The curatorial collective Kublaiklan was founded with the aim of creating collective experiences in photography and connecting people and ideas. In 2024–2025 they served as curators of Cortona On The Move under the artistic direction of Paolo Woods, collaborating with the festival since 2016. They curated Living Certosa (2024) in Milan and The Cooling Solution (2023), later shown internationally, including at Photoville New York. In 2019 they curated Baci From Cortona and the open-air exhibition Fontanesi. Since 2017, Kublaiklan has led photography workshops with the Child Neuropsychiatry Department of AUSL Reggio Emilia. They strongly believe in the power of photography to educate, embrace diverse perspectives, and strengthen a sense of belonging by bridging the gap between the individual and society.
With this vision, they opened the space K! in Turin, which will host exhibitions, workshops, and talks, bringing socially engaged photography to Italy—a tradition already well established in Northern Europe and the UK. Through a method of practical reflection, the political discourse surrounding images is translated into tangible experiences.
K! will be a space open to the city and its inhabitants. It will host artist residencies focused on co-creation with the local community. Throughout the year, a curated library of photobooks and publications on collaborative practices in photography will be available by appointment.
The inaugural exhibition is La Cornuda de Tlacotalpan by Emilio Nasser. Based on a local legend from the city of Tlacotalpan in Veracruz, Mexico, the story intersects with the imagination of the community. Some fishermen believe that La Cornuda lives in the Papaloapan River; she is said to be a creature who appears and disappears, frightens people, and uses her horns to carry them away, making them vanish from the Earth. Nasser reimagines and playfully reinterprets this myth with the local community: participants drew and wrote their own versions of the story, creating alternative endings.
In the project, La Cornuda leaves the river and enters the city of Tlacotalpan, walking invisibly among its inhabitants. Nasser created a mark made of mud and river debris, which community members were invited to wear as a tool for reenacting the legend and fostering interaction between individuals.
In collaboration with Fondazione Alfaparf, Kublaiklan also created L’ora di Fotografia (The Hour of Photography), a project supporting artistic production and promoting visual literacy among younger generations. Five photographers—Hicham Benohoud, Ilaria Turba, Emilio Nasser, Karla Hiraldo Voleau, and Matteo de Mayda—will meet secondary school students through workshops, interviews, and talks.
