AD LITTERAM exhibition view

From 23 June until 29 July 2016.

JOAN FONTCUBERTA: AD LITTERAM

Exhibition and debates

Curated by Nathalie Parienté

The International Univerity of Andalucia (UNIA) is pleased to announce an exhibition devoted to the Catalan artist Joan Fontcuberta (Barcelona, 1955), one of the main figures in the domain of contemporary photography, who has recently received the Hasselblad Foundation Award (often called the Nobel Prize of photography). His work is in the collections of some of the most prominent cultural institutions, such as the MoMA in New York, the Pompidou Center in Paris or the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.

Joan Fontcuberta is a photographer, a theorist on photography, an educator or, as he calls himself, a Jack of all trades. His roots lie in sociology, semiology and information science rather than in the art world. Througout his work, he has analized, through photography, the techniques of manipulation of the instututionalized knowledge, natural sciences (Herbarium, 1984), religion (Milagros & cia, 2002), journalism (Deconstructing Osama, 2002), etc., seeking to dismantle their persuasiveness and manipulation potential.

The exhibition “Joan Fontcuberta: Ad Litteram” presents two recent series. In Googleramas (2005), the artist invites to reflection on the all powerful Google, beaking the myth of the universal archive while highlighting different forms of control and filtering of information.

In his most recent series, Deletrix (2010), he refers more litterally to acts of censorship and violence against the written document. In this body of work, Fontcuberta takes photographs of documents which are universal heritage, such as pages from the Adagia of Erasmus (in their latin version conserved in the Library of the Salamanca University) which have suffered acts of censorship through intended smudges, burns or erasures, most of which happened during the Inquisition.

During the exhibition, two debates reflecting on the challenges of the circulation of images and information in the Internet Era will take place. Joan Fontcuberta will talk about his work. The French lawyer Emmanuel Perrat will explain his vision on the freedom of expression within the French legal framework in the “post-terrorist attacks” and “state of emergency” context. Manuel Torres, Vice Rector for Students and Communication of the UNIA and Miguel Pino Abad, Professor in the University of Córdoba, will deal with inquisitorial censorship from an historical and legal point of view.

Exhibition

Mena Building, pl. de la Legión Española, Málaga. From 23 June until 29 July 2016.

Opening: Thursday, 23 June, 20h.

Monday to Thursday 9h – 18h-, Friday 9h – 13h. Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays.

Debates

Mena Building, pl. de la Legión Española, Málaga.

12 July 2016, 11h to 13h.: “Freedom of expression questioned”.

With: Joan Fontcuberta, artist, and Emmanuel Pierrat, French lawyer, collector, writer and curator in the “Musée de la Magistrature”, Paris. Moderator: Nathalie Parienté.

13 July 2016, 11h to 13h.: “Inquisitorial censorship of European press in the age of Enlightenment”.

With: Manuel Torres, Vice Rector for Students and Communication of the UNIA and Miguel Pino Abad, Professor in the University of Córdoba.

The exhibition catalogue will be available during the exhibition opening.

AD LITTERAM exhibition catalogue