PHOTOGRAPHIC STORIES 4
24.09 – 07.11.2020
Exhibition by Pere Puntí and Jordi Puntí
Opening of the exhibition, Thursday 24th September at 7 pm
in ACVIC Centre d'Arts Contemporànies
[view postal]
They are called the same, Pep and José, but they couldn't be more different. As they greeted each other that April night at Camp Nou, they were ostensibly the image of European fair play. The rivalry that unites them is expressed through their body language. One stretches out his hand and leans over, the other accepts the handshake and pulls away. We even sense a mocking smile on the Portuguese man’s face, from one who knows how to pose for a photograph. Pere Puntí’s image shows us the news from two perspectives: with one eye on the two coaches before the game, for all we know maybe wishing each other luck, but also with another on the widespread anticipation to capture that moment. The lenses jockeying for the best position, the stadium security making sure that no one departs from the script, and all around the two men, the stands full of screaming fans.
This is the story of this moment, but the meaning of the image also contains the past and the future inside it, and so we may make an interpretation of the photograph. Guardiola and Mourinho had already had a history at this point, from when the Portuguese coach had been at Chelsea. A Chelsea defender had injured Messi, and Mourinho had laughed at his expense, declaring that we in Barcelona are really fond of theatre. This picture comes from the semi-finals of the 2010 Champions League. In the away leg, played in Milan, Inter had won 3-1, a dark night for Barça. Now, in the return leg which is about to begin, things would not go well either. A few weeks later, Inter would take the Champions League against Bayern Munich. This success would prove to be Mourinho’s springboard to landing the job with Real Madrid, and to become the obnoxious, lying and whining antihero whose greatest desire was to put an end to the dominance of Guardiola’s Barça. He would not succeed.
Pere Puntí and Freixer (Vic 1966) studied photography at the Galeria Spectrum in Zaragoza (1986) and the Escola Gris Art in Barcelona (1987 and 1988). He worked for the newspaper El 9 Nou from 1989 to 1992, and later for Diari Avui, where he specialised in sports until 1995. Since then he has been a graphic editor for the newspaper Mundo Deportivo. Winner of the Godó Prize for photojournalism in 2003.
Jordi Puntí (Manlleu, 1967) is a writer. He has published three books of short stories: Pell d’armadillo (Armadillo Skin) (Proa, 1998), Animals tristos (Unhappy Animals) (Empúries, 2002) and Esto no és América (This is not America) (Empúries, 2017). In 2010 he published the novel, Maletes perdudes (Lost Luggage) (Empúries), which won several awards, and which has been translated into sixteen languages. He is also the author of Els castellans (2011), an autobiographical fiction about everyday life in Manlleu in the seventies. His latest book is Tot Messi, Exercicis d'estil (All Messi, style exercises) (Empúries, 2018), a literary and sentimental portrait of the best footballer in history. He is currently working on his second novel.
Photography: Pere Puntí. Josep Guardiola i José Mourinho, partit de tornada de semifinals de la Lliga de Campions entre el Barça i el Inter de Milà. Camp Nou (28-04-2010)
Note: Pep is a diminutive form of José, Joseph in english
