Charles Clifford, Templete. Court of Lions. Alhambra, c. 1860, Albumen paper from wet collodion negative. PHOTO:

Today, Monday, May 7, Jorge Ribalta presents his work to the rector of the University of Navarra, Ángel J. Gómez Montoro, the director of the Museum, Miguel López-Remiro, the head of its photographic collection, Fernando de la Puente, and two of the advisors of the Museo Universidad de Navarra Collection, Valentín Vallhonrat and Rafael Levenfeld.

Ribalta has created a photographic mural in the Alhambra in Granada made up of 77 individual pieces which, in the words of the author, "explore the mechanisms through which the myth of the monument is constructed and perpetuated".

The delivery is part of the initiative "Tender Puentes", promoted from the Photography Collection of Museo Universidad de Navarra, which aims to establish critical links between nineteenth-century and contemporary photography.

"Scrambling" consists of photographic documentation of the daily relationships and processes involved in the production and reproduction of the monument: the offices and workers of the Alhambra, management and administration, maintenance, cleaning, conservation and security activities, as well as marketing, programming activities, educational programs, routes and guided tours. Thus, the author intends -as he explains-"toshow the other side of the scenography, the work of the people who produce the show: the monument as a factory".

Ribalta's work is inspired by several photographs of the Alhambra from the photographic collection of Museo Universidad de Navarra; such as those of Beaucorps or DeClerq, and is based more specifically on Clifford's discourse and an image of the Alhambra by the same author from the 19th century.

Jorge Ribalta (Barcelona, 1963) is a photographer, cultural activist, photography theorist and art critic. Trained in Barcelona, Nice, New York, London and Chicago, he currently directs the Cultural Activities department of MACBA. The permanent collection of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) has some of his works.

Series "Tender Puentes"

Several authors of national and international relevance are being invited by the Museo Universidad de Navarra for the study and reflection on the foundational period of photography, aiming at the exploration and identification of links and the issues that distance them. They develop their photographic projects in dialogue with key pieces of universal photography, many of them contained in the Museum's Collection.

Roland Fischer, Ángel Fuentes, Manuel Brazuelo, Lynne Cohen, Jordi Bernadó, Sergio Belinchón, Gabriele Basílico, Xavier Ribas, Jorge Ribalta, Carlos Cánovas, and national award winners Bleda y Rosa and Joan Fontcuberta are some of the participating artists. A total of 18 artists will project their gaze on the history of photography.

The testimony of these works takes the form of a photographic production and the publication of a monograph that includes the theoretical-critical reflections of the contemporary authors, the photographs produced for the project "Tender Puentes" and those of the 19th century authors with whom they engage in dialogue. In a way, they lend their voice to an exercise that fills the silence that, in many cases, surrounds the existence of the photographic pieces of the primitive photographers.

The program Tender Puentes includes the exhibition of the projects and the realization of a series of conferences and workshops with the authors, once the series is completed.