The curator: Jordi Balló (Figueres, 1954)

Jordi Balló was born in Figueres in 1954 and is a curator, professor, researcher and essayist. He has a PhD in Audiovisual Communication from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, where he is a professor. He was also a visiting professor at the Department of Iberian and Latin American Cultures of Stanford University (California) in 2008.

He was exhibition director of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) from 1998 to 2011, and he directed the process of conceiving and producing over 80 exhibitions at the CCCB as well as other institutions. He curated exhibitions such as El segle del cinema (The Century of Cinema, 1995), Món TV (TV World, 1999), La ciutat dels cineastes (The City of the Filmmakers, 2001), Erice/Kiarostami: correspondències (Erice/Kiarostami: Correspondence, 2006-2008), Hammershøi i Dreyer (Hammershøi and Dreyer, 2006-2007) and Totes les cartes. Correspondències fílmiques (The Complete Letters. Filmed Correspondence, 2011), which explored the boundaries between the cinema and the museum space. These exhibitions were also shown at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Cinémathèque Française of Paris, La Casa Encendida of Madrid, the ACMI of Melbourne, the Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco (UNAM) of Mexico City, the Ondrupgaard of Copenhagen, the Palazzo d’Exposizioni of Rome and the Martin-Gropius-Bau of Berlin, among others.

 

As an executive producer and producer of documentary films he has participated in numerous projects such as El Foso (2012) by Ricardo Íscar; Mercado de futuros (2011) by Mercedes Álvarez; Cuchillo de palo (2010) by Renate Costa; Los condenados (2008) and La leyenda del tiempo (2006) by Isaki Lacuesta; El cielo gira (2004) by Mercedes Álvarez, En construcción (2000) by José Luís Guerín, Mones com la Becky (1998) by Joaquim Jordà and Buñuel (1998) by Juan Bufill and Manuel Huerga, among many others.

In his work as a researcher, he has focused his research on the matter of thematic structures and their origins, and he has published, among other works, La llavor immoral. Els arguments universals en el cinema (1995), Imatges del silenci: els motius visuals en el cinema (2000) and Jo he estat aquí: ficcions de la repetició (2005, Premi Crítica Serra d’Or).

In 2011 he received the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona d’Audiovisuals for his work as curator of the exhibition Totes les cartes. Correspondències fílmiques. In 2005 he was awarded the Premi Nacional de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya for his work on the Master of Creative Documentary.