Since it opened in 2007, the Cinémathèque de Tanger has become a pre-eminent cultural institution in the Maghreb. From July to December, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge welcomes the Cinémathèque with a film programme and a book published in five languages. The charm of Tangier as a legendary international city, a source of geopolitical interest and at the same time a meeting point between the Arab world and Europe is captured in the heart of Barcelona’s Raval neighbourhood.

More info here and here Updates here

Werker 2 (84 pages, 42x29cm)

Werker 2 addresses the museum by interrogating the relation of the ordinary man with History. From our collection of worker photographer publications and other documents depicting labour compiled in second-hand bookstores and antiquaries from Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and U.S.A, Werker 2 articulates a visual history of labour centered around the figure of the young worker.

Created by Marc Roig Blesa and Rogier Delfos.

Presented at ‘1979. A Monument to Radical Instants’ La Virreina Centre de la Imatge. Barcelona, Spain.

For sale at La Central (MACBA Barcelona), La central (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Madrid) and Laie (Barcelona).

Peter Weiss in front of his archive, Stockholm, 1966 Photo by Carlo Bavagnoli Courtesy Akademie der Künste, Berlin

1979 A Monument to Radical Instants at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona, from March 11th through June 12th 2011.

Opening: March 10th 19h30

Margaret Thatcher and Ayatollah Khomeini, but also the Sony Walkman and Apocalypse Now… All from 1979, a year that might not stand out in the history books as much as 1968 or 1989, but which was the stage for changes that still shape the world today. Structured around Peter Weiss’s novel The Aesthetics of Resistance, this exhibition relives this key year.

With works by: Philippe Van Snick, Xavier Ribas, David Bestué y Marc Vives, Humberto Rivas, Brassaï, Art & Language, Robert Koehler, Allan Sekula, Bill Ganzel, Marc Roig Blesa, Manolo Laguillo, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, Marine Hugonnier, Susan Meiselas, Marcelo Brodsky, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Perejaume, Joan Vila Grau, Alberto García-Alix, Manel Armengol and Pepe Encinas. Films by: Marguerite Duras, Francis Ford Coppola, Joaquín Jordà, Andrzej Chodakowski y Andrzej Zajaczkowski, Lars Laumann, Andreas Wutz, Patricia Dauder and Iñaki Garmendia. Reproduction of works by: Hans Haacke, Dorothea Lange, Joseph Beuys, Peter Weiss, Adolph von Menzel. Documentation and photographs from the Peter Weiss Archive. Interviews with Peter Weiss by Manfred Haiduk, Harun Farocki, Jürgen Lodemann. Films on Peter Weiss by: Manfred Haiduk, Harun Farocki, Staffan Lamm, Norbert Bunge, Christine Fischer-Defoy. “Institutions” with photographs by Pep Cunties, Eduardo Subias and Jesús Atienza. “Vindications” with photographs by: Perez de Rozas, Sergio, Europa Press, Pilar Aymerich, Czibor, Colita, Colita and Xavier Oliva, Juli Azcunce, Kim Manresa, Lluis Casals and videos by: Video Nou, Jaume Codina, Joan Francesc Solivelles, Llorenç Soler, Carles Duràn, Roberto Rossellini, Jacques Grandclaude. / The Documentation Room contains selected bibliography and films for public consultation.

Check Ninetofive on Facebook for pictures and updates. More information here very very soon!

Antiphotojournalism, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona, 2010, Installation view

Carles Guerra and Thomas Keenan have been recognized with the Barcelona City Award in the category of Visual Arts for Antiphotojournalism! Check it here!

Geraldine Doyle (1924—2010) was the real-life model for the World War II era ‘We Can Do It’ posters, an embodiment of the iconic World War II character Rosie the Riveter.

Faits Divers, Bruno Serralongue, 1993—1994/2010. Courtesy of Air de Paris (Paris), Baronian_Francey (Brussels) and Francesca Pia (Zürich).

Foc Divers — Bruno Serralongue
La Virreina, Barcelona 01/12—30/01
Opening: 30th of November 19h30

Text under image: L’altercation qui a éclatée […] entre les deux jeunes occupants d’un scooter et deux hommes circulant à bord d’une 504 aurait pu s’en tenir à un scénario très banal : un échange d’insultes […] chacun poursuivant sa route après ce défoulement verbal […] Malheureusement, on n’en est pas resté là. […] Et c’est devant le casino Ruhl que s’est déroulé un épisode aussi brutal qu’affolant. […] Rapidement descendu de la 504 dont il était le passager, un homme […] a exhibé une arme de poing et a immédiatement fait feu en direction du passager du scooter. […] Atteint dans la région du poumon gauche, […] le jeune Nasser a dû être admis dans un état préoccupant à l’hôpital.

Installation view of Augustus, 2004–9. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Latitudes

CURATORS Aimar Arriola and Manuela Moscoso
Organized by CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Móstoles, Madrid

Ignasi Aballí; Lorea Alfaro; Txomin Badiola; Antonio Ballester Moreno; Erick Beltrán; Bestué / Vives; Rafel G. Bianchi; Carles Congost; June Crespo; Discoteca Flaming Star; Patricia Esquivias; Jon Mikel Euba; Esther Ferrer; Nuria Fuster; Dora García; Fernando García; Rubén Grilo; Lilli Hartmann; Daniel Jacoby; Jeleton; Fermín Jiménez Landa; Adrià Julià; Dai K.S.; Tamara Kuselman; Daniel Llaría; Erlea Maneros Zabala; Pablo Marte; Fran Meana; Asier Mendizabal; Jordi Mitjà; Momu & No Es; Julia Montilla; Itziar Okariz; Antonio Ortega; Kiko Pérez; Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa; Gabriel Pericàs; Paloma Polo; Sergio Prego; Wilfredo Prieto; Tere Recarens; Red Caballo; Alex Reynolds; Xavier Ribas; Carlos Rodríguez-Méndez; Francesc Ruiz; Xabier Salaberria; Jorge Satorre; Javi Soto; Julia Spínola; Sra. Polaroiska; Alain Urrutia; Isidoro Valcárcel Medina; Azucena Vieites; Oriol Vilanova; WeareQQ

Before Everything is an attempt to delve into current artistic production from Spain. The exhibition, in which 56 artists will participate, will occupy the Center in its entirety. Undertaken by the exhibition’s curators Aimar Arriola and Manuela Moscoso, the selection does not set out to offer a totalizing vision of the here and now of Spanish art, but rather to confer an unprecedented level of visibility to productive modalities that have developed in specific locations in Spain; it will attend to the diversity of languages and ways of making art that have characterized the last 20 years. The recent change of decade offers an opportune moment to formulate an exploration of what’s to come and to take a look at the languages and ways of operating that have marked recent art.

More info:
http://ca2m.org/en/current/before-everything

The Atlas Group / Walid Raad, We Decided To Let Them Say “We Are Convinced” Twice, It Was More Convincing This Way, 1982—2007 © Weltkunst Foundation Collection, Courtesy of Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London.

An exhibition curated by Carles Guerra and Thomas Keenan
La Virreina, Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona.
5/07—10/10  2010

We are now witnessing a radical transformation in photojournalistic practices, and more generally in the way cameras record and make news. This has very little to do with the so-called ‘death of photojournalism’ — a rumor which we have no interest in confirming or denying. We are interested instead in critical and alternative accounts of the institution and practice of photojournalism. Artists, reporters, citizens, scholars, activists and archivists are doing exciting things that link the image to political and social struggles, often in unexpected ways. Their work is interesting in its own right, and for the deeper questions it often raises about the fundamental concepts of photojournalism. What are evidence, access, coverage, reporting, bearing witness, and how are these practices in their hegemonic form increasingly fragile and open to reconsideration? What has actually become of photojournalism today, and how does it stand in sharp contrast to the traditional forms of the practice? The exhibition examines some answers to these questions in a genealogy of contemporary antiphotojournalism, from the 1960s to the present.

The exhibition includes works by Paul Lowe, Phil Collins, Gilles Peress, Gilles Saussier, Paul Fusco, Laura Kurgan, Oliver Chanarin and Adam Broomberg, Clemente Bernad, Allan Sekula, Hito Steyerl, Kadir van Lohuizen, Goran Galic and Gian-Reto Gredig, Renzo Martens, Peter Piller, Walid Raad, and Harun Farocki; archives collected by Mauro Andrizzi, Ministry of Public Works and Housing (Gaza Strip), Ariella Azoulay, Susan Meiselas, and Sohrab Mohebbi; music videos edited by Jonathan Cavender, Robbie Wright, and Shane McDonald.

Saturday Come Slow, Film Still © Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin/ Black Dog Films, 2010.

An international symposium at La Virriena, Centre de la Imatge, Project directed by Thomas Keenan and Carles Guerra. Barcelona, 17—18 June 2010

Reports from journalists and human rights advocates have drawn attention to the use of musical performance as a technique of interrogation and punishment by American (and other) military and intelligence agencies in the ‘war on terror.’   While music has been traditionally associated with pleasure, beauty, and enjoyment, these reports call on us to rethink many received ideas about both music and the infliction of pain.  Despite widespread condemnation of these practices, many fundamental questions about the relationship between music and torture remain unasked and unanswered. Beyond those necessary critiques, it seems crucial to develop a vocabulary for understanding — and responding to — the entanglement of music, noise, pain, violence, cruelty, questioning, and power.

Speakers include Oliver Chanarin and Adam Broomberg, artists and editors from London, who will screen their new music video for Massive Attack (“Saturday Come Slow”), made in collaboration with released Guantanamo prisoner Ruhal Ahmed; Jose Luis Pardo, Facultad de Filosofia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and author of “Esto no es musica”; Ramona Naddaff, Rhetoric Dept, University of California at Berkely; David Levin, Department of Germanic Studies, University of Chicago; Peter Szendy, Universite de Paris X (Nanterre); and Gregory Moynahan, Department of History, Bard College.

Hito Steyerl, November, 2004. DVD, 25min. Video Still. Creative Commons licence. Courtesy of the artist

La Virreina LAB, Barcelona 
Video Program May 12—13 2010
Conference May 12 19h30
Is the Museum a Factory?

Seminar May 13 10h30
Breakfast with WorkersPunkArtSchool

A chance to discover the complete filmography of German artist and theorist Hito Steyerl. Her films combine different styles and traditions both from cinema and contemporary art together with documentary and performative research. La Virreina LAB invited the audience to to become familiar with the author of films such as “November” or “Lovely Andrea” both presented in Documenta XII, Kassel. This program was completed by a conference and a seminar conducted by the artist.