Interno Zoo is a visual exploration that begins with a space inherently designed for observation - the Zoological Garden of Rome – in order to focus on the very ways through which the gaze is directed within a given context. In zoos, pathways, enclosures, openings and thresholds form the infrastructure of the gaze. They are the elements through which attention is guided, contained and authorised; devices that organise movement; constructions that regulate the distance between the observer and the observed; and systems of control embedded within a simulation of reality. Through a process of narrative subtraction, Interno Zoo excludes animals and visitors from the image. This makes what remains – the network of structures, surfaces, pathways and separation devices – the sole object of the investigation. Deprived of the bodies, it is meant to display, the zoo loses its dimension of spectacle and reveals itself as a constructed environment. The images record what normally serves as a backdrop. Each photograph shows a space designed for a specific function. The cages, observation points, barriers and pathways do not narrate an event, but rather a logic. The Interior is proposed as a condition of proximity, a viewpoint that accepts remaining within the given perimeter and observing its rules. The gaze does not seek the exception but remains within the system. This work does not document what takes place in the zoo, rather, it examines what makes such happenings possible. It reveals a space in suspension, defined not by what it contains, but by the way it has been conceived to contain.

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La mostra presenta il progetto vincitore di Andromeda, l’open call promossa da Ulteriore e dedicata alla ricerca fotografica e alle pratiche visive contemporanee.

La mostra, prodotta dal GAL Terre Locridee, è co-curata da Teodora Malavenda and Elena Trunfio, direttrice del Museo e Parco Archeologico Nazionale di Locri Epizefiri.

Christian Pardini Christian Pardini is an independent graphic designer and photographer. Following his studies in Industrial Design at the University of Florence, he developed a practice that brings together graphic design and photographic research. In 2022, he completed the Master's programme in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism at the Fondazione Studio Marangoni in Florence and joined the Clemente–Pardini duo, with whom he develops projects exploring landscape and its social and environmental implications.

His work has been exhibited in festivals, institutions and contemporary art venues, including the Festival of Landscape Documentation and Narrative in Cuneo, Cardelli&Fontana and FMAV – Fondazione Modena Arti Visive. His photographs have been published, among others, by L’Espresso and Fotocrazia. L’Espresso and Fotocrazia.

In 2024, he received a special mention at the Urbanautica Institute Awards for 4km and was awarded a scholarship by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze. In 2025, he received a second special mention at the Urbanautica Institute Awards for Interno Zoo. In the same year, Limo, a project developed with the Clemente–Pardini duo, was selected for Terræ Aquæ, the exhibition project of the Italian Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.