ROSSO FERRARI, Luigi Ghirri

Museo dell’Automobile, Torino, 2024

The exhibition traces the work – both commissioned projects and personal research – that the photographer dedicated to the iconic cars brand.
In the second half of the eighties, Luigi Ghirri documented the various production phases within the factory: from the designers’ offices to the leather processing laboratories and the mechanical workshops, focusing on those assembly and transformation processes that characterize and unite the art of automobile manufacturing and photography.
A notable series focuses on a scale model of the Ferrari F40, produced by the Agostini company. Set against the backdrop of a golf course, with a child as the driver, the scene amplifies the surreal atmosphere that emerges from the miniature car. This sense of displacement also appears in the final section, which explores Pierluigi Cerri’s setup for the 1988 exhibition at Forte di Belvedere in Florence. Here, Renaissance architecture interacts with Ferrari’s most iconic models and Cerri’s glass structures, creating a striking visual composition.
The exhibition is further enriched by a significant selection of photographs from the Jacobacci & Partners collection—a group that, since 1872, has been dedicated to recognizing, valuing, and protecting Italian creativity. These images, part of the same Ferrari-focused series, synthesize Ghirri’s interpretation of the prestigious car brand’s identity. From the factory floors to exhibition snapshots, and interiors of the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, each photograph preserves the depth of this story despite its small scale.
A fantastic journey in the variation of scale through the unmistakable gaze of Luigi Ghirri and a thread… Rosso Ferrari.