Tommaso Labranca: The Italian Writer Who Championed Trash Culture

Tommaso Labranca, born in Milan in 1962 and died in Pantigliate in 2016, is remembered as a sharp cultural critic who redefined trash as 'the failed emulation of a high model.' His 1994 book 'Andy Warhol era un coatto' (Castelvecchi) became a manifesto for the 'Giovani Salmoni'—those swimming against the current of dominant culture. Labranca's work attacked intellectual snobbery and the arbitrary divide between high and low culture. His final book, 'Vraghinaroda' (20090 Ventizeronovanta, 2015), targets the contemporary art world as a grotesque, self-contained sect. Art historian Valentina Tanni, who teaches Digital Art at Politecnico di Milano and Culture Digitali at NABA, wrote the tribute, recalling her personal encounter with Labranca and his gentle humanity beneath the fierce intelligence.