La Nuu photography festival: the weight of images

The streets of Rubí have become an open-air museum to celebrate the tenth edition of La Nuu, Rubí's international photography festival. The large-format images, installed until October 31, become part of the urban landscape. The essence of this proposal lies in the fact of democratizing culture, making it accessible to everyone and integrating it into the daily life of the city. Through this initiative, La Nuu seeks to establish a close connection between territory and culture, using photography as a tool for critical reflection, but also as a catalyst for social transformation.

Nuu aims to turn Rubí into a cultural reference beyond its geography, opening a window that connects its name to the rest of the world, without losing sight of the importance of internal cultural dynamism. It is a project that transcends passive exhibition, inviting both individual reflection and the creation of a community fabric through photographic art, transforming the urban landscape into a living, accessible and participatory art gallery.

Atlas, the weight of images

The theme of this year's edition, 'Atlas, the weight of images', pays tribute to art historian Aby Warburg's monumental unfinished project 'Atlas Mnemosyne'. Warburg conceived this atlas as an instrument for visually ordering the knowledge accumulated by humanity, a method that allowed for unprecedented connections between images from different eras and cultures. This network of visual correspondences, far from being a simple aesthetic exercise, sought to reveal the emotional and symbolic power latent in the images.

Through this perspective, La Nuu poses a contemporary reflection on the influence of photography in the construction of collective memory and its interconnection with other visual manifestations over time. The festival uses photography not as an isolated medium, but as part of a wider story, where images act as bridges between past and present, between different ways of seeing and understanding the world. This proposal invites viewers to explore the multiple layers of meaning hidden behind an image, questioning its historical, cultural and emotional associations.

The selected works not only show the diversity of contemporary photography, but are framed within this idea of a visual atlas, creating a fragmentary but meaningful cartography of our experiences with images. The reflection on the weight of images extends to the idea of memory: how images survive, transform and influence ways of seeing the world in the current era. Nuu, thus, proposes itself as a space for dialogue where photography interacts with other disciplines and visions, generating new meanings from its relationship with other forms of expression.

'Memòria del color', Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky

Exhibitions and participating artists

The exhibition tour of this edition includes a wide range of artists and themes, consolidating La Nuu as one of the most significant photographic events in the country. Among the most outstanding proposals is the tribute to two historical photographers from Rubí: Ignasi Marroyo and Josep Maria Roset , key figures in the development of Catalan photography in the second half of the 20th century. Marroyo, with his exhibition 'Àlbum', and Roset , with 'El desfici de mirar', offer an intimate and documentary view of the social and cultural life of the Vallès in times of transition, bringing us closer to a visual legacy that still exists today has a great validity. His works are a window into the historical and social evolution of a community that has grown and changed over time.

Fina Miralles , meanwhile, presents us with 'Fotoactions', a series that redefines the limits of conceptual photography and explores the relationship between the human body and the natural landscape. This proposal, inscribed in the Land Art movement and feminism, demonstrates the power of images to question the place we occupy in the world and our relationship with the environment.

Maria Riot approaches photography from an activist perspective with her installation 'Archivo Puta'. In this work, the artist recovers and makes visible the memory of sex workers, raising questions about representation and power. Through this piece, Riot challenges established conventions about what stories deserve to be told and what images can be shown.

'La línia grisa', Laura Rodari

In addition, the festival hosts works such as those of Maria Mavropoulou , who with 'Eaters of images' explores the intersection between technology and humanity, or those of Laura Rodari , who in her installation 'The gray line' reflects on the materiality and fragility of photographic images, challenging the boundaries between what is visual and what is intangible.

Other artists, such as Michelle Bui , with 'Porous Affinities', and Wouter Van de Voorde , with his 'Núcleo' series, provide perspectives on consumer culture and family experiences, respectively, while Patrick Taberna and Alba Serra investigate the relationship between private life and transit spaces with works of great visual force, with 'Throughout the Days' and 'Manual of Russian Gestures', respectively.

In this edition of La Nuu, we also find Naïma El Kadi (1980, Rabat, Morocco), who exhibits 'My olive tree, Memouna' at the Rubí Library. A disciple of renowned Egyptian photographer Laura el-Tantawy, El Kadi explores personal stories revolving around family relationships, identity and social issues.

Nuu closes this tenth edition with the installation 'Memória del color', a reflection on the archive and the technical reproducibility of images, based on the pioneering work of Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky , one of the forerunners of color photography . This piece, located in the Old Station, invites us to rediscover the legacy of Prokudin-Gorsky and his unique vision of imperial and pre-Soviet Russia.

Nuu 2024 demonstrates, once again, its ability to connect the past and the present, offering a space for critical reflection on the power of images and their relevance in our contemporary world.

*Nuu: feminine Catalan word, cloud in poetic language.

'Afinitats poroses', Michelle Bui