Exhibitions
PHotoESPAÑA celebrates its 29th edition with a focus on experimentation and big names in international photography
The 29th edition of PHotoESPAÑA, Spain's most important photography festival, is here, bringing together around one hundred exhibitions this year and running from May 13 to September 13. This edition emphasizes experimentation and exploring the limits of the image, solidifying its position as one of the major cultural events on the international scene.
Its program features three key figures. First, two essential figures in American photography of the second half of the 20th century: Robert Frank and Richard Avedon. PHotoESPAÑA emphasizes that, for the first time in Spain, Frank's iconic series The Americans , a pivotal work for understanding the evolution of contemporary photography, can be seen in its entirety, alongside another essential work by Avedon, In the American West , where the photographer constructs a powerful portrait of identity and the human landscapes of the American West.
'Streetcar', New Orleans, 1955, by Robert Frank. ROBERT FRANK Foundation.
In addition to this collection, there is a proposal specifically conceived for the festival by National Photography Prize winner Isabel Muñoz. Her project delves into the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial and the figure of Philip II, the monarch who ordered its construction, establishing a dialogue between heritage, memory, and contemporary imagery through her unique visual language.
The festival presents an ambitious program centered around rebellion and experimentation, with over 40 main exhibitions, seven guest venues, and nearly 50 alternative spaces. With the Netherlands as the guest country of honor, this edition aims to connect with younger audiences through a diverse, direct, and formally rich collection of works.
Among the featured exhibitions is one that brings together, for the first time, the photographic report by Colita during the first major LGBTI+ protest held in Barcelona in the summer of 1977, a visual testimony of great historical and social value. Meanwhile, the Canal de Isabel II is hosting Nostalgia / Utopia , a retrospective dedicated to the two decades of work by designer Ana Locking (Toledo, 1970). Her garments are presented as authentic emotional and political snapshots, capable of reflecting both the context in which they were conceived and the concerns of the designer herself: the tension between past and future, expectations of what is to come, and the need to tell stories through design.
'DNA', 2007, by Viviane Sassen, photography exhibition at the Fernán Gómez. Cultural Center of the City.
The organizers also highlighted the first retrospective in Spain of Dutch photographer Viviane Sassen, which will be on display from June 3 to July 26 at the Fernán Gómez Cultural Center, under the evocative title Lux & Umbra . The exhibition spans three decades of her career, showcasing her work in Africa, as well as a body of work that fuses photography, collage, and archival material, with the female figure as its central theme.
Another major highlight is the presence of Laia Abril, winner of the 2023 National Photography Prize, who will present a new installation entitled Endometriosis at the Museum of Romanticism. The work addresses this gynecological disease from a critical perspective, focusing on women's suffering and the historical neglect of this condition by the medical community, as Santoyo explained.
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