A panoramic view of Eduard Olivella's work in photography
An exhibition at the Photographic Archive of Barcelona features over a hundred photographs organized in five thematic areas.
In 2015 the photographer Eduard Olivella (Barcelona, 1948) donated his professional body of work, consisting of some 50,000 photographs, to the Photographic Archive of Barcelona (Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona or AFB). Part of this legacy will now be on display in an exhibition that is set to open at the Archive on 29 November titled Eduard Olivella: Documenting Culture. We will have time to go see it until 18 May 2019.
The exhibition features over 100 images, mostly copies of the original dry plate negatives while the colour photographs are digital copies. There are also 12 original signature and period pieces on jazz themes. In addition, a further 162 images can be viewed using two interactive kiosks located in the exhibition room, which also contains a showcase with complementary material. It should be noted that the exhibition can also be viewed virtually on the AFB website, and that a catalogue has been published for the occasion.
Eduard Olivella: Documenting Culture provides an overview of the photographer’s career and offers insights into the cultural activity of Barcelona between 1972 and 1996, a culturally dynamic period that saw a rapid growth in cultural consumption. Visitors to the exhibition will find five thematic areas: the first of which is dedicated to cultural activism, a second on live music in Barcelona, from the International Jazz Festival to pop, classical and experimental pop concerts, a third area dedicated to the inaugurations of the Maeght gallery, a penultimate space that focuses on photographic activism and the Art Triangle, and a final area devoted to the world of the cinema that features still images from films by directors like Bigas Luna and Vicente Aranda.
The protagonist of the exhibition holds a degree in the History of Art and has devoted himself to photography for more than forty years. He has received commissions in the worlds of architecture, entertainment and art and takes still photographs for the film industry. He has also worked as a professor of photography, and, in 1980, presided over the first Jornades Catalanes de Fotografia conference.
Additional information is available at the following link.