Exhibition by works of Jordi Bernad�, Toni Catany, Manel Esclusa, Anna Ferrer, Joan Fontcuberta, Pere Formiguera, Manolo Laguillo, Anna Malagrida, Jorge Ribalta und Xavier Ribas
El Jard� d'Humus XVII. (c) MANEL ESCLUSA.
Adorned by names like Pla Janini, Pere Catal� Pic, Agust� Centelles and Francesc Catal� Roca, it is
no surprise that Catalan photography occupies such a leading place in 20th-century visual culture.
Coinciding with the end of the Franquist dictatorship, this rich, long tradition reached a
crossroads, with some photographers taking the path of photojournalism whilst others took a
more artistic route, drinking from avant-garde founts. Ten of those who inherited this situation of
separation - photographers working in the 1980s and 90s- are featured at the Fotografie Forum
International. Jordi Bernad�, Toni Catany, Manel Esclusa, Anna Ferrer, Joan
Fontcuberta, Pere Formiguera, Manolo Laguillo, Anna Malagrida, Jorge Ribalta and
Xavier Ribas will show their most recent works, some of them for the first time, in Frankfurt.
Curated by: David Balsells
Organised by: Institut Ramon Llull in cooperation with the Fotografie Forum International
City: Frankfurt
Venue: Fotografie Forum International
Dates: 6 October - 25 November 2007
Opening: 5 October 2007, at 7 pm
www.ffi-frankfurt.de
Special events:
Saturday, October 6th at 12 o'clock
Gallery talk with David Balsells and photographers
followed by book signings
Monday, October 15th at 7 p.m.
Lecture
"Barcelona 1978-1997" with Manolo Laguillo
This project is part of the Catalan cultural theme of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2007 and a cooperation between the Institut Ramon Llull, Fotografie Forum international and the Culture Board of the city Frankfurt.
David Balsells, founder of the Primavera Fotogr�fica de Catalunya ("photographic spring of Catalonia"), was chosen to curate NOU-NOW, Contemporary Catalan Photography for what he terms as a "re-generation" review of Catalan photography.
This exhibition bridges the unique Catalan photographic tradition by displaying recent works of the artists who have defined photography from the region since the mid 1980's. The younger talents born after 1970 have too already spun an international network. Anna Ferrer studied in D�sseldorf with the Bernd and Hilla Becher and her series of photographs shown here were made in Columbia. Anna Malagrida received her photographic degree in Arles, France and in 2007 was included in The New Faces from Spain exhibit in Seoul, Korea. Also revealed this year in the Actar Publishing was the first major monograph from Jordi Bernad�, born in 1966, titled True Loving and other Tales.
The metamorphism of place, society and objects flows in each artist's works in this exhibition. For Pere Formiguera it is collections of small objects over time contained in boxes, like words and stories in a book; for Manolo Languillo it is the city of Barcelona viewed from the hills of the city and not from the Port; Toni Catany, Xavier Ribas, and Manel Esclusa revere nature in its most basic and sensual form to its abstract complexity
tampered by mankind. Jorge Ribalta questions the loss of the industrial age and contemporary art space by black and white photographs of tools.
Joan Fontcuberta seminal work Herbarium published 1985 throughout Europe questioned traditional photographic observation of reality and truth. Continuing his signature Fontcuberta enlivens a controversial look at digital photography and the information web highway with the series Googlegrams (2006).
The Fotografie Forum international has long been host and beneficiary of the annual "guest country" cultural programme of Frankfurt Book Fair. As with every year, the challenge lies to create a platform premiering new work and at the same time analyzes the photographer's identification to their home. The expansive interests of the international audience that the Fair season offers, is also a time to highlight and review what a country, or in this case a region, has given us photographically.
A catalogue Nou-Now. Contemporary Catalan Photography with texts from David Balsells and Pilar Parcerisas is available for purchase through the Fotografie Forum international.