Official IPFA gallery on the second floor of the Centre Cívic Pati Llimona in Barcelona, Spain. Dedicated to photography, it fosters international exchange of exhibitions, sustainability, and cooperation among festivals, facilitating the circulation of works and the visibility of artists.
Current exhibition
September 18 to October 25
Perspectives that Transcend:
Visual Resonances from Albania
Participants of the International Fokus Award Albania
© Alice Campo
This exhibition brings together a carefully curated selection of award-winning photographs from recent editions of the FOKUS International Photography Award, held annually in Albania. This collective exhibition, presented in Barcelona for the first time, is part of a joint initiative led by the International Photography Festival Association (IPFA), aimed at highlighting and promoting the work of the most significant photography festivals worldwide.
Since its founding in 2006 by passion and love for photography and the search for its true values, FOKUS has grown into an essential platform for artistic photography, not only in the Balkans but also in the global context. With a strong focus on the values of photographic art and the influence of various international schools, the festival fosters qualitative growth, competitive spirit, and creative dialogue around the image. Over the years, FOKUS has showcased the work of photographers from all over the world, whose images span a wide range of themes: from the intimacy of everyday life to pressing contemporary social and cultural issues. This exhibition not only celebrates the talent of the awarded artists, but also invites the public to reflect on the power of photography as a universal language.
With this exhibition, we inaugurate the Golfes room as a new space created by IPFA, where photography festivals from around the world can bring their best exhibitions to Barcelona free of charge.
Artists: Agnesa Çavolli (North Macedonia), Alberto Cicchini (Italy), Alice Campo (Italy), Ali Sabih Kadhim (Iraq), Daniela Vuksani (Albania), Dea Shubleka (Albania), Diana Pankova (Belarus), Eliza Hoxha (Kosovo), Elisabetta Gatti Biggì (Italy), Enrica Ridolfi (Italy), Farida Helaly (Egypt), Griselda Kula (Albania), Letizia Di Candia (Italy), Luigi Corbetta (Italy), Maja Stosic (Serbia), Majid Hojati (Iran), Maria Cristina Bottoni (Italy), Mario Vitolo (Italy), Mohamed El Kashef (Egypt), Mohamed Sabry (Egypt), Nake Batev (North Macedonia), Noemi Morelli (Italy), Ognjen Karabegović (Croatia), Olga Karlovac (Croatia), Olga Orlova (Ukraine), Patrizia Mori (Italy), Pranab Basak (India), Robbie Mcintosh (Italy), Rozafa Shpuza (Albania), Sertaç Kayar (Turkey), Si Thu Ye Myint (Myanmar), Stepan Kucheriavyy (Ukraine), Thit Sar (Myanmar), Uran Krasniqi (Kosovo) and Valjeta Zuka Sylejmani (Kosovo).
Discover Espai Golfes
The name Golfes refers to the space beneath the roof of a building, often filled with memories and hidden treasures. It perfectly symbolizes our intention: a place to bring life, visibility, and renewed circulation to high-value artistic proposals. This space was created with the aim of encouraging the exchange of exhibitions between photography festivals, both local and international, and to foster the global circulation of exhibitions. This initiative seeks to internationalize the careers of photographers, broaden their reach to new audiences, and generate a community network among festivals, creating a space of mutual support that promotes the development of the sector. In addition, we are strongly committed to ecological and economic sustainability in the production and circulation of exhibitions, promoting the responsible use of materials and the conscious mobility of artworks. Golfes aims to become a model that integrates creativity, inclusive cooperation, and environmental responsibility within the world of photography.
Floor Plan
We provide the floor plan to help visualize the layout and potential of the space. This plan offers a comprehensive guide to the organization of the venue: the areas designated for photographic exhibitions and the zones intended for public circulation, allowing the space to be adapted to various curatorial proposals. Making the plan available aims not only to optimize the setup of future exhibitions, but also to inspire artists, curators, and festivals to imagine new ways of inhabiting and transforming the space, creating unique experiences of encounter between photography and its audience. Golfes is conceived as a flexible, dynamic space open to collective creativity.
OPENING: November 6, 2025, 7 p.m.
Imilla
Upcoming exhibitions
The Bolivian polleras, bulky skirts commonly associated with the indigenous women from the highlands, were for decades a symbol of uniqueness and an object of discrimination. Now, a new generation of women skateboarders in Cochabamba wears them as an emblem of resistance. While the garment was initially imposed by Spanish colonisers on the native population, over the centuries, it integrated into the local identity as an ambivalent symbol of authenticity and stigmatisation.
Re-discovering polleras in the wardrobes of aunts and grandmothers seemed the obvious choice for Dani Dani Santiváñez, a young Bolivian skater who, wanting to reconnect with her roots in 2019, created ‘ImillaSkate’. Imilla means ‘young girl’ in Aymara and Quechua—the two most widely spoken languages in Bolivia, where more than half the population has indigenous roots. The nine women currently part of the group only wear polleras to skate. Knee-length and paired with trainers, these skirts symbolise the choice not to deprive themselves of their culture. Through this practice, they convey their message of inclusion and acceptance of diversity.
This free exhibition at the Golfes gallery is made possible thanks to a collaboration between the International Photography Festival Association (IPFA) and the Biennale della Fotografia Femminile di Mantova (Italy).
Transylvania: Built on Grass
For centuries, the small villages in Transylvania have preserved their hay meadows, raised cattle and operated self-sustainable farms. The agrarian fairytale that is extinct in Western Europe still exists here in bucolic scenes, where young boys learn to cut and rake hay by hand, where all village women are proficient in weaving, and all men can build a house from scratch - with thousands of hard-split wooden shingles on the rooftop. In this old world, defined by traditional belief systems and respect for the environment, one does not trample a meadow of high grass before mowing it, the cows and horses find their way home along the muddy village tracks and the rivers’ water is busy with the milling, washing and alcohol making.
This free exhibition at the Golfes gallery is made possible thanks to a collaboration between the International Photography Festival Association (IPFA) and the Biennale della Fotografia Femminile di Mantova (Italy).
Past exhibitions
May 15 to July 27, 2025
Génesis: Fotografía de un Futuro Alternativo
A science fiction photography exhibition born from the creative encounter between two image artisans within the Foto Experimental community. Together, Sibux and Jordi Bofill Cunillera imagine a dystopian future, where society survives on the margins of high technology and with limited resources. In this scenario, photographic communities play a key role, bringing together photographers, chemists, scientists, artists, and environmental defenders. They rescue ancient photographic processes, using sunlight to print on plant surfaces, creating photosensitive objects from natural products, and reconditioning mechanical cameras. The exhibition presents four photographic techniques that capture the essence of light and its relationship with our environment: Cyanotypes, Anthotypes, and Chlorotypes created by Sibux, and Instant Solargraphy captured with a lens by JB Cunillera.
An exhibition that invites reflection on the future of images, creative resilience, and the connection between art, science, and nature.
