Stefano Knuchel

Ticino is not the epicentre of fashion, but between the 1930s and the 1960s, it had a fashion designer who achieved national and international success. The Luganese Elsa Barberis dressed the modern woman taking shape in those years, anticipating and inspiring the fashion of the decades to follow. But all this was not enough. Elsa has been completely forgotten by our memory. How is it possible that a talented figure like hers fell into oblivion so quickly?

Ticino is not the epicentre of fashion, but between the 1930s and the 1960s, it had a fashion designer who achieved national and international success. The Luganese Elsa Barberis dressed the modern woman taking shape in those years, anticipating and inspiring the fashion of the decades to follow. But all this was not enough. Elsa has been completely forgotten by our memory. How is it possible that a talented figure like hers fell into oblivion so quickly?

In 1877, in a watch factory in a valley in north-western Switzerland, Josephine produces balance spindles, tiny parts that ensure the agitation movement ("unrueh") of the mechanical watches. She soon grows uneasy with the organisation of work and possession in the village and its factory and joins the anarchist worker movement of the local watchmakers. There she meets Piotr Kropotkin, a moony Russian traveller. The two of them meet at a time when new technologies such as time measurement, photography and the telegraph are transforming the social order and anarchist discourse is addressing emerging nationalism. During a walk in the woods, Josephine and Piotr ask themselves whether time, money and the government are not all but fictions.

At the end of their sabbatical year backpacking around the world, four backpackers find themselves adding an unexpected stop among palm trees and snow-capped alpine peaks on a tropical island in the middle of a Swiss lake.

At the end of their sabbatical year backpacking around the world, four backpackers find themselves adding an unexpected stop among palm trees and snow-capped alpine peaks on a tropical island in the middle of a Swiss lake.

A promising Italian cartoonist lands in Buenos Aires in 1950, with the dream of reaching the United States, to discover that, for him, America will be Argentina. The country immediately overwhelms him with its massive economic boom and a cultural scene among the most vibrant in the world. We are at the dawn of Argentina's most delirious decade, and the young immigrant feels that the vast promise of this country is within his grasp. His name will indeed make itself known: Hugo Pratt.

A promising Italian cartoonist lands in Buenos Aires in 1950, with the dream of reaching the United States, to discover that, for him, America will be Argentina. The country immediately overwhelms him with its massive economic boom and a cultural scene among the most vibrant in the world. We are at the dawn of Argentina's most delirious decade, and the young immigrant feels that the vast promise of this country is within his grasp. His name will indeed make itself known: Hugo Pratt.

When Hugo Pratt passed away in 1995, he was holding an Ethiopian cross in his left hand. In order to understand his enduring love of the black continent, Hugo Pratt’s companion, Jean Claude Guilbert, together with a group of like-minded people, searches for traces of him in the Horn of Africa. Thanks to their efforts and invaluable audiovisual archive material, a new picture of this remarkable artist and his attitude towards Africa begins to emerge.

When Hugo Pratt passed away in 1995, he was holding an Ethiopian cross in his left hand. In order to understand his enduring love of the black continent, Hugo Pratt’s companion, Jean Claude Guilbert, together with a group of like-minded people, searches for traces of him in the Horn of Africa. Thanks to their efforts and invaluable audiovisual archive material, a new picture of this remarkable artist and his attitude towards Africa begins to emerge.