The exhibition “Beyond the Single Image. Spanish Photography from the Foto Colectania Collection, Barcelona” brings together a broad and representative collection in the United States.

The exhibition presents 150 works by 36 artists from the Foto Colectania Collection, that currently comprises more than 3,000 photographs by Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese authors, making it undoubtedly one of the most comprehensive private photography collections in the Iberian Peninsula. These images testify to a dual modernization process that began in the 1950s, reflecting changes in both the photographic medium and the societies of Southern Europe.

Curated by Carles Guerra, the exhibition is thematically structured into 20 sequences grouped into 10 sections, creating a dialectic between a single image and what we could describe as an alternative development of events through photographic sequences. The display of the works in the exhibition, that refers to a photographic atlas, reveals an unusual capacity to transform Foto Colectania’s collection into an apparatus that produces new narratives and interpretations out of connections, juxtapositions and unlikely sequences.

Among the 36 artists featured in the show, there are some from the latest generations of contemporary photographers like Laia Abril, Cristina de Middel, or Txema Salvans; renowned names such as Pilar Aymerich, Joan Fontcuberta, Manel Armengol, Cristina García Rodero, Manolo Laguillo, or Alberto García-Alix; and classics like Leopoldo Pomés, Xavier Miserachs, Ramón Masats, or Francisco Gómez.

According to Carles Guerra: “Modernization often became synonymous with iconization, reducing and synthesizing reality into an emblematic image. These were the photographs that shaped events; although each event would have generated many more versions of what happened, only one image acquired iconic status. An image that is often recognized with just a tacit agreement.”

The exhibition curator adds: “On the other hand, there are other collective events – demonstrations, processions, rituals – and crowds that evoke the inherently procedural and quantitative nature of photography as an alternative politics lurking in the crowd. These moments demand more than a single image. In fact, as many as possible, hence the title of the exhibition.”

“Beyond the Single Image. Spanish Photography from the Foto Colectania Collection, Barcelona” is the result of the collaboration between The Margulies Collection at The Warehouse, one of the most important art entities in the U.S., and the Foto Colectania Foundation of Barcelona. Martin Z. Margulies is a trustee of the Foto Colectania Foundation.

This exhibition has been made possible thanks to the agreement and collaboration of Spanish companies in the US, such as Banco Sabadell Miami Branch, Grupo Damm, Rodilla, and Grupo Roda. The project also benefits from the support of institutions such as Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), the Spanish Embassy in the US, the General Consulate of Spain in Miami, and the Institut Ramon Llull.

Participating Photographers
Laia Abril, Helena Almeida, Manel Armengol, Pilar Aymerich, Clemente Bernad, Josep María Casademont, Gérard Castello-Lopes, Colita, Joan Colom, Gabriel Cualladó, Jordi Esteva, Joan Fontcuberta, Alberto García-Alix, Cristina García Rodero, Francisco Gómez, Joaquim Gomis, Fernando Gordillo, Roger Guaus, Cristóbal Hara, Manolo Laguillo, Adriana López Sanfeliu, Chema Madoz, Ramón Masats, Cristina de Middel, Xavier Miserachs, Jorge Molder, Carlos Pérez Siquier, Leopoldo Pomés, Jorge Ribalta, Xavier Ribas, Humberto Rivas, Rafael Sanz Lobato, Txema Salvans, Ton Sirera, Ricard Terré, Miguel Trillo.

About Foto Colectania Foundation
The Foto Colectania Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Barcelona, Spain, created in 2002 with the aim of promoting photography and raising awareness of it in social, artistic, and educational spheres. Currently, Foto Colectania has become an active center for photography of international prestige, where it conducts exhibitions, activities, and projects related to photography. It also holds a collection of 3,000 photographs by more than 80 Spanish and Portuguese authors, which are displayed both at its headquarters and through an extensive program of traveling exhibitions. One of the foundation's main objectives is to promote Spanish and Portuguese photography abroad. www.fotocolectania.org