Friday, May 30, 2014

VESTIGIOS INVISIBLES at Espai d'art contemporani de Castelló, Spain

 
Xavier Ribas - Una Voce Unica e Inevitabile (2014)

Opening today and running until August 31st, the exhibition Vestigios invisibles (Invisible Traces) presents photographs by Mark Adams, Ana Teresa Ortega, Xavier Ribas, Ann Shelton and Vicente Tirado which record territories that were once the scene of events of which they are no visible traces left to photograph. These images ask us to rethink the representation of landscape and its memory.

For its theoretical framework the exhibition returns to the notion of late photography as expounded by David Campany, who defines it as follows: “These images appear to us as particularly static, often sombre and quite ‘straight’ kinds of pictures. They assume an aesthetic of utility closer to forensic photography than traditional photojournalism.” In Campany’s view, this type of photography is the trace of a trace and “a kind of photograph that foregoes the representation of events in progress and so cedes them to other media,” taking on the role of the “undertaker, summariser or accountant.” Contrary to the notion of the decisive moment introduced by Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1952, late photography “turns up late, wanders through the places where things have happened, totting up the effects of the world’s activity.”
It's nice to see a show with fellow New Zealanders Mark Adams and Ann Shelton, showing with my friend Xavier Ribas.

The Espai d'art contemporani de Castelló is a centre for the production and dissemination of contemporary art, under Proyecto Castelló Cultural and the Consorcio de Museos de la Comunidad Valenciana, two public bodies belonging to the Generalitat Valenciana, the Valencian regional government.

Ann Shelton, installation view




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