This exhibition aims to present to the public the recent phenomenon of photobooks and to show the change of paradigm that this has caused in artistic photography in Spain. Nowadays, photobooks have turned to be the best promotional tool for a whole new generation of photographers. At the same time, this has opened a new field where to experience new languages and work processes that have received a high recognition internationally. The exhibition includes a selection of eight works presented on the wall close to the books themselves, as well as a dozen of other photobooks that are a reflection of the variety both in photographic kinds as well as in the groups, designers, publishing houses and authors leading this boom.
The unsurpassable health that the photobook nowadays enjoys is nourished by the contagious excitation that exists in the scene of contemporary photography and that is certified by the increasing appearance of festivals, publications, exhibitions, collectors, awards, fairs and specialized Photobook Clubs. Likewise, in the recent years meticulous reviews of the history of photography under the prism of photobooks have appeared that, apart from revaluing it, they have helped to offer a new historiographical statement of the medium. Finally, the fact that editing procedures have been simplified and cheapened, added to improvements in digital printing and the appearance of online or on demand sales, have caused that go off in the number of self-published books.
In the case of Spain, a whole group of photographers has taken advantage of these factors in order to give a great step ahead, reaching with their photobooks important recognition, multiple awards and appearances in international publications. Jon Uriarte, expert in photobooks, who has contributed to this project, explains that “this new generation of photographers has found in photobooks a new space to experiment upon with absolute freedom and the opportunity to create a new identity in total conjunction with other movements in photography internationally. For these photographers, the photobook appears as a vital need, not only to eventually establish a quality photography industry in our country, but also a way to stimulate and claim interest and awareness on photography in society.”
The exhibition in Foto Colectania comprises of eight works exposed on the wall together with a dozen of other photobooks that show the wealth of offers and languages coexisting nowadays in Spain. Somehow all of them contain what photographer John Gossage has defined as a good photobook: “First, it has to have a good content; secondly, it has to achieve that this work enacts as a world into itself; third, it must have a design that accompanies the concept; and, finally, the content has to cause constant interest to the viewer.”
Participating photographers: Ricardo Cases, Cristina De Middel, Óscar Monzón, Aleix Plademunt, Simona Rota, Txema Salvans, Carlos Spottorno, Antonio M. Xoubanova.
Photobooks by: Gustavo Alemany, Israel Ariño, Julián Barón, Jon Cazenave, Federico Clavariano, Alberto Feijóo, Eloi Gimeno, Paco Gómez, Roger Guaus, Ignasi López, Maíra Soares, Miguel Ángel Tornero, Juan Diego Valera.
May 14th through July 30th 2014
Fundació Foto Colectania
Julián Romea, 6
08017 Barcelona
Spain
Opening hours:
From Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Closed on Sundays and holidays.