The exhibition Broken Games is a selection of 13 photographs by different authors: some were taken by Joaquim Gomis’ father, others by Joaquim Gomis (1902-1991) himself, and one by Gomis’ wife, Odette Cherbonnier. What prompted this exhibition was a desire to present materials from the family albums in the Gomis Archive held at the National Archive of Catalonia, which evoke summertime joie de vivre as well as fun vacation and leisure time.
In this selection of photographs-most of which convey low temperatures, were taken at dusk or at times of low luminosity-, we find elements that can both open or close a space or dissolve its boundaries and contours. Mayoral photographs places that might seem hostile, places where time has been suspended, a time that does not seem to exist and that the locations do not allow to situate or signify.
This selection of photographs by Joaquim Gomis captures a historic and personal moment of suspended time and a sense of emptiness, of collective post-traumatic shock, of phantoms and absences, of dejection and very slow reconstruction. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, new collective confrontations were erupting which were often the result of the dismantling of European ’empires’ and the beginning of the Cold War. Coinciding with the solo exhibition of Nalini Malani (born in Karachi, Undivided India, in 1946) at Fundació Joan Miró, we delved into Gomis’ archive to find photographs from those two years that would convey the prevailing mood in Catalonia right at the moment when what was known as British India was declaring its independence. A declaration that came with a territorial partition that brought about a wave of sectarian violence that, like in Spain, left a legacy that still needs reckoning and reconciliation.
In the late 1970s, after Franco died, Barcelona photographer Antoni Bernad took portraits of the leading personalities in Catalan culture from Joan Miró’s generation.
Thanks to Joan Miró’s generosity, Barcelona’s Club 49 invited the Merce Cunningham Dance Company to perform in Sitges in 1966. Joaquim Gomis, who was one of the club members, was able to photograph the American troupe, which included John Cage and David Tudor, at the famed La Ricarda residence during a break, as well as at a rehearsal prior to their perfomance.
With no manipulation whatsoever -with just water, light, and a camera - Bufill captures real images in a fraction of a second and turns them into hypnotic apparitions.
From the photographs taken by Joaquim Gomis of some of Antoni Gaudí’s most iconic buildings, this selection was made by thinking about what Lina Bo Bardi might have discovered in the Catalan architect’s works during her visit to Barcelona in 1956.
Esperanza Urdeix is an Alexander Technique teacher who applies her practice to photography. According to this technique, we have to give ourselves time to make decisions. For Urdeix, observing everything that surrounds her in her daily life allows her to stop and gain awareness of how she herself feels during a convalescence.
Photographs by Joaquim Gomis and Magels Landet. Joaquim Gomis photographed La Ricarda while it was being built. Decades later, the sculptor Magels Landet captured details from the house when it was no longer inhabited and had become a legend of architectural and cultural modernity from the Barcelona of the 1960s.
His relationship with beeswax has led chandler Toni Garcia to venture into photography. Addressing the synergy that emerges between light and darkness, Garcia observes his surroundings from a different perspective.
Joaquim Gomis i Serdañons (Barcelona, 1902-91) was an entrepreneur, photographer, art promoter and the first president of the Fundació Joan Miró. Over the course of more than five decades, he produced a large body of photographic work that was associated with the most advanced artistic approaches of its times.
Joan Brossa always quoted the principle of his much-admired Fregoli: ’art is life and life is transformation.’ Cloe Masotta takes this premise out into the streets, knowing that at any moment she may encounter an object, a text, a shadow or a colour that attracts her and that she can seize with her cell phone. Once framed, reality is transformed and introduces a poetic twist. Nothing is what it appears to be.
This exhibition is part of the Epicentre Brossa programming.
