The Institute of Photographic Studies is preparing the move, "optimistic about the Barcelona Provincial Council."
While searching for a new location, the IEFC is organizing a series of workshops on how photographers document migration.
BarcelonaThe Institute of Photographic Studies of Catalonia (IEFC) would not exist without the space that the Barcelona Provincial Council has provided at one end of the former residence building of the Industrial School since it began operating in 1972. In fact, it is the oldest photography school in Spain. But currently the IEFC, which is a non-profit association, finds itself at an impasse after the Provincial Council informed it a month ago that it must leave by September 30, 2026, due to the works to convert the Industrial School grounds into the La Industrial + research center, where the IEFC will also be without a building. "Our gratitude to the Provincial Council is infinite," says IEFC director Josep Maria de Llobet. But now they find themselves with "very little time to find a space, prepare it, and make the move," laments De Llobet.
De Llobet is currently in talks with Barcelona City Council to find a new space. The situation isn't easy because many entities need new spaces. At the same time, there has been a shift in the talks he's holding with the Barcelona Provincial Council, although he hasn't yet been able to finalize a location to move to. "The Provincial Council and I are on the same page about finding solutions for the viability and future of the institute. There's nothing concrete to say, but it's true that I'm optimistic and that we're moving forward in a good way," says the director. But whatever the outcome, his ideal location remains the Industrial School, because photography, like the facility, was a product of the industrial revolution.
A series of workshops to discuss how migrations are documented.
The next notable activity of the IEFC will be the seventh edition, from October 21st to 23rd, of the conferences they are organizing with the Viceroy to generate a space for debate and reflection around photography. This year's theme will be migration. "Migratory movements are increasing everywhere, and it is a topic that is on the table of political and social problems. And we believe that photography has something to say, that it is a tool to generate thought and reflection," says De Llobet.
Among the participants will be photographer and artist Richard Mosse, who has documented in an unusual way some of the most serious humanitarian and environmental crises of the 21st century using military photography techniques; and documentary photographer Anna Surinyach and Abdoulaye Fall, PhD in demography from the UB, author of a study on Senegalese and sub-Saharan immigration in Catalonia, who will talk with photographer and journalist Edu Ponces about Photographing the missing in migration. The sessions will also feature Al Akhawat, the artistic collective of the diaspora between Morocco and Spain, and the photographer Myriam Meloni, whose exhibition can be seen On clear days you can see Europe at the IEFC headquarters. Admission to the conference and the exhibition is free.
