The Pleasure of Impressionism
‘Sur l’herbe or On the Grass is a series made over four consecutive years almost on the same day, at the same time and in the same place, in the courtyard between MACBA and the CCCB, covered in artificial grass to house one of the stages of the Sonar festival. The series focuses on the audience at the festival, taken at sunset, when an optical effect occurs in which the CCCB building acts as a solar screen, reflecting on the audience to give the impression of a flashbulb or an artificial light. This only occurs at this time of year and at this precise time of day. The title of the series is obviously an allusion to Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, from 1863, a period that is very important in terms of the archaeology of photography that I practise.’ Ribalta shares both his work process and the pleasure associated with artistic and knowledge production. It is an enjoyment related to being in the street and in nature, in the open air and in the sun: ‘the pleasure of Impressionism’, as he says, but also associated with the subsequent laboratory process. You can listen to him here.
![[5717_047_hist / Imatge] 1888](https://d2zy2h1755x359.cloudfront.net/public/DigitalAsset/267734/0e072224b24e52d4c9543b68fdfd31c0/full/large/0/default.jpg)
