“Scent of a Dream” - A journey in the world of coffee

A photographic exhibition in Venice, a book published by Contrasto and a display in the Coffee Cluster at Expo 2015 and at the Salone degli Incanti in Trieste.

All the expressive, evocative, and emotional images created for illy by the celebrated Brazilian photographer, Sebastião Salgado, will be on display starting May 1st, 2015. Salgado’s journey through coffee growing countries began in 2002, when illy met the renowned photographer, who shared the same  common value: sustainable development, the fundamental principal by which this Trieste-based company is able to maintain its supreme quality.

Born in Brazil and driven by his passion to document images from around the world, Salgado is well acquainted with the lives of coffee growers, having observed them since he was a child. Born in 1944 into a large family from the Brazilian interior state of Minas Gerais, he grew up watching his father transport coffee to the ports along the coast. He has since chronicled his experiences in the form of highly suggestive black and white photographs, depicting the images he knows so well.

Throughout his career, Salgado has managed to use his black and white pictures to celebrate the daily lives of those on the plantations, and the beauty of the terroir from which the precious bean is grown and harvested. The sequence of his images was constructed, shot by shot, in ten of the countries from which illy buys coffee: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Colombia, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Tanzania.

This incredible homage to the men and women working in the coffee plantations will be presented to the public at large, in its entirety, through an extensive tour throughout Venice, Milan and Trieste.
From May 6th to September 27th  2015 at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa – Piazza San Marco, Venice –, there will be a world premier exhibition of the 80 most beautiful pictures taken of coffee growing countries, created by Sebastião Salgado for illy. The exhibition, cured by Lelia Wanick Salgado and entitled “Scent of a dream. A journey in the world of coffee”, will offer free admission and will tell the incredible story of how coffee is made, from the plantations to its export to other countries. The decision to present the project in Venice was taken on the basis of the strong relationship between the city and its love of contemporary art. The Venice exhibition will be the first of several shows that will take place over the next three years in the United States and Asia. 

To mark this event, the Italian book entitled “Profumo di sogno. Viaggio nel mondo del caffè” and published by Contrasto will be presented. Using the images created by the great humanist photographer and text by Andrea Illy, Luis Sepulveda, Angela Vettese and of course, Sebastião Salgado, the book tells the story of the journey through the coffee plantations. The book is curated by Lélia Wanick Salgado, the photographer's wife. The book will be available in all Italian bookshops, illyshop stores, shop.illy.com, www.contrastobooks.com, the exhibition bookshop and the Coffee Cluster at Milano Expo 2015.

During Expo Milan 2015, from May 1st to October 31st, a selection of large images by the acclaimed photographer will be on display for visitors to enjoy in the Coffee Cluster, the pavilion dedicated to coffee and curated by illy. Twelve vertical images will be on display along the decumanus, and twenty horizontal images will be inside the Coffee Cluster, illustrating the various stages of production.

Sebastião Salgado's pictures will also be on show in Trieste: from July 2015  in the exhibition rooms of the Salone degli Incanti in Trieste, where the coffee exhibit will be held. The exhibition is a collaboration between Expo Milan, illycaffè, the administrative body for the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the City of Trieste and the Trieste Chamber of Commerce, directed at promoting the role of the city as a "Coffee Capital" and creating a bridge between the Universal Exposition in Milan and the regional territory.


Exhibition details
Title: SCENT OF A DREAM. A journey in the world of coffee
Author: Sebastião Salgado
Curated by: Lélia Wanick Salgado
Promoted by: illycaffè
Office: Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Piazza San Marco 71/C – Venice
Duration: 6 May – 27 September 2015
Opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday,  10:30 am –  05:30 pm
Admission: free

Book details 
Title: Profumo di sogno. Viaggio nel mondo del caffè.
Author: Sebastião Salgado
Editing, planning and design: Lélia Wanick Salgado
Texts by: Luis Sepulveda, Andrea Illy and Angela Vettese
Publisher: Contrasto
Language: Italian
Format: 24.3 x 35.5 cm, 320 pages
Photographs: 150 approximately
Cover: hardback
Cover price: € 59.00
Available at:  all Italian bookshops, illyshop stores, shop.illy.com, www.contrastobooks.com, the exhibition bookshop and the Coffee Cluster at Milano Expo 2015


illycaffè, based in Trieste, produces and sells a single blend of espresso coffee and is a leading brand in the market for high quality coffee. illycaffè is the official partner of Expo 2015, responsible for designing and managing coffee related content, displays and events in the communal area of the Coffee Cluster. Every day over 6 million cups of illy coffee are enjoyed. illy is sold in more than 140 countries throughout the world and is available in over 100,000 of the best restaurants and bars. Through its franchises, the Italian-style café chain, espressamente illy, is today present in over 30 countries with 230 cafés. With the aim of developing and spreading coffee culture, the company established the Università del Caffè, the centre for excellence that provides comprehensive theoretical and practical training to growers, baristas and enthusiasts on all subjects pertaining to coffee. Globally, the company employs approximately 1,050 people and in 2013 it produced a consolidated turnover of 374 million euros. Through partnerships based on sustainable development, illy buys green coffee directly from the growers of the finest Arabica beans. With the best growers in the world, from Brazil, Central America, India and Africa, the company based in Trieste develops relationships founded on long-term collaboration, sharing knowledge and technology and paying growers a price that is above the market average.

Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation The Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa was founded over a century ago thanks to the wishes of a generous and forward-thinking woman, who was able to foresee the goals and current prerogatives of Italian institutions involved in promoting the work of emerging artists. At the end of a life largely dedicated to supporting the then newly formed Italian nation, Felicita Bevilacqua (1822-1899), widow of General Giuseppe La Masa, decided to leave the Palazzo Ca' Pesaro to the City of Venice on the condition that it should be used to assist the &quotyoung artists who are often excluded from the main exhibitions&quot. In the last ten years, 1,200 artists have shown their work at the BLM. There have been 218 exhibitions, over 50 catalogues published and hundreds of posters, invitations and brochures. There are three main aspects to the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa’s programme:
- Organising exhibitions for living artists of international fame, to provide significant opportunities for engaging with important contemporary artists to the local area, making it part of the circuit of international exhibition centres, such as the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Whitechapel Gallery, as well as places that host artistic residencies, like the Camden Art Centre in London and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.
- Activities dedicated to young artists, like the Mostra Collettiva Annuale (Annual Collective Show), now in its 98th year, the granting of bursaries to the most promising young artists, the annual bursary holders' exhibition and the awarding of 12 Artist's Studios for a period of one year. In addition, there are individual and collective shows for young artists organised in association with universities, academies, exhibition centres and other Italian and foreign institutions.
- Information and promotion activities, such as l'Archivio Giovani Artisti (the Young Artists Archive), created in association with the Viafarini centre in Milan and the library specialising in contemporary art. Furthermore, BLM also edits many publications alongside the institution's historic archive. The Foundation organises seminars, workshops, conventions and meetings that bring together internationally renowned artists, critics and theorists.