Healthy and Sustainable Campus
The SiS Campus includes 70 activities and consists of two action plans, the Healthy Campus and the Sustainable Campus, aimed at people working and studying at the University.
Exhibitions Hall
COSMOGONY OF IMAGES. JOAN FONTCUBERTA
The UAB hosts a large-format exhibition dedicated to the work and labour of Joan Fontcuberta.
The exhibition Cosmogony of Images offers a thematic overview of the axes surrounding the artistic work of Joan Fontcuberta and provides the opportunity to view photography from a new perspective. The exhibition, curated by students from the module Critique, Curatorship and Diffusion of Art within the Master in Management and Analysis of Artistic Heritage at UAB, can be visited from 9 July to 30 July, and from 1 September to 7 October, from Monday to Thursday from 10 am to 7 pm and Friday from 10 am to 3 pm, at the UAB Exhibition Hall, located in the Building of the Communication Library and General Newspaper Archive. On 23 September, a closing event will be held with the presence of the artist, the curators, and the exhibition coordinator.
Joan Fontcuberta is internationally recognised as an artist on par with icons such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank, or Cindy Sherman. Born in 1955 in Barcelona, he presents himself as a dissident photographer, illusionist, and critic who ventures to explore the complex consideration of the image in relation to the individual and contemporary society. His interest in photography and communication are disciplines that Fontcuberta has been familiar with since childhood and that have accompanied him to this day. His artistic output has continued to grow and surprise us for over fifty years, stimulating minds and alerting us to the traps of the image, especially when it comes to the image in the post-digital era.
The exhibition proposes a narrative thread that aims to highlight some of the key pillars of Joan Fontcuberta's thought and work. The author's collaboration has been fundamental in structuring the keys to his discourse and has allowed for the creation of a unique reading: a Cosmogony of images. The exhibition intends to offer capsules of thought and to educate the public in the artistic creation mechanisms of the author, pursuing a pedagogical principle.
Suspicion, play, irony and transgression are systemically part of Fontcuberta's work and invite us to question first impressions. Nothing is as it seems at first glance and as spectators and actors in the world, it is worth taking a moment to reassess it. The journey is not chronological but is divided into seven thematic chapters that together form the cosmogony of the works of Joan Fontcuberta.
This exhibition combines the most notable projects of the author such as Sputnik or Fauna, as well as projects that have received less attention and sporadic inclusion in museum exhibitions. It is an experience where the public is invited to navigate the space in their own way, whether it is intimate or social, whether expert or merely curious. The ultimate purpose is to generate dialogue between the work and the viewer, and between the artist and the curators.
The seven chapters of this exhibition are presented in large format and in a zig-zag route, allowing the viewer to experience the space as a presentation of devices. Each chapter includes a maximum of two works and seven display cases that expand on the relevant information for each part of the exhibition. At the beginning of the exhibition, there is a monographic display case and another for press that provide context for Joan Fontcuberta for any viewer.
The exhibition 'Cosmogony of Images' will be open to the public from 9 to 30 July and from 1 September to 7 October 2025, at the UAB Exhibition Hall, located opposite the entrance of the Communication and General Hemeroteca Library Building, in the Civic Square. The hours will be Monday to Thursday from 10 am to 7 pm and Friday from 10 am to 3 pm. Although there will not be an inaugural event, a closing ceremony will be held on 23 September featuring Joan Fontcuberta, curators Gabriel Fonseca, Èrica Simón, Andrea Barbarà, Helena Mate, Sara El Kaiss, and Javiera Licanqueo, as well as the coordinator, Jaume Vidal Oliveras. This event will also serve as the inaugural session for the new academic year of the Master's in Analysis and Management of Artistic Heritage at UAB.
The implementation of this project has been made possible thanks to the coordination of the master's programme in question and the students who have taken the module on Critique, Curatorship and Art Dissemination, the designer Jesús Galdón, the artist Joan Fontcuberta, the Communication and Humanities libraries of UAB, and the UAB Live Culture service.
If you want more information about the activity or the programme, you can contact us via email at cultura.enviu@uab.cat, our social media or our Telegram channel, @culturaUAB. Additionally, you can subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with any updates in the programme.
From July 9 to July 30, 2025
From September 1 to October 7, 2025
Location: Exhibition Hall UAB (Building of the Communication Library and General Newspaper Library, Civic Square)
Hours:
From Monday to Thursday: from 10:00 to 19:00
Friday: from 10:00 to 15:00
