Concept


Tandem Paris-Madrid, Urban Transformations, arises from an invitation from the city of Paris to be part of this annual program that seeks to build cultural bridges with another city. Its programming has been the result of a dialogue between the teams of both city councils and the French Institute. The chosen theme, which shows common wills and concerns, and around which the program revolves, is urban transformation, and more specifically, the role played by art, culture and citizen participation in that transformation. A sign of this harmony between the two municipalities is, for example, a certain parallelism between the calls that each city has launched with a view to the participatory construction of public spaces.














Technical Data  Original title: La Même Indifférence: Orcasur(SP) / La Courneuve(FR)
Project: Aquellos Que Esperan. Vol. 02 “La Même Indifférence”
Where: CentroCentro. Spain
Dates: 19th Oct to 14th of Jan 2018  
Curators: Sandra Maunac, Aquellos Que Esperan
Images: Aquellos Que Esperan
Texts: Urbiquity, Aquellos Que Esperan
Design: Koln St. 
Production Co.: The Kids Are Right
Organizers: Paris City Hall, Madrid City Hall, Institut Français,
Instituto Cervantes,  in collaboration with the French Embassy and the Spanish Embassy 
Original Language: Spanish


Approach


The project Aquellos Que Esperan, by photographers Diego Sánchez and Borja Larrondo, explores situations of daily life in peripheral neighborhoods based on modern architectural models and reflects on the influence of urban planning on society and its development, showing how it conditions the construction of identity of its inhabitants.

This exhibition is a parallel setting of Orcasur (Madrid) and La Courneuve (Paris), where, despite the obvious differences, the similarities of two places with different histories are shown. It does not seek to collect the truth about these urban spaces, but to form an amalgam of fragments whose reading must be made in its globality: therein lies its strength. The assemblage is what allows us to intuit which interpretative path we can take or which is the one the authors have arrived at.

It is a journey through which Borja Larrondo and Diego Sanchez share their multiple strategies and their own analytical questions, the reproduction of a non-linear path that began five years ago. They present their experiences, their discoveries and give voice to their numerous collaborations on neighborhoods loaded with other imaginaries that are difficult to demolish. A A convoluted and fertile journey that can only be redrawn by making use of heterogeneous tools, where the fixed image is undoubtedly insufficient.

There is no them and us here. The distinction between Orcasur and La Courneuve is diluted and the figure of Borja and Diego becomes an anonymous part of these spaces. The function of the contemporary author, as they also understand it, is not to be above, designating a reality. The humility of these images underlines their approaches, but also their inclusive will, always from the fragility and awareness of what it means to build an image. There is no intention of demonstrating or complying or providing answers, but to generate questions and move to action. Renouncing the documentary illusion of the totalizing story does not mean to fall into a vacuum, but to provide something fundamental: to feel the power of the human being. We approac human beings with all their contradictions, violence and uncertainties, asking ourselves where that same indifference comes from.

Sandra Maunac. Curator



Awards & Grants


Fotopres
Magnum Photos’ Mentorship: Peter Marlow, Peter van Agtmael & Mark Power
Descubrimientos PhotoEspaña
PhotoEspaña - Book of the year. Shortlist
Les Rencontres d´Arles - Author Book Award. Shortlist
Artists in residence at the Circulation(s)
Carte blanche. Exhibition Le CentQuatre-Paris
Acción Cultural Española. Ministerio Español de Educación, Cultura y Deporte

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