These Italian Television Sets Highlight Desire For Wealth and Excess

Italian version of the Guinness World Records with new record attempts, including many unusual or bizarre categories.

A team of two people is presented with 1,000,000 Euros. Participants must save the most money possible.

Gilded and gargantuan, Res Pvblica is Swiss, Paris-based photographer Simone Cavadini’s examination of wealth and power through the hyper-lavish sets of Italian television programs. Photographed at the studios of Italy’s biggest commercial broadcaster, Cavadini captured each massive media landscape with a large-format camera. The images highlight the monstrous size, flooding lights and intensely saturated colors permeating every stage and set. The absence of a cheering audience and thundering music allows for an unsettling pause in these contemporary colosseums of excess. Strangely Baroque and surreal, Cavadini nods to the great games and public throngs of ancient times past, hinting that such events are tactics for distraction and control. Res Pvblica acts as a critical look into our desire to “tune in and tune off” for false dreams of wealth and fame.

A very popular comedian enchants the audience with monologues and performances.

Italian variety show. A popular TV program that keeps company to people throughout the day.

Space reserved for the orchestra and showgirls for a popular entertainment show.

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