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Joan Fontcuberta at the Hasselblad Center
Joan Fontcuberta - Hasselblad Award 2013
The Nature of Photography – The Photography of Nature
26 October, 2013 – 19 January, 2014
The exhibition at the Hasselblad Center celebrates Catalan photographer Joan Fontcuberta as the 33rd recipient of the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography. It unites some of Joan Fontcuberta’s earliest and most iconic series such as Herbarium (1984) and Fauna (1987), together with Constellations (1993), Sputnik (1997), and the more recent Sirens (2000) and Orogenesis (2002). The works make up a journey through botany, zoology, astronomy, cosmonautics, palaeontology and geography as seen through the artist’s pseudo-scientific lens. The photographs of seemingly real flowers, animals and stars reference historical and philosophical discussions of the photographic medium.
Joan Fontcuberta works with photography in an expanded field. Each of his projects reach beyond the medium itself and seek to shed light on scientific and mythical phenomena within visual culture, often making visible our desire to conquer and tame nature in all its elusiveness. The artist is acclaimed for his innovative investigations of photography and its relation to truth, through photographic narratives that twine around the border between fact and fiction. His constant questioning of what is considered authoritative knowledge is a valuable method for exploring both photography of nature and the nature of photography.
Exhibition curators: Dragana Vujanovic and Louise Wolthers, the Hasselblad Foundation.
The book Joan Fontcuberta: The Nature of Photography – The Photography of Naturehas been published by the Hasselblad Foundation and MACK, in conjunction with the exhibition.
Joan Fontcuberta received the Hasselblad Award 7th March, 2013 in Barcelona. This year’s award committee consisted of Ute Eskildsen (chair), Thomas Joshua Cooper, Marcel Feil, and Agnès Sire.
The Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography is granted to a photographer recognized for major achievements. The list of previous award winners includes Lennart Nilsson, Cindy Sherman and Malick Sidibé, among others.
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The primary objective of the Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation is to promote research and scholarly education in the natural sciences and photography. We work toward this objective by, for example, funding scientific research and education, as well as by awarding stipends in photography and research in photography, and by awarding an international photography prize.
