Aitor Ortiz - “Gaudí. Intimate Impressions”

Temporary exhibition

Teatre Municipal Xesc Forteza

Photographing architecture, especially that of Antoni Gaudí, poses a particular challenge and raises an inevitable question: what can a new perspective contribute to works that have been photographed so extensively?

For decades, Antoni Gaudí’s architecture has been among the most photographed in the world, and its bibliography is vast. Images taken by professional and amateur photographers alike inspire those who view them to see his buildings firsthand, drawing millions of people each year from the most distant countries to the places where they stand, generating new photographs.

Aitor Ortiz took on the challenge of photographing the architecture of the Catalan genius in order to convey something that had not been seen in quite the same way before. He did not set out to find elements that had not yet been photographed—perhaps an impossible task—but to look at them with appropriate austerity and distance. At the same time, subtly, he also shows us the Gaudí who moved between the craft tradition of the past and the technological modernity of his time, highlighting the importance of his workshop-laboratory, the generative space at the heart of his entire creative process. By removing the rhetoric of colour and delving into details, he not only reveals a Gaudí who is surprisingly contemporary and modern for his time, but also remains faithful to the language that has made his photography recognisable to date. Gaudí’s strength and Ortiz’s gaze establish a dialogue in which both reveal their qualities in full, yet heightened.

The exhibition consists of nearly 70 small-format works with a classical format, executed using highly contemporary printing and mounting techniques. It stands out for its quiet presence, turning the surrounding visual silence, as in the music of Frederic Mompou, into the protagonist—between two intimate sonorities, or rather, between two silent images.

More information: 971 225 900 (ext. 1727 and 1730)
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 am to 7 pm; Sundays and public holidays, 11 am to 2 pm