Culture and Urban Stories: The Photography Between Cities and Europe. A Sociosemiotics Approach to the European Photography Reggio Emilia 2007

The European Photography; held in Reggio Emilia (Italy) from April to June; displays the work of European artists. Photography meets the city; its people; and its culture. The theme of 2007; Cities/Europe; has a wider scope than last year’s The City. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the discourse strategy that underlies the planning and definition of this event with a sociosemiotics approach. Both the text explaining the purpose of the Week and the texts; written or visual; by the artists build up together the meaning of the event itself and constitute a social and cultural reality. In this way photography becomes central to the cultural policy of the Reggio Emilia Municipality; targeting the belonging to Europe. It helps understand the core of European identity; defined by social and cultural differences; and the inter¬connected experiences which the photographic discourse refers to and makes intelligible.