​2026 - IN TIME

XII edition

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The 2026 edition, titled IN TIME, continues Flashback's research into time, not as a linear succession of eras, but as an open dimension in which past, present and future coexist and contaminate one another.

For Flashback, indeed, every work of art always speaks in the present in its encounter with the viewer. To be in time therefore means to be within one's own time, but also to move across all times, building unexpected connections between images, stories and experiences.

The Journey and the Sail

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From this perspective, the journey becomes the metaphor that guides the entire edition. Not a route with a predetermined destination, but a crossing in which finding one's direction means reading the present, welcoming the unexpected and continually altering one's course.

The sailing boat embodies this condition perfectly: it advances thanks to the wind, the currents and the ability to interpret what happens, turning uncertainty into possibility. Navigation has always accompanied the human experience.

It is the symbol of crossing, of knowledge, of the desire for freedom and of the search for new landfalls.

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Today in Piazza Bottesini

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The third poster is signed by Fabio Bucciarelli, a photojournalist who has spent more than fifteen years documenting events around the world and their social and humanitarian consequences.

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His image takes us back to a precise moment in the recent past: November 28, 2025, when university students, citizens, and port workers mobilized on land and at sea across Italy, particularly in Genoa with the CALP collective and in Livorno, and took action against the genocide in Palestine, blocking customs gates and preventing the passage of cargo ships and weapons bound for Israel. Palestinian flags flew over the port of Genoa, while a large banner read, “No Port for Genocide.”

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Once again, the sail. Once again, sumud. Once again, resistance.

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In keeping with the theme of this edition of Opera Viva, IN TIME, Il Manifesto, in this crossing between different eras and languages—not only those of art history, but also of human history—the sail becomes a tangible expression of a collective sentiment, of a political and poetic action. It is no coincidence that the activists of the Global Sumud Flotillachose to sail towards Gaza on small sailing boats last September. They chose the sea, the unknown, and risk as a space for mobilization.

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In the same way, the Manifesto—the threshold that connects elsewhere with Piazza Bottesini—inhabits the present, and Bucciarelli’s work does not simply return to us a news event. Instead, it becomes a testimony to a time that belongs to us, a time that has the duty to shake us and to keep our gaze firmly fixed on what is happening in the world.

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Fabio Bucciarelli (Turin, 1980) is an Italian photographer, journalist, and author internationally known for his documentation of conflicts and humanitarian crises. His photography is distinguished by an empathetic approach and an authorial vision that goes beyond the mere recording of historical events. His evocative images not only tell stories of human experience but deeply engage the viewer, prompting reflection on the complexities of the contemporary world. Recognized as one of the most influential photojournalists of his generation, Bucciarelli collaborates with leading international newspapers and editorial platforms, including La Repubblica, Die Zeit, and The New York Times. His work has received prestigious international awards, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, several World Press Photo Awards, the Visa d’Or News, the Lucie Impact Award, and the Prix Bayeux-Calvados des Correspondants de Guerre. He has also received thirteen Picture of the Year International awards, including the title of Photographer of the Year in 2019.

Alongside his photographic work, Bucciarelli has been a reporter for Il Fatto Quotidiano since 2009. In recent years, he has expanded his role by taking on curatorial and artistic-director positions; his work has been exhibited in international museums, galleries, and art fairs. He also teaches and is actively involved in educational initiatives. His latest book, Occupied Territories: Stories from the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon (Dario Cimorelli Editore, 2025), brings together more than a decade of work in Palestine and Lebanon.