-layered artistic practice and research, Vitale’s work focuses on the development and complexity of modern societies exploring power structures, impression management and simulations, social cosmologies and technological mediation, whilst making use of expanded documentary analysis, including elements of fiction, speculative storytelling and the use of multiple visual forms.

One of Vitale’s most recent projects is How To Secure a Country (2014-2019). How To Secure a Country – From Border Policing via Weather Forecast to Social Engineering – A Visual Study of 21st-Century Statehood was published by Lars Müller Publishers in June 2019.

Vitale is a lecturer at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) where he leads the Transmedia Storytelling program. He has led workshops worldwide and is a visiting lecturer at several academies.

Vitale is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of YET magazine, a Swiss-based international photography magazine that focuses on the evolution of the photography practice within the contemporary art field. Vitale has contributed to and edited several publications, including RESET: Questioning The Image, The Market and The Role of Representation (2021).

Current Projects

After editing the publication "RESET: Questioning the Image, The Market and The Role of Representation" (Feb. 2021), I'm currently working on two upcoming publications around the topics of Post–Photography and expanded visual narratives within the context of contemporary photography (both scheduled for 2021).

I'm currently collaborating with Futures Photography in the research and development of on- and offline platform strategies.
Other research projects include transmedia narratives in the context of spatial design.

Selected Exhibitions

2020Persuasive System (Public Interactive Installation), Lugano
2020Retreat! Restless Landscape, Fotogralleriet Oslo
2019How To Secure a Country, Fotostiftung Schweiz
2019How To Secure a Country, Kibla Contemporary Art Space, Maribor
2019How To Secure a Country, Foam Photography Museum Amsterdam
2018How To Secure a Country, Lianzhou Photo Festival
2018Follow_me, OCAT Shenzhen
2018Elusive Noise: Unfolding the Virtual, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow
2017The Moon Was Broken, Photoforum Pasquart

Selected Awards and Grants

2020Pro Helvetia Shanghai Research Grant
2018Punctum Award
2018Swiss Design Award
2018Foam Talent
2017PH Museum Award