Joan Fontcuberta

Joan Fontcuberta (*1955 in Barcelona / Spain) lives and works in Barcelona. Fontcuberta graduated in 1977 with a degree in Communication from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Since 1993 he has been Professor of Communication Sciences at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.

Fontcuberta is known for playing with truth and fiction; in a humorous exploration, he addresses topics such as nature and technology, but also science, politics and religion.

As part of "Gossan: Mars Mission", artist Joan Fontcuberta imagined a theme park for the exploration of Mars: the former mining area of Rio Tinto in south-western Spain bears a striking resemblance to a Martian landscape with its reddish rock and rugged landscape. In this setting, Fontcuberta is designing an entertainment park that both enhances the former mining area for tourists and is dedicated to Mars research in terms of content.

He enriched his project "Gossan: Mars Mission" with his stay at the German Aerospace Center's Central Archive, thus making it part of the AMA project. In addition to an installation in the 25Hours Hotel, the public space is part of his project.

"The archive is the bastion of memory and its power is protected in fortresses where documents are irregularly accumulated. It is the guardians of those places who hold the authority to preserve access to information. Managing that access means having the key to knowledge and storytelling. This the archive becomes a recurring place for contemporary artistic creation.
There are archives governed by opacity and intolerance, which undoubtedly express the panic of losing the monopoly over history. Censorship is their shield and then the artist responds as a hacker by leaking and spreading those kidnapped voices.
But luckily there are also archives that are the result of a desire for freedom, transparency and democracy. When the file is open to free interpretation, it is as if we invest our intelligence in a new cave of Ali Baba.
My artistic projects have been dealing in a collateral way or focusing on archives and the resulting works have got successful upon the treasure I’ve been able to discover."
- Joan Fontcuberta, December 2019

Joan Fontcuberta is an invited AMA artist at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).

More information about the artist here: www.fontcuberta.com

21st – 30th May 2021
Joan Fontcuberta / The German Aerospace Center
Gossan: Mars Mission
25hours Hotel
and from the 3th of May till the end of summer in public space

Starting Point