Primož Bizjak's Postmodern Quarry Photographs at CAP Carrara

The CAP (Centro Arti Plastiche) in Carrara presents a solo exhibition of Slovenian photographer Primož Bizjak (born 1976 in Šempeter pri Gorici), featuring seven large-format photographs of abandoned marble quarries in the Apuan Alps. Printed in diasec on plexiglass, the hyper-detailed images—devoid of human presence, artificial light, or blur—evoke the objective documentary tradition of Bernd and Hilla Becher and the Düsseldorf School. Bizjak uses a large-format view camera with long exposures and elevated tripod to create a flat, bird's-eye perspective that produces estranging effects. The works reference historical precedents from Canaletto's vedute to the Lumière brothers' film of the Fantiscritti railway tunnel, and photographers such as Oliviero Toscani, Martine Frank, and Romano Cagnoni. The deserted, silent quarries are compared to Giorgio de Chirico's metaphysical piazzas, reinterpreted in a postmodern, apocalyptic key. The exhibition implicitly engages with environmentalist debates about the marble industry's impact on the Apuan Alps, though Bizjak avoids overt rhetoric. The show runs at CAP Carrara, with works dating from 2014–2015.