ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Franco Vaccari's Photomatic d'Italia offered ordinary citizens the opportunity to engage in a creative act that had resounding parallels to alternative notions of direct democracy materializing throughout the country. Photomatic d'Italia actually had various iterations, grouped together by Vaccari's deployment of the photo booth machine. Vaccari gave anyone willing to participate the chance for direct involvement in his piece and, more importantly, creative agency over their own visual representation. The self-sustaining system within Vaccari's projects is especially evident in his exhibition at the Biennale. Vaccari's move from the white cube to the urban context reinstated the photo booth in its habitual, public site. Vaccari enlisted participants by calling for novice actors for a movie production. New notions of citizenship materialized, demanding direct democracy and equality for all, which began at the level of the individual. Vaccari's photomatic d'Italia gave aesthetic representation to this new force.
