The Art of Architecture in Spain

This exhibition, bringing together 50 images by the photographer Ricardo Santonja, showcases the legendary contemporary architecture of Spain. Among the masterpieces captured by Santonja's photographic lens are the futuristic Valencia Opera House by Santiago Calatrava, the high-tech poetic Library at the Reina Sofia Art Center by Jean Nouvel, the radically minimalist Tenerife Arts Center by Herzog and de Meuron, and Carme Pinos' avant-garde CAIXA FORUM in Zaragoza. The exhibit devotes special attention to experimental architecture—an International Center of Advanced Technologies, a solar house, a central heating station, and a river aquarium—and to social projects such as schools, hospitals, and mass housing. Although these structures serve dissimilar purposes and differ one from another in architectural language, through Ricardo Santonja’s lens they are drawn into a single aesthetic sequence, united as objects within the urban and natural landscape, with details—stairs, windows, corridors—accentuated. Santonja’s wonderful sense of light draws out form, plane and color, integrating the Spanish architecture of recent years into a unified artistic and figural project. Through the art of photography, the exhibition presents the most recent international developments in the construction of public and residential buildings: the social, ecological, technological, and experimental. A program of special events, including masterclasses, lectures, and excursions, will be held along with the exhibition to present the various aspects of the project to a wide audience.