Books that are photos, photos that are books

December 17 , 2013 – September, 2014 /
Nouvel Building, Library and Documentation Centre. Espacio D, Floor 0

Free ticket

Books that are photos is the first of two shows programmed by Museo Reina Sofía on photobooks. This show features a selection of about 150 photobooks published in Spain from the year 2000 onwards, especially in the last four years. This upcoming proposal is to be followed, in 2014, by the exhibition The Spanish Photobook, 1905-1977, which will delve further into the research carried out by the Museum on photobooks.

The exhibition forms part of the program connected to the public presentation of the Library and Documentation Centre’s collection. A significant number of the photobooks on display in Books that are Photos came to be part of the Museum’s collection thanks to donations by the authors or publishers themselves. Deserving of special mention is the donation of Bookip, an archive of self-published photobooks that was developed collectively in 2011 and given to the Museum a few months ago.

Many books with pictures were published at the beginning of this century, but not many photobooks. There are exceptions, of course, such as Joan Fontcuberta and Cristóbal Hara, among the photographers, and Mestizo and Photovisión, among the publishers. In fact, Photovisión was the publishing house that, back in 2000, brought us the first book in the selection, David Jiménez’ Infinito, an excellent photobook that went virtually unnoticed for many years and is now considered a masterpiece.

In 2009 Fiesta Ediciones arrived on the scene. This publishing project, initiated by Ricardo Cases, produces fanzines and books like La caza del lobo congelado (co-published with a university collection called Cuadernos de la Kursala, which has been directed by Jesús Micó in Cádiz since 2007).

New publishing projects began in 2010: first came Standard and Bside, and two years later, the explosion: Ca l'Isidret, Ediciones Anómalas, Phree, Siete de un Golpe, Veinticuatro...

Special mention must also go to the photobooks that have been included in the lists of the year’s top photobooks or that have received international awards. For example, Ukraina Pasport by Federico Clavarino, Paloma al aire by Ricardo Cases and Censura by Julián Barón, all three from 2011. The following year came Noray by Juan Valbuena, Nomads by Xavier Ribas, Furtivos by Vicente Paredes, Agroperiférics by Ignasi López and Los Afronautas by Cristina de Middel. This last-mentioned photobook met with great critical acclaim and appeared on numerous international lists of the best photobooks of the year. Last of all, in 2013 the harvest thus far has been excellent, with such successful and oft-cited titles as Casa de Campo by Antonio Xoubanova, The Hub by Roger Guaus, Pigs by Carlos Spottorno, Karma by Oscar Monzón and the just-released The Waiting Game by Txema Salvans, the winner of the fourth Latin American photobook contest organised by the publishing house RM.

Exhibition´s details

Organized by: 
Museo Reina Sofía
Curatorship: 
Horacio Fernández
Artists:
Laia Abril, Carlos Albalá, Gustavo Alemán, Daniel S. Álvarez, Rodolfo Andaur, Iñigo Aragón, Israel Ariño, Pascual Arnal, Javier Ballester, Jesús Marina Barba, Julián Barón, José Ramón Bas, Luis Baylón, Jonás Bel, Clemente Bernad, Jordi Bernadó, Lucía Boned, Patricia Bordonaba, Mireia Bordonada, Ana Casas Broda, Juan Manuel Díaz Burgos, Indiana Caba, Alfredo Cáliz, Paul Callery, Biel Capllonch, Nuria Carrasco, Ricardo Cases, Pablo Casino, Juan Cires, Federico Clavarino, Nicolás Combarro, Matías Costa, Tiago da Cruz, Ricky Dávila, Susana Delgado, Luis Díaz Díaz, Dizy Díaz, Iñaki Domingo, Alejandro de Dueñas, Pau Faus, Alberto Feijóo, Eneka Fernández, Joan Fontcuberta, Ana Galán, Ricardo Garrido, Eloi Gimeno, Paco Gómez, Neftalí González, Olmo González, Roger Guaus, Sergio Hernáez, Raúl Hernández, Teo Hernando, Bonifacio Barrio Hijosa, David Hornillos, David Jiménez, Landry, Lu Lantana, Jesús Llaría, Miquel Llonch, Ignasi López, Photobook Club Madrid, Fernando Maquieira, Rosell Meseguer, Palíndromo Mészáros, Cristina de Middel, Juan Millás, Óscar Molina, Jesús Monterde, Enric Montes, Óscar Monzón, Elena Morón, Ignacio Navas, Eduardo Nave, Nophoto, Cristina Núñez, Javier Orcaray, Vicente Paredes, Carlos Cancela Pinto, Aleix Plademunt, Tanit Plana, Belén Purroy, José Luis Ramírez, Miguel Ángel Rebollo, Jorge Ribalta, Xavier Ribas, Carmen Rivero, Giusy Rizzi, Fábio M. Roque, Simona Rota, Froilan Rovira, Martín Rueda, Txema Salvans, Juan Santos, Mireia Sentís, Leo Simoes, Maíra Soares, Marta Soul, Carlos Spottorno, Miguel Ángel Tornero, Rafael Trapiello, Jon Uriarte, Juan Valbuena, Juan Diego Valera, Ernesto Valverde, Héctor Velázquez, Mari Luz Vidal, Elena Vigó, Pol Viladoms, Luis Vioque, Antonio M. Xoubanova, Jorge Yeregui, Román Yñán, Manuel Zamora, Ana Zaragoza View more
Program:
Biblioteca y Centro de Documentación