ANTONI MUNTADAS
Barcelona, Spain, 1942

Double Exposure (doble exposición): Lisboa-Bogotá. 1998-2007
Six photographs on paper
50 x 76 cm each
Edition 7/9
Acquired in 2009

Over the past few decades, Muntadas has been examining the way in which images fashion our perception of reality and how they reveal the agenda of their makers. Photographed by the artist, these generic views of two capital cities —Lisbon and Bogota— may, for instance, tell us how one relates to a new place when one travels, how an insignificant detail may reveal cultural difference between two places, or how in more general terms the perspective of a tourist may differ from that of a local.

Blending views of two different places into one image, Muntadas hints at how memories are constructed, but also how one appropriates a new landscape and how meaning is constructed. These images also express the feeling of displacement one experiences when traveling. The tourist typically captures images as a means of appropriating a new space. One may however argue that this accumulation actually reduces the opportunity to truly comprehend an uncharted territory, thus creating more confusion than understanding.