Barcelona Past and Present

American photographer Mark Klett rephotographs Barcelona in an exhibition that uses images to show how time has changed the city.

Many times we don’t realise all the changes that the places where we live undergo. The ticking away of time takes its toll on everyone and everything: no exceptions granted. Just like when we open a photo album  and we see the changes over time reflected in our hair or clothes—always worthy of a witty remark or two—, our city, Barcelona, has also got a small scrapbook where changes are recorded.

Mark Klett is the photographer who has made this scrapbook using rephotography. This technique consists of taking an existing photograph of a site and taking another one from the same spot to capture the changes that may have occurred. Klett contrasts images taken at different times and makes a series of collages that, in his own words, “build bridges so we can travel in time”.

This rephotography project has been a long time coming. In fact the idea come up in 2010 when Klett was commissioned various Barcelona panoramas to be taken from Montjuic by the AFB [Barcelona's Photograph Archive]. He also organised a workshop called “Working across time: rephotographing images of place” jointly with 8 other local photographers.

The result of that work has today become “Mark Klett amb Refotografiar Barcelona” [Rephotographing Barcelona with Mark Klett]. There, we will see 39 images based on rephotography, 44 from the AFB archive itself, 6 engravings and a virtual exhibition. Also displayed are works by the participants of the workshop held in 2010. All together, they offer a pause for thought on the city’s changes over time.

The exhibition will be on until May 19th, from Monday to Saturday at the AFB in Ciutat Vella.

 

Refotografiar Barcelona amb Mark Klett
AFB / Pl. Pons i Clerch, 2
February 2nd—May 19th
Monday—Saturday (except holidays); 10:00—19:00
Free admission