photography

London shows the nature photography work by Catalan and Hasselblad Award-winner, Fontcuberta

July 24, 2014 09:31 PM | ACN

Barcelona-born photographer Joan Fontcuberta presents his first major exhibition in the UK, ‘Stranger than Fiction’, which represents an overview of 30 years of his artistic work on nature photography. It opened on Wednesday at London’s Science Museum's Media Space and will be running until the 9th of November. The six-part collection of pictures and artefacts aims to examine the presumed reliability of photography and shake the viewer's consciousness by mixing fact with fiction, science with art, and persuasive storytelling with a deep questioning. After London, the exhibition will travel to the National Media Museum in Bradford (northern England) from the 19th of November 2014 to the 8th of February 2015.

Japanese company Olympus unveils new headquarters for Southern Europe in Barcelona

March 20, 2014 04:17 PM | ACN

Japanese multinational Olympus, specialized in optics and reprography, has unveiled its new headquarters for Spain and Portugal, aimed at becoming its main centre for Southern Europe. The new facilities are located in the business district of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, a city literally attached to Barcelona, between the Catalan capital and El Prat Airport. The new offices occupy 2,500 square meters in a building on the Europa Square, close to the Fira de Barcelona. It will welcome 30 employees of the divisions of Consumer Product, Microscopy, Industry, and Medical Systems. Merging the headquarters for Spain and Portugal constitutes a step forward to gain weight on the Southern Europe market, said Olympus Iberia's CEO.

‘Photography Nobel Prize’ Joan Fontcuberta on show in Paris

January 13, 2014 08:52 PM | ACN

The Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) in Paris will open on Wednesday, January, 15th an exhibition entitled ‘Camouflages’, devoted to the renowned photographer Joan Fontcuberta . Thanks to 10 series of photographs, visitors will journey through the works of the Catalan artist, who was awarded the prestigious Hasselblad prize in 2013, considered as ‘the Photography Nobel Prize’. The jury had highlighted that Fontcuberta was “one of the most imaginative contemporary photographers” of our time. The exhibition, which will occupy three of the four floors of the MEP, explores the notions of ??camouflage, concealment, and disguise: camouflage of the artist, of photography, of reality, and of truth.

‘Catalan Way towards independence’ is Wall Street Journal’s photo of the year

December 19, 2013 08:15 PM | ACN

The readers of the Wall Street Journal have deemed best photograph of the year a picture of the ‘Catalan Way towards independence’, a 400-kilometre-long human chain which crossed the whole of Catalonia on the 11th of September 2013. 1.6 million Catalans took part in the demonstration, asking for independence from Spain. The winning photograph was taken by Raymond Roig and portrays participants on the heights of Pertús village (located near the French border, in the Pyrenees). It was chosen amongst the 364 pictures selected by ‘Wall Street Journal’ editors as the best photos of the year.

Different management and new exhibitions at Barcelona’s Picasso Museum

December 18, 2013 08:31 PM | ACN / Pau Cortina

The Picasso Museum of the Catalan capital will no longer be solely run by the municipality. From the 1st of January 2014, it will be managed by the public-private Picasso Museum Foundation. This will be the beginning of a new era for the museum, which is set to focus on the conservation, study and development of its own artistic heritage, by launching the ‘Centre de Referència Picassiana on-line’, dedicated to researching and teaching Picasso around the world. The managers of the museum also wish to delve into the influence of Picasso on contemporary art. Such an idea is at the core of the next exhibition dedicated to the illustrious painter: Post-Picasso: Contemporary Artists' Response to His Art, held from the 7th of March to the 29th of June, 2014.

Catalonia’s National Art Museum hosts first-ever Joan Colom’s photography retrospective

December 11, 2013 05:03 PM | ACN

The National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) hosts the retrospective ‘I work the street’ dedicated to photographer Joan Colom. It is the very first time an exhibition presents all of the artist’s works, amongst which are many previously unpublished images. From the 12th of December 2013 to the 25th of May 2014, visitors will be able to see 500 pictures, notably Colom’s most iconic images: black and white photos secretly taken in Barcelona’s Raval in the 1960s. His feature stories from the 1990s are also presented to the public. Colom’s donation of various photographic materials in 2012 enabled such a comprehensive exhibition to take place. The Director of the MNAC, Pepe Serra, said the exhibition was unusual in many aspects.

Another Catalan journalist is kidnapped in Syria

December 10, 2013 03:11 PM | ACN

Freelance photojournalist Ricard Garcia has been kidnapped in the Syrian province of Raqqa together with El Mundo reporter Javier Espinosa by a group related to Al-Qaeda. On the 4th September, the Catalan Marc Marginedas, reporter from El Periódico, was also kidnapped in Syria. Barcelona-born Garcia and Málaga-born Espinosa have been missing since the 16th September near the Tal Abyad checkpoint. However, the news had not been announced until this Tuesday, when El Mundo published the information. They were kidnapped near the Turkish border together with 4 soldiers of Ahfad al Moustapha, one of the brigades of the Free Syrian Army, who were supposed to protect them. The 4 soldiers were released 12 days after they were taken away, but not the 2 journalists. Marginedas also remains in captivity.

Photography ‘Nobel’ Joan Fontcuberta explores the aesthetics of censored texts

November 14, 2013 02:34 PM | ACN / Pau Cortina

The 2013 winner of the prestigious Hasselblad Foundation Photography Award – which is like the Nobel Prize in this field – has been exploring the “aesthetics of censorship” in texts dating from the 16th to the 19th century. The “violent interventions” of censors are revealed in ‘Deletrix’, a series of photographs taken by Catalan Joan Fontcuberta and exhibited at the Santa Mònica Arts Centre of Barcelona. In addition, Fontcuberta also releases a book displaying the artist’s 6 years of delving into archives and libraries. Fonctuberta did not wish to solely condemn censorship and defend freedom of expression.  He also observed that the “violent” and “visceral energy” expressed in these human interventions influenced some contemporary works of art. And therefore, the photographer sought to explore the relationship between art and censorship.

World Press Photo winners on show in Barcelona

November 7, 2013 08:24 PM | ACN

The 143 pictures that won the last World Press Photo contest – the main photojournalism event at international level, which is held each September in Perpignan – will be on show at the Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture (CCCB). Among such photographs are many scenes taken at Gaza and Syria along with pictures of sports, nature, social issues and current affairs. Director of the Photographic Social Vision foundation Sylvia Omedes stated the exhibition “was the best opportunity to see the state of the world through the best photos taken in 2012”.  

Oriol Maspons, the photographer who depicted life in Barcelona between the 1950s and 1980s, dies aged 84

August 12, 2013 09:28 PM | ACN

Maspons was one of the greatest Catalan photographers of all time. He is famous for his pictures of the former Somorrostro slum in the Barceloneta beach, party life in Ibiza during the 1970s and Barcelona’s left-wing group of bourgeois intellectuals from the 1970s, known as ‘Gauche Divine’. Maspons worked mostly in Catalonia, but also in Paris and the States. In fact, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibits pictures taken by Oriol Maspons. He received top honours in Catalonia, such as the Catalan Government’s Sant Jordi Cross and Barcelona City’s Gold Medal. In 2010, he donated his private collection of some 5,500 pictures to Catalonia’s National Museum of Art (MNAC), which will organise a “large exhibition” on his work.

Illes Medes, a Mediterranean diving paradise on the Costa Brava

June 6, 2013 12:37 AM | Océane Apffel / Marina Presas

Seven islets just one kilometre away from the town of L’Estartit on the Costa Brava form one of the most attracting diving areas in Europe. Twenty years of protection as a natural marine park have permitted a complete sea-bed recovery, which hosts hundreds of species such as groupers, lobsters or even red coral. Caves, sharper rocks and sand banks captivate thousands of scuba diving lovers each year. Thanks to Illes Medes, L’Estartit has evolved from a little fishing village to an international diving town where tourists from all around the world are regular visitors looking for its submarine views.

Catalonia remembers flamenco legend Carmen Amaya

June 5, 2013 12:42 AM | Océane Apffel Font

Carmen Amaya is considered the best flamenco dancer in history whose passionate and wild style changed the conception of flamenco. Born in Barcelona in 1917, Amaya travelled around the world and triumphed in Latin America, United States and South Africa. This year marks the 50th anniversary of her death and the Catalan Government has proclaimed 2013 Carmen Amaya Year, with the intention of recognising the career of one of the best-known Catalan artists.

Catalan Joan Fontcuberta wins the Hasselblad Award, considered to be the Photography Nobel

March 8, 2013 10:44 PM | CNA

The Hasselblad Foundation has awarded its 2013 prize to the Catalan photographer Joan Fontcuberta. The jury highlighted the fact that Fontcuberta “is one of the most imaginative contemporary photographers” today. This is the most prestigious award at international level in the field of photography. It comes with 1 million Swedish crowns (around €110,000). The award ceremony took place in Barcelona on Thursday evening. In October, Gothenburg’s Art Museum will hold an exhibition on Fontcuberta’s work. His creations “adopt original and playful conceptual perspectives, which particularly explore photography conventions, means of representation and claims to truth”, stated the jury.

Samuel Aranda: “Being a photojournalist has taught me that not everything is what it seems”

February 4, 2013 04:03 PM | Laia Ros

CNA interviews Samuel Aranda, the Catalan photographer who eighteen months ago leapt to fame by winning the World Press Photo competition, the most important award in photojournalism thanks to a shot that would become the symbol of the Arab Spring: Fatima cradling her son Zayed, who was suffering from the effects of tear gas after participating in a demonstration in Yemen. However even after reaching such heady heights, Aranda hasn’t stopped working as his controversial photo essay for the New York Times about the extent of the Spanish economic crisis shows.