Jorge Ribalta: the historical memory of Barcelona City, photography and modernity

The first World Expo was held in Barcelona in 1888, which symbolically culminated the urban modernization developed in the second half of the nineteenth century. In that same year, Kodak was born, marking the rise of the industrialization of photography. The photographer and theorist Jorge Ribalta takes this date as a symbol for his project called 1888. He gathers a series of photographs of some of the places, locations, architecture and original street furniture that still remain in the city after the event. The project questions the architectural and urban heritage and its preservation through photography as a means to secure urban memory: the monument, the document, the city and photography are inseparable from modernity.