Palazzo Giardino, extraordinary architecture kept within the walls of the Unesco city of Sabbioneta (Mantua), houses the second large contemporary art exhibition organized by the Sabbioneta Heritage Foundation. The Gallery of the Ancients and the Sala degli Mirro di Palazzo Giardino welcome until Sunday 23 November 2025 “7 ½”, personal exhibition of Juergen Teller, artist from
Unmistakable style, iconic and irreverent figure innovator of contemporary fashion photography.
After the retrospectives that saw him protagonist at the Grand Palais Épémère in Paris (2023) and at the Milan Triennale (2024), Juergen Teller arrives in Sabbioneta with an unprecedented and original exhibition project, edited by Mario Codognato. 7 ½ is the most personal exhibition that Juergen Teller has ever created and reconstructs the artistic path he developed in the most recent years. A period characterized by a great creative renewal, with an inventive attention that expands to the historical events of the present and the past from fashion and above all from the professional and existential partnership with his wife Dovile Drizyte.
The number carved in the title refers not only to the years in which the two have collaborated artistically, but also to the time that daily spend together, thus coming to take the value of a private and intimate mystical public rendering of the images on display. The instinctive matrix and the personal participation with which the shots of Juergen Teller punctually grasp the spontaneity of the situations and characters portrayed offers the visitor the opportunity to draw on a sort of
Private album left generously available by the artist.
A fast composition, an impartial and constant look, with no intention of concealing imperfection (which indeed is an element of interest), have always characterized Juergen Teller’s photography. This is beautifully combined with an Site Specific exhibition project: the set -up is specially conceived by the artist with Mario Codognato and designed by Federico Fedel, for the exceptional horizontal perspective of the Gallery of the Ancients, one of the most extraordinary rooms in Europe with its ninety -seven meters in length, and for the ceilings of the Sala degli Mirchi, in an open dialogue with the architecture of the Renaissance of Sabbioneta. So much so that the exhibition will be accompanied by a bilingual catalog (Italian/English) who, curated by Marsilio Editore, will be published in the exhibition started. Explains the curator Mario Codognato: “Juergen Teller is undoubtedly one of the most important artists of his generation and one of the greatest innovators of photographic language, not only in the field of fashion, but of all the creative application of this medium. The inclusion of the newspaper, the instant freezing of any imaginable situation, anticipated the aesthetic of social media and influenced the latest generations in the photographic field evidently and inexorable“.
“With the exhibition dedicated to Juergen Teller, one of the most influential and provocative photographers of the contemporary scene, Sabbioneta is confirmed as not only the casket of Renaissance history and beauty, but also a lively and vibrant stage of international culture“Declares Barbara Mazzali, councilor for tourism, territorial marketing, fashion and large events of the Lombardy Region. “This worldwide event represents a precious opportunity to further enhance the cultural identity of Sabbioneta, which together with Mantua is recognized as a UNESCO heritage, and which today opens with courage and vision also to the languages of contemporary art. The dialogue between the genius of Teller and the architectural elegance of the little Athens of the Gonzaga creates a visual and emotional short circuit that enriches the visitor’s experience and enhances the tourist attractiveness of the territory. Lombardy continues to invest in a 
Cultural model capable of combining protection of quality heritage, innovation and tourism. I thank the Sabbioneta Foundation for its ability to imagine and carry out projects that bring new life to one of the symbolic places of our historical and aesthetic identity“.
Marco Pasquali, mayor of Sabbioneta, remarks: “The path chosen by the Sabbioneta Heritage Foundation aims to confirm Sabbioneta as a place capable of coexisting ancient and modern, Renaissance and contemporaneity. With Juergen Teller, our Giardino Palace will give the thousands of visitors who usually choose the ideal city of Sabbioneta, a unique experience, made of amazement and genius. Very clear concepts to the founder of our city, Vespasian Gonzaga Colonna, and which today, once again, return to live in the world heritage of humanity that is sandbone“.
The president of the Sabbioneta Heritage Foundation, Gianni Fava, draws attention to the added value in favor of the territory that the exhibition brings with it: “We are proud – he declares – to host Juergen Teller in Sabbioneta for this extraordinary exhibition, which is perfectly part of our mission to enhance the historical heritage through the language of contemporary art. Juergen Teller, with his direct and uncompromising gaze, brings a new and bold vision in spaces loaded with history: Palazzo Giardino, with the majesty of the Gallery of the Ancients and the elegance of the Sala degli Mirchi, becomes the ideal stage for the dialogue between past and present, offering visitors as a place for an unprecedented and fascinating experience. This exhibition also represents an important opportunity for the territory, the invitation to institutions, citizens and local realities is to get involved together, with confidence, letting themselves be involved in a wide -ranging cultural project, capable of generating value and new perspectives for Sabbioneta. I thank all those who have already chosen to accept the bet and those who add themselves“.
Biographical notes. Juergen Teller (born in 1964 in Erlangen, Germany) studied at the Bayerische Staatslehranstalt Für Photograpie in Monaco, before moving to London in 1986. In his work, which goes beyond photographic genres, fashion, advertising, biography and documentation merge in a pungent visual synthesis. He has created campaigns for numerous luxury brands, as well as editorials for important art and fashion publications. In 2003, Juergen Teller received the Citibank Prize for Photography from the Photographers’ Gallery in London and, in 2018, the Special Presentation Infinity Award prize from the International Center of Photography in New York. His work has been exhibited internationally, with personal exhibitions at Fondation Cartier Pour L’Art Contemporain, Paris (2006), Dallas Contemporary, Texas (2011), Daelim Museum, Soul (2011), Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2013), Deste Foundation, Athens (2014), Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (2016), 2016) Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2017), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2018), T-10/SKP-S, Beijing (2021), Grand Palais Épémère, Paris (2023) and Triennale Milano (2024). In 2007 he was invited to represent Ukraine as one of the five artists selected at the 52nd Venice Biennale. Teller’s photographs have been acquired by numerous international collections, including the Musée du Louvre, the Center Pompidou and the Fondation Cartier Pour the Art Contemporain in Paris, the International Center for Photography in New York and the National Portrait Gallery in London. Teller published over 60 books and was a photography professor at thekademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg from 2014 to 2019.
Carlo Franza