Exhibitions

The bombing of Guernica. April 26th, 1937

The House of Peace and Human Rights. April 3 – May 3

The 26 April 2012 marks the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Gernika by the German Condor Legion and the Italian air force, acting under orders from General Franco. Gernika, the local nerve centre and symbol of Basque freedoms, was destroyed by dropping high explosive and incendiary bombs combined with opening machine gun fire on the civilian population. The town was virtually raised to the ground, going down in history as the first trial run for total warfare.

This exhibition presents a historical view of the facts on that Monday market day in the peaceful town of Gernika. It also takes a look at the full political, social, cultural and economic context of the occurrence: pre-war Spain, the Spanish Civil War, the Gernika bombing, the reconciliation, and Picasso’s Guernica.

Although today Gernika is a model of advanced reconciliation, the process is nowhere near finished and still has a long way to go.

Exhibition produced by Gernika’s Peace Museum Foundation and the Documentation Centre on the Bombing of Gernika.

Missing
Gervasio Sánchez

C. C. Okendo K. E. March 22 – May 5

Missing represents the most outstanding work in Gervasio Sánchez’s long career as a photo journalist. His images constitute a valuable legacy which will ensure in the future that we will have no doubt as to the past. This is a disturbing testimony revealing the cruel emptiness of absence as it struggles to rescue from oblivion the buried memory of people missing in ten countries across Latin America, Asia and Europe.

This extensive project, developed between 1998 and 2010, powerfully emerges to vindicate memory, truth and justice in a geography martyrized by intolerable abuses.

Schools from other worlds

C. C. Aiete K. E. January 27 – April 29

A selection of 50 photographs by the renowned photo journalist Kim Manresa portraying the reality of the right to education in 30 countries across the world seen through the expression on boys’ and girls’ faces. Different schools, sometimes improvised; schoolchildren of different races and conditions, but all with a shared wish: to learn, to share and to exercise their right to education.

Afrika zabaldu
African batik and mask exhibition

Municipal Library (Alderdi Eder). April 18 – May 7

Haurralde Fundazioa offers us the chance to discover the fabulous colours and enormous diversity of African art with a selection of batiks and masks from different African ethnic groups.

Batik is a traditional technique dating back several centuries used to colour fabrics thanks to which a great wealth of shades can be achieved. The most common motifs used for these craft paintings are symbols of customs and everyday life. The ones we see here are made by women in Cameroon and Kenya.

The masks are used in different ceremonies, including funeral, initiation, fertility rites...

“Spirit on the waves” and other reports
Winners and finalists of the PHotoEspaña OjodePez Human Rights Award

FNAC. April 1 – May 7

Fnac exhibits some of the winning and finalist photographs from this prestigious social reporting competition. Arianna Rinaldo, director of the OjodePez magazine, has chosen the most representative works for this travelling exhibition.

The Czech Jan Cága, winner of this year’s competition who has ten photographs in the exhibition, reminds us with his work Spirit on the waves that the limitations of the disabled need not be an impediment to leading a full life. Water is the perfect element for experiencing an almost perfect vacuum as a group of people forget about the world for a few moments to enjoy the sensation that by moving a single finger they could unleash an unpredictable reaction capable of changing everything. As Cága explains, there’s nothing we can’t do with a feeling like that: “Barriers and walls are as high as we build them”.

El valle de los ángeles, by Simone Donati (Italy), Traficantes, by Jackie Dewe Mathews (UK), Donante familiar, by Sarah Carp (Switzerland), En el silencio: Eremitas del tercer milenio, by Carlo Bevilacqua (Italy), Ella, by Rosario Heer (Argentina), Hermanos by Dmitry Markov (Russia), Dwarfdom, by Maija Tammi (Finland), Destino final, by Giancarlo Ceraudo (Italy), and Sombras de libertad, by Maysun (Spain), were the nine finalist reports. Two photographs from each one is on view in this exhibition.

10 years in posters

Victoria Eugenia Theater. April 20-29

Exhibition of the official posters created for the each of the Festival’s 10 years, all designed by the Ytantos studio. From the images of the first two, taken from the films War Photographer and El Polaquito, to the last six photographs, work of Jotta (Sisustudio) –those for 2007 and 2008 in collaboration with Cuarto and Mitad– not forgetting the images by Gervasio Sánchez for the third edition and Ander Gillenea for the fourth. A decade of Festival. Ten years of posters.

Stories and painting for peace and human rights

Victoria Eugenia Theater. April 20-29

Exhibition of paintings and stories by boys, girls and youths participating in the 8th edition of Stories and Painting for Peace and Human Rights. An exhibition packed with colour, imagination, solidarity and the desire to build a present and future founded on respect for human rights.

On Sunday 22 April, at 12:00, the Victoria Eugenia Theatre will host the event prize-winning ceremony, with a special celebration open to all citizens.

The Gray Wall
Juan Aizpitarte

EHAEO / COAVN. April 20 – May 20

These 10 photographs by Juan Aizpitarte were published for the first time following a research project in Beijing. The Gray Wall is a manner of presenting the city through its walls. The shots printed on canvas indirectly trace a path through graffiti, painting and archive photography. Today’s Chinese society is reflected on the walls of its public space, where its individuals and censoring independently compose the aspect of the Beijing streets. This tendency indicates the quality of freedom of expression in that emerging and accelerated country. This personal work complements the Amnesty International workshop: Filming the Invisible.