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Joan Fontcuberta: the photography that reveals/rebells to us
The Ferrater Mora Chair proposes five days of critical reflection with the photographer and theorist of the image.
With the aim of exploring the boundaries between reality and fiction, representation and manipulation, the Ferrater Mora Chair of Contemporary Thought is organizing the seminar Lessons of Things: Photography Reveals Us / Rebels, which will take place from May 19 to 23, 2025 in the Sala de Graus of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Girona . The course will be led by photographer and essayist Joan Fontcuberta , one of the most influential voices on the international scene in contemporary photographic criticism and creation.
Starting with five sessions—Grammar of Anomaly, Of Orchids and Macaroni, Marine Biology: Mermaids and Corals, When Censorship is Beautiful and Analog Arcadia and Digital Bazaar—Fontcuberta will open a space for reflection on the social uses of the image, the mechanisms of verisimilitude and the devices that articulate our perception of visual reality. The sessions, which will take place at 4:00 p.m., will feature the participation of Ingrid Guardiola , Xavier Antich and Joan Boadas , providing complementary voices from philosophy, archival studies and visual culture.
The seminar offers free registration, but you must reserve a place in advance by writing to dir.cfm@udg.edu. As a complementary activity, on Thursday, May 22 at 6:30 p.m. , Joan Fontcuberta will offer the open conference Photography: from alchemy to algorithm at the La Mercè Cultural Center in Girona, where he will delve into the evolution of photographic processes, from traditional chemical practices to artificial intelligence and the creation of synthetic images, emphasizing the crisis of confidence in the image in an era marked by hyperinformation and digital manipulation. Admission is free, but you must also register in advance at the following link .
Joan Fontcuberta (Barcelona, 1955) is a photographer, conceptual artist and cultural disseminator with a long career linked to critical reflection on the image. An international reference, he combines artistic practice with teaching, essay and curatorship. He founded the magazine PhotoVision and has been the promoter of multiple initiatives for the promotion of contemporary photography. Both in his work and in his theory, he questions the credibility of photography and the mechanisms by which the image is presented as proof of reality. Interested in the social function of photography and its public uses, Fontcuberta often resorts to parody to reveal visual deceptions and activate a critical gaze in the face of the saturation of images and information.
With this cycle, the Ferrater Mora Chair reaffirms its vocation to open spaces for critical thinking around major contemporary debates, and this time it does so with one of the essential figures for understanding current visual culture.
© Artium
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