The Museo Universidad de Navarra, 'A Promised Land' for Photography Lovers

The Museo Universidad de Navarra has presented at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando the catalog A Promised Land, from the Age of Enlightenment to the origin of photography, an exhibition that can be visited in Pamplona until August 18. It is a fascinating journey through the background, origin and development of this art, following the routes of the voyages of exploration and scientific expeditions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Valentín Vallhonrat, artistic director of the MUN and curator of the exhibition (a task he carried out together with Rafael Levenfeld, who passed away last November), and Ignacio Miguéliz, head of the collection and exhibitions, met with photographers Joan Fontcuberta and Manolo Laguillo, and with Rafael Llanos , professor at the Complutense University of Madrid. At the meeting they discussed about the evolution of the photographic phenomenon.

Since the Enlightenment, scientists were accompanied by draftsmen who were capturing the findings of their travels. As a result of these routes, sketchbooks and volumes of engravings were born to record the discoveries, which later gave way to photography as a witness of the landscapes, monuments and plant and animal species previously unknown to Europe.

A Promised Land takes a look at these works, which have inspired new proposals such as Florilegium: a marvelous flora of Joan Fontcuberta' s own invention, created as part of the artist-in-residence program, in which contemporary artists dialogue with works from the MUN Collection. Tender puentesin which contemporary artists dialogue with works from the MUN Collection. Created with Artificial Intelligence, Florilegium has occupied the walls of the Museum until June 9.

Thus, at the meeting, the Catalan artist reflected on the present and the future of photography, which is advancing towards unknown horizons, while at the same time he wanted to delve into its roots. For his part, Manolo Laguillo has focused on the irruption of this art in the first third of the 19th century as "a new attitude", a phenomenon that was born in a peculiar way. "Philosophy was not prepared for the discovery of photography," said Rafael Llano.

Instead, Llano proposes appealing to the imagination, since photography conceived as "objective" inevitably leads us into the realm of subjectivity "and that is why the photographic image can act so powerfully on our sensibility, on our emotions and thoughts, and, in short, on our conscience". In this context, Llano recalled that in its beginnings, the new phenomenon was not directly "exploited" by the scientific field, while art was soon able to find in it a means of expression.

The exhibition volume includes a selection of the 900 images that make up the journey to this promised land, over more than 300 pages. It is on sale at MUN and Trama Editorial.