Joan Fontcuberta
Portrait
| 1955 | born in Barcelona, Spain |
He lives and works in Barcelona.
He studied Communications in the Autonomous University of Barcelona (1972-77) and later worked in advertising, journalism and as university professor in Fine Arts. Since 1974 he has been devoted to visual arts developing his creative work together with a wide range of criticism, theoretical, curatorial and docent activity.
Photos of the exhibition in the Gallery von Braunbehrens.
Biography
In 1980 he co-founded and became editor of Photovision, an international publication devoted to photography and visual arts. Founder member of the Department of Photography in the Barcelona Faculty of Fine Arts in 1980 and of the “Photography Springtime”, a biennal event since 1982. He has curated several exhibitions dealing with aspects of contemporary photography and with the history of Spanish photography as well (notely, “Idas & Chaos. Trends in Spanish Photography 1920-1945” and Creative Photography in Spain 1968-88) .
In 1986 he left his University professorship position (1979-1986) to devote himself completely to creative projects, personal work and theoretical writting. In 1990 he was visiting artist and professor at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. In 1993 starts regular teaching again as associate professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Currently he teaches in the Faculty of Audiovisual Communication, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and runs seminars in the School of Art and Design de Vevey (Switzerland). In 2003 was appointed visiting professor in the Department of Visual & Environmental Studies at Harvard University. In 2005-2006 he has been Visiting Fellow at the Newport School of Art, Media and Design.
Both his artistic and theoretical activity focus on issues of representation, knowledge, memory, science, truthfulness, ambiguity and trompe-l‘il, exploring the documentary and the narrative nature in photographic images and related media. Among the books with his work several are outstanding: Herbarium (1985), Fauna (1988) and Sputnik (1997). In 1992 the I.V.A.M. museum released the most comprehensive publication of his work up to that date, Historia Artificial. He has been author or editor of a dozen of books on aspects on the history, aesthetics and pedagogy of photography.
In 1988 Joan Fontcuberta received the David Octavious Hill medal, awarded by the Fotografisches Akademie GDL in Germany to acknowledge his whole careee in photography. In 1994 he was appointed Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. In 1998 he was awarded with the National Price in Photography given by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.
In 1996 he has been the artistic director for the International Photography Festival in Arles.
Solo Exhibitions
selection since 2000
| 2008 | Googlegramas, Galerie von Braunbehrens, Munich, Germany Des monstres et des prodiges, Musée-Château, Annecy Sputnik, Musée Gassendi, Digne Googlegramas, Palacete del Embarcadero, Santander Googlegramas, Instituto Cervantes, Valladolid Deconstructing Osama, Fundació Octubre, Valencia |
| 2007 | Landscapes without Memory, The University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, USA
Orogenesis, Bellas Artes Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, USA Perfida Imago, Musée dAngers (France) Datascapes, Galerie VU, Quebec Datascapes, Espace Virtuel, Chicoutimi, Canada Landscapes without Memory, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biala (Poland) Deconstructing Osama, Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró, Palma de Mallorca Googlegrams, Galeria Visor, Valencia Googlegrams, Galeria Xavier Fiol, Palma de Mallorca Googlegrams, Studio Marangoni, Florence Googlegrams, Australian Center of Photography, Sydney Googlegrams, My Name is Lolita Gallery, Madrid Goglegrams, Galería Fernando Silió, Santander |
| 2006 | Landscapes without Memory, Aperture Foundation, New York
Googlegrams, Zabriskie Gallery, New York
Datascapes, Artcore / Fabrice Marcolini, Toronto
Contravisions, Pavillion des Arts, Aix-en-Provence
La sirena del Tormes, Casa de las Conchas, Salamanca Orogenesis, Galeria Cadaqués Dos, Cadaqués |
| 2005 | Sciences Friction, Musée de lHotel-Dieu, Mantes-la-Jolie (France) Miracles et Cie, Cloître Saint-Trophime, Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles Googlegrammes, Institut Cervantes, Paris Orogenesis : Dalí, Galería Bacelos, Vigo Pin Zhuang, Forum Pasquart, Bienne (Switzerland) Pin Zhuang, Casa de Cultura Ignacio Aldecoa, Vitoria Mazzeri, Centre Culturel de Bastia (Corse) Lugares comunes, Fotomuseo, Bogotá |
| 2004 | Pin Zhuang, Zabriskie Gallery, New York
Karelia : Miracles & Co, Galeria Forum, Tarragona Imaginary Gardens, Centro Cultural Español, Miami Imaginary Gardens, Centro Culrural Español, Mexico DF Orogenesis : Dalí, Galeria Senda, Barcelona Orogenesis : Dalí, Galeria Xavier Fiol, Palma de Mallorca Orogenesis : Dalí, Galería Vanguardia, Bilbao Mazzeri, Institut Français, Barcelona Pin Zhuang, Galerie Synopsis, Lausanne |
| 2003 | Imaginary Gardens, The Salvador Dalí Museum, St Petersburg, FL La isla de los vascos, Artium, Vitoria La isla de los vascos, Ertzi Museoa, San Sebastian Karelia : Miracles & Co, Zabriskie Gallery, New York Karelia : Miracles & Co, Etelä-Karjalan Taidemuseo, Lappenranta, Finland El ojo, la cámara y la guitarra, Museo Picasso, Málaga El ojo, la cámara y la guitarra, Aliança Francesa, Sabadell Orogenesis, Galería T20, Murcia Orogenesis, Galería Spectrum, Zaragoza Mazzeri, Bastion de Saint Lorent, Corsica Securitas, Chateau de Salses (Francia) |
| 2002 | Karelia : Miracles & Co, Fundación Telefónica, Madrid Paysages Encryptés, Galerie Nathalie Pariente, Paris Scherzi della Natura, Fondazione Italiana per la Fotografia, Torino Simulis, Forum Culturel, Blanc-Mesnil (France) Pin Zhuang, Galeria Vanguardia, Bilbao Pin Zhuang, Galeria Xavier Fiol, Palma de Mallorca Securitas, Sala Caballerizas, Murcia Securitas, Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbon Constelaciones, Transfoma, Vitoria Orogenesis, Galeria Rrose Selavy, Barcelona |
| 2001 | Contra Natura, Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Roma) Contra Natura, Museo de la Universidad de Alicante Sputnik, Bell Gallery, List Art Center (Providence) Pin Zhuang, Galeria Senda (Barcelona) Securitas, Centre dArt Santa Mònica (Barcelona) Securitas, Fundación Telefónica (Madrid) Securitas, Centre dArt Santa Mònica (Barcelona) Twilight Zones, Adriana Schmidt Galerie (Stuttgart) Joan Fontcuberta, La Fábrica (Madrid) Twilight Zones, Galerie 52 (Anterwen) Semiopolis, Yeni Tzami (Museum of Archeology) (Tessaloniki) Fauna, Dunlop Gallery (Regina) |
| 2000 | Twilight Zones, Zabriskie Gallery (New York) Semiopolis, Adriana Schmidt Galerie (Cologne) Twilight Zones,Galeria Cesar (Lisbon) Twilight Zones, Museu Comarcal Salvador Vilaseca (Reus, Spain) Fauna, Musée du Seminaire (Sherbrooke, Canada) Sputnik, Galeria Tinta Invisible (Barcelona) Sirens, Galerie du Cairn (Digne, France) Fauna, Presentation House (Vancouver) Mummies Garden, LOeil de Poisson (Quebec City) Fauna, TPW Gallery (Toronto) Countervisions, Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo (Madrid) |
Selected Public Collections:
Musée d’Art Moderne / Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Musée de l’Elisée, Lausanne (Switzerland)
Folkwang Museum, Essen (Germany)
Museum für Kunst and Gewerge, Hamburg
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Center for Creative Photography, Tucson
Fons d’Art de la Generalitat, Barcelona
I.V.A.M., Valencia
MNCARS, Madrid
MACBA, Barcelona
ARTIUM, Vitoria (Spain)
Musée Cantini, Marseille
FNAC, Paris
FRAC Rhône-Alpes, Lyon
FRAC Champagne-Ardennes
Centre National de l’Audiovisuel, Luxembourg
International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman
House, Rochester
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Art Institute, Chicago
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara
National Gallery of Art, Ottawa
Fundaçao Serralves, Porto
Museo de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires
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