From June 4th to July 27th, Madrid will be hosting 69 photography exhibitions as part of PHotoEspaña PHotoEspaña is back in Madrid. With the theme “El lugar” (The Place), this Festival of Photography and Visual Arts will once again turn the city into a living celebration of photography. All participating photographers, both in the Official Section and the Off Section will face, one way or the other, their visual idea of a “place”.
Amongst the most awaited exhibitions is the one by Bill Brandt. The Home, at Sala de Exposiciones AZCA (Paseo de la Castellana, 81) at the BBVA building. For the first time in Spain, this mythical photographer is showing the series of portraits of the British working class that he took during the 1930’s and 40’s.
Fundación Banco Santander is hosting an exhibition at Teatro Fernán Gómez (Plaza de Colón, 4) with the photographic work by W. Eugene Smith, much of which has been published in Life magazine. The works by this American author show a sincere social commitment.
The ghetto in Lodz, during the Nazi invasion of Poland, is the place chosen time and again by Henryk Ross’s objective, as can be seen in the photographs in the exhibition held at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Contemporary Art Museum, Conde Duque, 9 and 11) under the title Buried Memories.
Museo Reina Sofía (Santa Isabel, 52) also brings two classics: Leonardo Cantero, member of the school of Madrid, whose series Dehesa abulense is a beautiful testimony of the rural world in the 1960’s, and Robert Smithson, one of the most significant figures of Land Art, through which he transforms natural spaces.
Furthermore, PHotoEspaña 08 becomes a springboard for emerging photographers. Descubrimientos PHE will be showing, at Complejo El Águila (Ramírez de Prado, 3) 70 portfolios selected amongst the participants of this contest for young up-and-coming artists. On the other hand, on June 13th La noche de la fotografía (Photography Night) will flood the streets with Canon’s PHotomarathon, Camper Photo-Tours, night screenings in the Literary Quarter and activities organized by Captura.org, a group which makes use of the Internet to spread their creations. This year PHotoespaña places special emphasis in the Programas para los Públicos (Programmes for the Public), a series of guided tours of exhibitions and children’s workshops
