• 00:50 "Sur l’herbe"
  • 07:13 Archaeology of the image
  • 12:52 Photography, seriality and construction of the public space
  • 17:07 Field work
  • 19:33 Methodology
  • 24:16 Analogic
  • 27:46 Artistic practice – social practice
27/07/2015 31' 21''
Spanish

'Field Works' was a monographic exhibition on the work of Jorge Ribalta (Barcelona, 1963) held at galería àngels barcelona gallery from December 2012 to March 2013. The title referred both to a working method based on empirical and anthropological observation, and to the specific analysis of the 'cultural field', which Ribalta analysed and scrutinised with his camera. The works in the show reflected these premises and were a turning point in relation to Ribalta's earlier oeuvre.

'Sur l’herbe' (2005-2008) –which is part of the MACBA Collection–; 'Trabajo anónimo, Iracheta SL, Can Ricart, Poblenou' (2005); 'Petit Grand Tour, Tarragona, 29 agosto – 6 octubre 2007' (2007-2008); 'Laocoonte salvaje' (2010-2011); Scrambling (2011) and 'Imperio (o K.D.)' (2013-2014) are series that explore contemporary forms of work and leisure arising from our cultural systems, and at the same time update the concepts of the document and documentary practice.

In contrast to current post-photographic discourses that theorise in real time about the death of photography, Ribalta defends the need to restore political currency to the photographic document as a means of representation and analysis of social processes, as a critical method for studying the ideological dimension of images, and, ultimately, as a tool for unmasking the strategies of power.

Ribalta works with large series of black and white photographs, which he takes with an analogue camera and develops himself in his darkroom. These series take over the exhibition space, setting up meaningful relationships between the images and immersing the viewer in the epicentre of a modality of public and relational space that is essentially photographic.

SpecialsFONS ÀUDIOJorge RibaltaCreative Commonsphotography

Related RWM programmes