Owner of Damiani publishing house, Silvia Pesci is a great expert of photography and contemporary art, with an international perspective. And in between her worldwide travels she assisted with the birth of Cinquerosso Arte.
Silvia, what is happening in Damiani?
Many very interesting things. We are an Art Publishing House, with a particular vocation for current events photography. During these last years we have followed closely the events that took place in the United States, the human rights movement and the civil rights movement. This is our vocation, although we are based in Italy we are an international publishing house, to the extent that we do not publish books in Italian and most of our work is developed abroad.
Tell us about your story.
We were born in 2004, with a first book dedicated to an Italian author, and we immediately understood that the essential requirement for a publishing house to survive, was distribution. It sounds trivial, yet it is not: books must get to bookshops, and it is not an easy process. So we created a few very important projects, quite hazardous too, for the United States, with the aim of qualifying to work with the most important art book distributor in that field, which is Artbook. So we arrived in bookstores, concept stores, museum bookshops and digital platforms in the whole of the United States.
Further on we started collaborating with the most important distributor worldwide, Thames&Hudson, which distributes us in every country except the States, where we are still working with Artbook.
Most of our work, including the selection of artists and the management of contracts, is done in our offices in the States. The most energetic, lively and brilliant field is in New York, where we have an office and we go several times a year to meet with artists.
The Italian market for art books is actually quite discouraging. That is why we opted only for an online space, through our website: www.damianieditore.com
Why do you think this is?
In Italy, there are great publishing houses which draw from our very rich artistic heritage. But we chose a different road, focusing on photography and contemporary art, and it must be said, whatever happens in these fields, usually takes place abroad. When we organize presentations of our books in New York, for instance, there is a line at the entrance because everybody wants their copy signed by the author, whereas in Italy, very few people participate. The Italian market is still small and has few resources.
You were one of the first ones to know about the project Cinquerosso Arte. What do you think about it?
I believe it is a beautiful project. Of course, it is not an easy task and it demands a lot of commitment to obtain visibility. But Italy is full of young artists, especially very talented young photographers, who deserve to be known and commercialized. The market dynamics do not always do justice to the real beauty of a work. My best wishes go to Cinquerosso Arte, for their success in giving these talents the chance of being appreciated.
