Each summer, Madrid becomes a reference event for the world of visual arts and photography. With exhibitions in the main museums, halls and art galleries, as well as diverse activities related to the chosen theme each year, PHotoESPAÑA offers the possibility to discover the latest tendencies in photographic art as well as the latest projects by the most internationally renowned artists. The latest edition will be held from 10 May to 29 September 2024, featuring 84 exhibitions and the participation of 293 photographers and visual artists.
PHotoESPAÑA offers the possibility to discover the latest tendencies in photographic art as well as the latest projects by the most internationally renowned artists. Its first edition was held in June 1998 with the main objective of giving photography a relevant place in public institutions and raising awareness of the work of galleries.
The 2024 edition is presented under the slogan Perpetuum Mobile, with movement as the central theme. From the dynamism of photography to that of the creators in the development of their work; from the representation of movement to collective, historical or social changes.
As usual, the programme is divided into two sections: the Official Section and the Off Festival, awarding different prizes to recognise the work of some of the participating artists. Numerous museums and exhibition halls take part in these sections in order to boost the promotion and development of the photographic market. For yet another year, the official section includes the joint exhibition of the ENAIRE Foundation Photography Prize, which can be visited at the Royal Botanical Garden, as well as the exhibition of The Best Photography Books of the Year, which features more than a hundred publications opting for the Best Photography Book of the Year Award.
In addition to being the slogan for the exhibition, Perpetuum Mobile also gives its name to the joint exhibition that will be held at the Fine Arts Circle displaying the work of 27 Spanish photographers who trained in the analogue/digital paradigm of change and established themselves in the first decades of the 21st century.
Spanish photography will be represented by great figures, such as Gonzalo Juanes, Javier Campano or the photographers, Pilar Aymerich and Paloma Navares, pioneers of the gender perspective in Spain. Emerging photography will be represented by photographers like Catara Rego and Lúa Ribeira from Galicia; Widline Cadet from Haiti; Sebastián Bruno from Argentina and young artists from the group exhibition of the NUR call for entries at Casa Árabe.
Teatro Real will be a venue for the first time, hosting a unique exhibition that explores his unknown facet as photographer of the great composer, Giacomo Puccini.
Major Retrospectives
PHotoESPAÑA is committed to major retrospectives of three international photographers: Erwin Olaf, with the first major exhibition devoted to his work since his death; the Ukrainian, Boris Savelev, whose work will be shown for the first time in Spain; and the photographer, Barbara Brändli, with an exhibition of her largely unpublished archive.
The Serrería Belga Cultural Space is hosting the exhibition by Boris Savelev, the most extensive retrospective of the Ukrainian photographer to date. It is a journey through six decades of a career that began in the former Soviet Union up to the present day. On the other hand, the Fernán Gómez Cultural Centre will be hosting a panoramic exhibition by Erwin Olaf, one of the great renovators of the narrative aesthetics of staged photography with themes like social, political and ecological activism by the Dutch photographer.
CentroCentro will be hosting the exhibition devoted to Barbara Brändli, who is internationally renowned thanks to her book Nervous System, in which she highlights the importance she attaches to gesture and pose.
International photography in solo exhibitions
The Canal Foundation will host an exhibition devoted to one of the greats of contemporary photography, Elliot Erwitt. The Human Comedy will exhibit 135 of the photographer's works in three sections: people, animals and forms. The ICO Museum will feature the first major retrospective on Iwan Baan, considered to be the world's foremost architectural photographer.
The Mapfre Foundation will be displaying Catch the Spirit, a full retrospective of the American photographer, Consuelo Kanaga. The same venue will also host No Ulterior Motive by David Goldblatt, which offers a unique vision of apartheid, one of the darkest periods in the history of South Africa.
The San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts presents A Dane in Madrid during the Restoration by the Danish photographer, Christian Franzen, which commemorates the first centenary of the artist’s death and includes photographs by the maestro.
See Full Programme
Image Credits:
- Erwin Olaf Kleines Requiem I 2022 © Courtesy Studio Erwin Olaf/ Amsterdam
- Widline Cadet, Nan Letènite In Eternity, 2021 © WIDLINE CADET
- Erwin Olaf, 11.05 am from the April Fool 2020 series, 2020 © ERWIN OLAF, COURTESY STUDIO ERWIN OLAF GALERIE RON MANDOS – AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
- © Elena de la Rúa
- Garden of Melancholy To the man tired of life. 2004-2006 ©️ Paloma Navares
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