Oliviero Toscani (1942–2025) used art and advertising to challenge society. His legacy inspires us to rethink the status quo.
Visionary photographer and critical thinker
Oliviero Toscani (1942–2025) was an outstanding photographer and astute thinker who combined art and advertising to challenge social norms. He became famous for his controversial advertising campaigns for the Benetton Group, which were created between 1982 and 2000 and went far beyond mere product advertising. Toscani understood like no other how to use the power of images to bring pressing social issues such as racism, AIDS, war and social justice to the global stage.
Studies in Zurich and an international career
Toscani studied photography and graphic design in Zurich from 1960 to 1965 and later worked for renowned fashion magazines such as Elle and Vogue. He revolutionized the advertising world with his ad campaigns for Benetton, and in the 1990s he founded the socio-critical magazine Colors. His long and successful career was marked by controversies sparked by his choice of subjects, which included the death penalty, anorexia and homosexuality.
Creativity as a force for social change
The interaction between the power of the media and the means of art was the focus of his critical thinking and creative work. It was precisely this that led him to Linz several times, to the Ars Electronica.
Toscani and Ars Electronica: A creative dialog
In 2001, Toscani appeared at the Ars Electronica Festival “TAKEOVER – Who makes tomorrow’s art?” at the Brucknerhaus and gave a lecture entitled “Creativity versus Marketing”. In it, he emphasized the role of creativity as a driving force for social change and highlighted the fine line between creativity and marketing strategies.
In 2004, he was a member of the international jury of the Prix Ars Electronica. Together with experts such as Joichi Ito, Shanthi Kalathil and Howard Rheingold, he selected the winners of the newly introduced “Digital Communities” category.
Two years later, in 2006, he and journalist Wolfgang Blau gave a talk entitled “How pressure exerted by mass media to simplify messages is ruining politics and democracy”. In the summer refectory of the Augustinian Canons’ Monastery of St. Florian, they discussed how mass media simplify the complexity of messages and thereby endanger both political discourse and democratic opinion-forming.
On October 4, 2007, Oliviero Toscani appeared at the opening of the “u19 – freestyle computing” exhibition at net.culture.space in the Vienna MuseumsQuartier. Invited by Telekom Austria and Ars Electronica, the star photographer talked with young people about the role creativity plays in their use of new media.
In 2014, Oliviero Toscani honored Ars Electronica one last time when he participated in the Future Innovators Summit. As part of the “Lunchbox 4 / Mentor Session”, he met with young innovators, answered questions, gave advice and provided insights into his own projects.
The legacy of a visionary
On January 13, 2025, Oliviero Toscani passed away at the age of 82. He leaves behind a legacy that extends far beyond the world of photography and advertising. His work is a powerful testament to the transformative power of art and a tireless call to constantly question the status quo.