PHE16 has just kicked off its three months’ run (June 1 – August 28) with 94 exhibitions, 330 artists, 52 museum partners, 16 programs of activities for professionals and the general public, 32 galleries (Off Festival), and a satellite event in the region of Castille-La Mancha (with 5 projects) and the cities of Segovia and Murcia, among other news.
A focus on Europe
As the culmination of a three-year cycle dedicated to geographic regions, the 19th edition of PHotoEspaña focuses on visions and perceptions of Europe by historical and more contemporary figures who present a patchwork of plural identities, to echo the words of Maria Garcia Yelo, the Festival director. The artists have been brought together in solo and collective exhibitions by international curators, including Alexis Fabry and Maria Willis, Chema Conessa, Fritz Giertsberg, François Cheval, and Adrey Hoareau.
Exhibitions touching on today’s burning issues include Transitions. Ten Years that Transformed Europe, built around Nicolas Motelay Collection (Circulo Bellas Artes); To the Gates of Paradise! Photographic Essay on the Migrant, the Exile, and Refugee and the Stateless (Centro Cultural Conde Duque); and Portrait Photography in Europe since 1990 (Centro Cibeles).
Internationalization and diverse points of view
Among international artists of different generations, well-known or new to the Madrid public, we note: Bernard Plossu (El Real Jardin Botanico); Lucia Moholy, a forgotten Bauhaus photographer (the Loewe Foundation); Inge Morath (an homage at the Fundación Telefónica); Shirley Baker with Women, Children and Men Who Let Time Go By (the Museum Cerralbo); Louise Dahl-Wolfe (Bellas Artes); Vivian Maier (Fundación Canal); José A. Figueroa (America House); Juana Biarnes and Cristina de Middel (Centro Cultural de la Villa); and Andrea Robbins and Max Becher (Museo ICO). Primitive photography is the subject of the exhibition Copied by the Sun. The Talbotype Illustrations of the Annals of the Artists of Spain at the Prado Museum, while humanist photography takes the spotlight at the Reina Sofia Museum, participating for the first time with the exhibition Spanish Photography of the 50s and 60s. The Case of Afal.
A worthwhile destination in the metropolitan Madrid area is the city of Alcobendas, which is home to no fewer than 7 exhibitions showcasing Alberto Garcia-Alix, Yannis Karpouzis, Pierre Gonnord, Aleix Paldemunt, Nicolas Grospierre, and Ricardo Cases.
The number of European venues has shot this year from one to eleven: Bratislava, Chalon sur Saône, Dublin, Istanbul, Helsinki, London, Moscow, Paris, Riga, Rotterdam, and Warsaw, and involves major cultural institutions in a fruitful international cooperation.
The guests of honor include: Italian photographer Gabriele Basilico (Istituto Italiano de Cultura); Spanish photographer Juan del Junco (Museo Nacional de Ciencas Naturales); and the Casa de Velazquez 2016 photographers (Académie de France in Madrid).
Transatlantica, a forum inaugurated in 2008 and dedicated from the start to Latin America, now also covers Africa (Dakar, review of portfolios).
Prizes and support to emerging artists
PHotoEspaña owes its reputation to a very active network of galleries, presented in Off Festival. The exhibitions of artists from around the world include: British Chloe Dewe Mathews at the Ivory Press Gallery; Finnish Nanna Hanninen (Camara Oscura); Spanish Alfonso Zubiaga (Materna y Herencia); American Joel Peter Witkin (Michel Soskine); Venezuelan photography and multimedia Transdiverse (the Odalys gallery); and German Jürgen Schadeberg (the Blanca Berlin gallery).
As every year, the awards range from the PHotoEspaña Prize; the Bartolomé Rios Award; the Revelation Award; the Discovery Award for the best portfolio; the Best Photography Book; the Off Festival Award; to People’s Choice Award.
The PhotoBook Week opens its doors at La Fabrica from June 3 through 21, featuring the latest releases.
Photography for everyone!
In addition to activities open to professionals through the Descubrimentos PHE program, which brings together 160 national and international specialists in photography, the general public will enjoy a wide range of activities in the streets of Madrid as well as the opportunity to participate in the Community of Madrid Forum, a physical and virtual space designed to experience photography.
PhotoMarathon (June 24) offers festive ambience and open-air screenings after dark.
The competition From Selfie to Self-portraits and Saturday workshops for children at the Fundación Canal encourage a different approach to the medium. In a similar vein, two new competitions have been launched: Espiritu Ribera and Curators in Adobe Stock.
There is enough to make you want to explore the festival thoroughly to determine if the concept of Europe is still intact. In fact, the festival’s success has increased each year to the point that it has been extended through the entire summer.
FESTIVAL
PHotoEspaña 2016
Festival international de la photographie et des arts visuels
Madrid, Espagne
http://www.phe.es
