The city seen from the peripheries as a counter-discourse

In the year 1992 major events took place in several Spanish cities. Barcelona hosted the Olympic Games and Madrid was European Capital of Culture. In this context of big urban changes some photographic projects set out to portray aspects

By presenting different photographic projects carried out in Barcelona between 1992 and 2004, this round table sets out to trace a route through a particular critical photographic tradition.

Josep Lluís Mateo participates in the round table revisiting photographic study of 1989-1990 for the magazine Quaderns del Col-legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya together with Manuel Borja-Villel, Joan Roca and moderated by Jorge Ribalta.

Draw: Jordi Bernadó

Barcelona : Survey 1990
Quaderns nº 186

Describing an urban reality, at a given moment, would be the objective of the survey.
Field organization:
Geography
Nature
The land, the support

Barcelona between sea and mountain and between two rivers; Llobregat and Besòs.
All this world enclosed here has multiple faces: parts more or less built, spaces in process, empty spaces or totally full.
On this geographical basis, we divide the space into relatively homogeneous parts that we give to a photographer to transmit and represent, and interpret.
This allows us to see the city as a finished mass or as what it is: an intermediate place between past, present and future.
The vision of it all allows us to intuit the different moments in the construction of the city, with its beauty and its misery.

John Davies 2
John Davies
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Photos: John Davies

Joan Fontcuberta 2
Joan Fontcuberta
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Photos: Joan Fontcuberta

Manolo Laguillo 2
Manolo Laguillo
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Photos: Manolo Laguillo