KBr is the new Photography Center with which Fundación MAPFRE begins a new stage in its intense dedication to artistic photography, one of its main areas of cultural activity since 2009.
With two exhibition areas, a bookstore, an area for educational activities and a multi-purpose auditorium, KBr becomes a national and international reference in the field of photography.
Current exhibitions
Consuelo Kanaga
Especially known for her emotional and introspective social portraits of African Americans, American photographer Consuelo Kanaga (1894-1976) captured the social conflicts of her time, combining formal modernist techniques and radical documentary politics.
The home camera
From the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of the civil war, an amateur and popular photography culture was born and developed strongly in Catalonia. Far from being used as simple entertainment or translating a naive view, this domestic photography allows us to discover the different social and cultural realities of the past.
Young Girl in Profile,1948. Brooklyn Museum, gift of Wallace B. Putnam from the Estate of Consuelo Kanaga
© Brooklyn Museum
Maria Josepa Izard Llonch columpiándose en la playa de Sant Feliu de Guixols, Girona, 1923
Arxiu Històric de Sabadell, Fons Maria Josepa Izard Llonch, Sabadell
KBr today
At KBr things happen. Here we are developing a permanent educational program, focused more on training future generations in the understanding of the language of photography and its artistic dimension than on explaining a specific exhibition. We share knowledge about photography through meetings and conferences.
All our activities aim to contribute to the dynamism and projection of Barcelona through an area – artistic photography – closely associated with the cultural excellence of contemporary Catalonia.
Conference Cycle
Coinciding with the exhibition The domestic camera. Amateur photography in Catalonia (c. 1880-1936), we present this series of seven talks about amateur photography, a phenomenon that emerged in the late nineteenth century and that is fundamental to understanding the role that photography plays in contemporary culture.
KBr Guests
In the occasion of the presentation of the exhibition Consulo Kanaga. Catch the Spirit, KBr Guests presents a conversation between Drew Sawyer, curator of the exhibition, and artist and independent curator Jorge Ribalta.
Performance
Dancer Laia Camps presents a performance linked to the photographic project Simplemente cortando, by Ivette Blaya, which can currently be seen as part of the exhibition KBr Flama’23, which brings us the work of new generations of photographers who begin their professional careers, every year.