Niccolò Benetton and Simone Santilli - The Cool Couple (a.k.a. TCC) - are professors of Photography and Video Architecture at the MADE Program, Academy of Fine Arts in Syracuse.
The Cool Couple is a Milan-based duo founded in late 2012 by Niccolò Benetton (1986) and Simone Santilli (1987). Their research explores the friction points in the daily interaction of individuals and communities with images, using a variety of mediums ranging from photography to electrostatic cloths, meditation rooms to Chinese cover bands. TCC's work has been exhibited at several institutions, including Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Unseen Photography Festival, Centquatre, Les Rencontres des Arles, Museo MACRO, and MAMBO. Their accolades include the Premio Fabbri for Contemporary Photography (2014), the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation scholarship (2014), the Graziadei Award for Young Photography (2015), participation in the Plat(t)form program at the Fotomuseum Winterthur, a nomination for the Discovery Award at Les Rencontres des Arles Festival, and the Under 40 Photography Award at Artverona (2017). In 2017, The Cool Couple was selected as artist in residence at Careof (Milan), Nirox Foundation (Johannesburg), and Kuldīga Artist Residency (Latvia). Alongside their artistic research, they are engaged in teaching, having collaborated with NABA, IUAV, AplusA, University of South Wales, IED Turin, ISSP, and MADE Program. Niccolò and Simone are also part of the Genda Magazine team, the research collective POIUYT, and are founders of the band Rui & the Rainbow Dragons, with which they hope to eventually participate in The Voice.