Xavier Basiana
The architect and photographer Xavier Basiana was born in Manresa, Catalonia, in 1955. He lives and works in the Barcelona neighbourhood of La Sagrera, where he has led the project to restore and revitalise Nau Ivanow, a former factory that has been converted into a contemporary art centre. As a photographer, he has documented processes of urban and architectural change in Barcelona at the turn of the twenty-first century and can be said to fall within the tradition of photographic representations of the city and its transformations from the 1888 World’s Fair to the Universal Forum of Cultures in 2004. His images, in collaboration with the photographer Jaume Orpinell, show how Barcelona’s historical industrial heritage is placed under pressure by the new global economy.
As an architect in Barcelona in the nineties, Xavier Basiana worked on many projects, such as the restoration of the former Columbus Market and the design for the future Barcelona Olympic Museum. He also organised several architecture exhibitions, including Construint la cituat, Plans i projectes and Ciutat i fàbrica. Un recorregut pel patrimoni industrial de Barcelona. In the publishing field, he has contributed to many books and edited 1984-1994 Barcelona transfer. Sant Andreu – La Sagrera. Planificación urbana = urban development = planificació urbana (1995), La Sagrera, del Rec Comtal al TGV (1997) and 1995–2011 Barcelona transfer. Sant Andreu – La Sagrera. From wasteland to a gateway to Europe (2011). He also co-published the book Barcelona, ciutat de fàbriques (2000) with Jaume Orpinell and Martí Checa. In 2009 Xavier Basiana was awarded the City of Barcelona Gold Medal.
Works in the Collection
