Barcelona in image - “Objective BCN. We portray the city”

From February to June this year two hundred Barcelona residents took to the streets with their cameras in an effort to capture the diversity of the city’s numerous districts. The educational project, entitled Objectiu BCN, was initiated by the city’s network of civic centres in an effort to arrive at a collective portrait of the city via a programme of theoretical classes, practical sessions and photographic excursions headed by internationally acclaimed photographers the likes of Samuel Aranda, Fernando Moleres, Walter Astrada, Moises Saman, Emilio Morenatti, Toni Amengual, Juan Manuel Castro Prieto and Txema Salvans.

The results of the project can now be seen in La Virreina Centre de la Imatge in an exhibition that allows visitors to stroll among the many and varied aspects of Barcelona as it stands today: the street musicians, the horses of the La Mina district, the markets, the Colònia Castells housing scheme, artists’ residencies, city allotments, churrerías (fritter makers), the city’s third youth, bird fanciers, striking workers, industrial chimney stacks, “touristification”, the city’s architectural skin, the firemen, circus made art, the financial crisis, the port area and the shared economy, among many other subjects.

In the words of the exhibition’s curator, Samuel Aranda, the experience has been “an organised chaos of ideas, a guided improvisation designed to benefit from the creative spontaneity required by any fledgling project”. The exhibition in question is complemented by other exhibitions in each of the twelve participating civic centres as well as a selection of large format photographs on display in many of the city’s metro stations.

Objective BCN. We portray the city can be seen in La Virreina Centre de la Imatge from the 4th of December to the 25th of January. Entry is free and more information is available here.