Fundación Foto Colectania is kicking off 2016 with a series of programmes to continue promoting photography and art collecting via exhibitions, exhibition catalogues and activities such as conferences or seminars. This year, for the first time, Banco Sabadell Foundation has become one of the main collaborators during this new phase, which starts by asking “But, what is photography”? A slogan which aims to draw attention to the relevance that images and photographs have acquired in society and contemporary culture.

This is a new phase which, as confirmed by the Chairman of Banco Sabadell Foundation, Miquel Molins, “The Foundation supports because we believe in and value cultural organisations such as Foto Colectania, which bring the world of photography closer to people and closer to society”.

Three exhibitions under one slogan

‘All Photography is an Enigma’ by Michel Frizot (3 March – 21 May)

This collection reveals the mystery behind every photo, by Michel Frizot, considered the greatest historian of photography in France. For years he has been collecting photographs taken by unknown or anonymous photographers. The full exhibition includes the following parallel activities 5th, 6th and 7th April symposium ‘The singularity of Photography’, by Michel Frizot and Cédric de Veigy. To be held at 19.00 at the Instituto Francés de Barcelona.

‘Vivian Maier. In her Own Hands’ (6 June – 11 September)

Since her photo collection was discovered in 2007 in a local auction (100,000 negatives of photographs taken between the end of the fifties and the nineties), her work and her story have become a global phenomenon: Vivian Maier, the nanny who took this collection of photos on the streets of New York and Chicago. The photos are of very high quality, and in many cases show a great sense of humour. For the duration of the exhibition a series of related activities will be held, including the screening of the prize winning documentary ‘Finding Vivian Maier’.

Who is a photographer?’  (October 2016 – January 2017)

Based on the knowledge of what happens in the world of photography today, this collective exhibition sets out to show a series of photographers and works that question the role of the photographer. Amongst the activities running alongside the exhibition is a workshop aimed at creators, run by the curator of the exhibition and some of the photographers included in the collection.