The CIF Toni Catany is consolidated with Fontcuberta, Aymerich and Álvarez Bravo

PalmThree years after its official opening, and eighteen years after those in charge first began discussing it, the Toni Catany International Photography Center in Llucmajor will experience its definitive consolidation in 2026. This is confirmed by an exhibition program that will fill the center with works by leading figures in contemporary photography such as Joan Fontcuberta, Pilar Aymerich, and Manuel Álvarez Bravo; the addition of a new exhibition space within the center itself, in the former wine cellar; and the organization of activities that will establish partnerships with the Sorbonne University. To round it all out, they are launching a new website, created in collaboration with the Llucmajor City Council, which reflects this stage of maturity.

“We’re very happy because we have a year full of exciting things planned,” says the center’s director, Toni Garau. “This allows us to start thinking about everything we’ll do in 2027 and even 2028, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves,” he suddenly corrects himself. “This year we’ll have some very prominent figures and fascinating dialogues between the work of Catany and Paul Strand, for example, and a tribute by Fontcuberta to Toni Catany and Tomás Monserrat, which are things we’re very excited for people to see here.”

A new exhibition space

Before Fontcuberta Galaxy and MexicanThe two major spring and autumn events in the center of Llucmajor will feature the work of two female photographers: Pilar Aymerich and Paula Artés. The exhibition of Aymerich's work, a key figure in Spanish photography of the 1970s and 80s, will open. The insolent revolution of bodiesThe exhibition, curated by Laura Terré, opens on March 27. It features some of the images with which Aymerich portrayed the women's uprising during the Transition. Meanwhile, Artés will inaugurate the center's new exhibition space—located in the former wine cellar of the family home in Catany—with VIP boxwhich invites reflection on the political and economic connotations associated with the concept of a 'box,' linked, above all, to power. Shortly after these two inaugurations, the CIF Toni Catany will host the international symposium Committed photographers during the transition (1975 - 1982)Organized in collaboration with the Sorbonne University in Paris, the exhibition focuses on the work of Aymerich, but also includes pieces by Colita, Marta Sentís, and Anna Turbau. Those interested in Turbau's work will have an opportunity to explore it further thanks to the exhibition opening next September, also at the CIF, featuring numerous previously unseen photographs by the Catalan artist.

Regarding the work of Joan Fontcuberta that will be exhibited in Llucmajor, Toni Garau notes that the exhibitions will be memorable for several reasons. "We will see previously unseen work, as well as an exhibition that will surprise many, and we will be able to discover the results of the workshop he gave right here last autumn, with a tribute to Catany and Montserrat, which fills us with pride," he summarizes. First, the photography center will host The Milky WayA reinterpretation of his work, which Fontcuberta himself began during lockdown, has resulted in a synthesis of his career and, at the same time, an artistic testament. This exhibition, opening on April 29, is part of the Fontcuberta Galaxy project, a joint initiative with the Casal Solleric within the framework of Mallorca PhotoFest. Visitors will also be able to enjoy Photographing treesThe exhibition arose from a workshop given by Fontcuberta himself in Llucmajor between the end of September and the beginning of October 2025. The workshop was based on the work done in this field, in the portrait of nature, by Catany and Monserrat.

And it will be in October 2026 when a bridge between Llucmajor and Mexico will be established thanks to three different proposals: Bodies, souls and streets, an exhibition focused on the urban photography of one of the great masters of modern photography, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, curated by Horacio Fernández; Toni Catany and Paul Strand, the journeywhich connects Catany's photographs of Mexico with those of one of his main influences, Paul Strand, and, finally, a selection of Mexican photobooks with the work of Gato Negro Ediciones as its central focus.

New collaborations

Alongside these exhibitions, the Toni Catany Foundation has promoted a series of collaborations that will come to fruition this year, allowing different exhibitions focused on Catany's work to travel to other locations in the Canary Islands. Thus, the series Still lifes It can be seen from March 14th in Ciutadella, as part of the Menorca Doc Fest, while from April 1st My Mediterranean It will move to San José de sa Talaia. As for the CIF of Llucmajor, it has also scheduled a new edition –the fourth– of the Photography and Architecture Conference, linked to an exhibition of the tourist imagery of Mallorca based on the Casa Planas Archive, and different activities, in Llucmajor and Barcelona, ​​within the framework of the centenary of the birth of Blai Bonet, of whom Toni.