Photo España
October 2005 - MAP magazine
With dozens of individual exhibitions on display in more than forty museums and galleries in Madrid, and extending this year as far as Toledo, navigating all that falls under the official PHotoEspaña 2005 label can be overwhelming to say the least. This year’s theme, Ciudad, takes viewers through the twenty-first century Western urban landscape. Despondently detached cityscapes and in-your-face images of urban life make up the collection of at times seemingly unrelated images that represent what curator Horatio Fernández calls the decaying city model—a product of an “era of lessening differences” and the “failure of modernity.”
The Official Selection:
These are institutional art establishments of the most traditional kind, not funky little galleries like those found around Lavapies but well-funded big dogs whose artistic clout enables them to nab some of the festival’s most intriguing exhibitions.
Centro Cultural de Conde Duque
Conde Duque, 9-11
Tel: +34 91 588 5834
M/San Bernardo, Noviciado, Plaza de España
June 2 – July 17
An eighteenth century military barracks acquired by the city council in 1970, Centro Cultural de Conde Duque now finds itself in one of capital’s most fashionable barrios. The center exhibits three outstanding collections this year, notably the group of photographs from a 1930s British study on living conditions of the working class titled Mass Observation.
Casa de América
Paseo de Recoletas, 2
M/Banco de España
Tel: +34 91 595 4800
June 2 – July 24
The art center dedicated to America (South that is) brings Oscar Marine’s vision of modern-day Buenos Aires. His images of women, children, musicians, signs, gazes, sins and fetishes shed light on the spirit of a metropolis that has become another example of the generic global city that is the festival’s theme.
Fundación Telefónica
Gran Vía, 28
M/Gran Vía
Tel: +34 91 522 6645
June 3 – August 7
The Iber-American-Spanish telecom conglomerate lays down its “cultural and artistic resources” in a vow to “carry out a very active policy to encourage corporate collectionism through the creation of various modern and contemporary art collections.” Anyway, Telefónica has managed to outsource one hell of an exhibition by German photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, who bring the industrial side of urban life to the photographic print.
Museo Colecciones ICO
Zorilla, 3
M/Banco de España, Sevilla
Tel: +34 91 420 1242
June 2 – July 31
The Official Credit Institute, in conjunction with the estate of Keith Haring, puts its financial influence to good use this summer with Urban Memory, a collection of photographs of the work of New York’s most famous graffiti artist from the days when the subway, an alleyway and a tossed-away door were his canvas.
Fundación Canal
Mateo Inurria, 2
M/Plaza de Castilla
Tel:+34 91 545 1506
June 1 – August 28
In what used to be a water elevating station when Plaza Castilla was a day outside Madrid in the countryside, Fundación Canal shows off Otros Mediterraneos—the
search for a “single Mediterranean city,” if such a thing exists. Photographic comparisons are made between Mediterranean metropolises Barcelona, Marseille, Venice, Athens, Istanbul and Beirut; the comparative works point inland to Madrid.
Writer’s Picks
I would normally take this chance to foist my personal tastes on you, but this time I decided to go the sensible route, and instead of just listing my favorites, I’ve compiled a list of exhibitions what will last at least through the end of July. There really is something for everyone.
Fundacion COAM
Piamonte, 23
M/Alonzo Martínez,
Banco de España, Chueca
+34 91 319 1683
June 3 – July 22
With the differences between Madrid and Barcelona being constantly shoved down our throats, this exhibition by various photographers brings the Iberian cities together with “two parallel visions that end up merging” their urban conditions in a way which has never before been presented.
Juana de Aizpuru
Barquillo, 44, 1º
M/Alonso Martínez, Chueca, Colón
Tel:+34 91 310 5561
June 14 – July 30
A personal favorite simply because it “accentuates the most uncomfortable aspects of everyday life,” this exhibition by Costa Rican Priscila Monge deals with what is known but not discussed in modern urban living— blurring the line between what is private and what is public, what is taboo and what is socially acceptable.
Distrito Cu4tro
Bárbara de Braganza, 2
M/Alonso Martínez, Chueca
Tel: +34 91 319 8583
June 2 – July 31
For a look at how urbanites interact, this gallery in Chueca brings together Spanish photographer Naia del Castillo and American Laurie Simmons for a reflection on social conventions. Images show “how social forces restrict the individual” and deconstruct “the presence of the female within a male world.”
La Fábrica Galería
Alameda, 9
M/Atocha
Tel: +34 360 1325
May 31 – July 23
Israeli performance artist Yaël Davids merges body and urban object through installations, photography and audiovisuals. “This relationship can be so close that the body becomes an object and the object part of the body.” It becomes clear why the best design ideas come from nature itself.
** For information about hours and locations, please visit www.phedigital.com |
