• Reimagining brings together thirteen Spanish and Dutch artists to reflect on the transformation of photography and the new ways of constructing images today.

• Refusal. Second Fracture, by Rafał Milach, analyzes the mechanisms of propaganda and resistance in Eastern Europe through the story of Belarusian activist Xenia Degelko.

• Ruina Montium, by Raphaëlle Peria, revisits the landscape of Las Médulas through photographic interventions that intertwine geological memory, human history and artistic creation.

• All exhibitions are open to the public until September 27 as part of the Official Section of PHotoESPAÑA 2026.

Madrid, 5 June 2026.- Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid Today it hosted the opening of three exhibitions that can be enjoyed until September 27 as part of the Official Section of the 29th edition of PHotoESPAÑA: the collective exhibition Volver a imaginar, Refusal, second fracture, by the artist Rafal Milach and Ruina Montium by Raphaëlle Peria.

Valerio Rocco, director ofel Círculo de Bellas ArtesMaría Santoyo, director of PHotoESPAÑA, Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães, curator of the collective exhibition Volver a imaginar, Rafal Milach, artist of the exhibition Refusal. Second Fracture, Claude Bussac, curator of the exhibition Ruina Montium, by Raphaëlle Peria.

To reimagine

Following the motto of the edition, and within the framework of the Guest Country section of PHotoESPAÑA, which on this occasion is the Netherlands, Reimagining proposes a dialogue between Spanish and Dutch creators and invites us to rethink how images are constructed, circulated and consumed today.

Organized in collaboration with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Spain, Mondriaan Fund, el Círculo de Bellas Artes And PHotoESPAÑA, the exhibition, curated by Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães, brings together thirteen artists who reflect on the photographic medium at a time of transformation, exploring, through material and conceptual experimentation, new ways of reconfiguring the image and opening dialogues around identity, territory and power structures.

Through installations, photo-sculptures, and photographic series, "Reimagining" explores the tensions between space, society, and image. This is the case with Rob Hornstra (Borne, Netherlands, 1975), Aleix Plademunt (Girona, 1980), Txema Salvans (Barcelona, ​​1971), and Anoek Steketee (Hoorn, Netherlands, 1974). Meanwhile, artists such as Javier Arboledas (Granada, 1974), Jon Gorospe (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1986), and Eduardo Nave (Valencia, 1976) analyze classification systems and visual typologies, investigating archives, memory, and the imprint of time.

On the other hand, several proposals focus on the materiality of photography, exploring its mutable nature through chance, perception, or temporality, as in the works of Juan Couder (Madrid, 1988) or Rafael Trapiello (Madrid, 1980). In parallel, some artists reactivate archives and historical documents to generate new interpretations of the present, such as Lurdes Basolí (Granollers, 1981), Ira Lombardia (Asturias, 1977), or the duo formed by Arguiñe Escandón (Bilbao, 1979) and Yann Gross (Vevey, Switzerland, 1981).

The exhibition is also part of the PHotoESPAÑA PRO Talent on Board program, promoted together with Iberia, with a selection of artists from the first edition, in 2025.

Refusal. Second Fracture, Rafael Rafael Milach

Meanwhile, at the same venue, Polish artist Rafał Milach (Gliwice, 1978), a key photographer in the investigation of power systems in contemporary Europe and one of the most recent members of Magnum Photos, presents Refusal. Second Fracture, an analysis of the mechanisms of construction and fracturing of official narratives in Eastern Europe.

Curated by Katarzyna Sagatowska, the project takes as its starting point the figure of Xenia Degelko, a young Belarusian activist who became a propaganda icon after the viral spread, in 2012, of a song that praised the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.

His image became part of a symbolic gallery of “winners”—exemplary workers and role models—intended to reinforce the state narrative. However, in a turn of events that reveals the fragility of power structures and the capacity of collective action to subvert them, this construct began to crack with small gestures of individual resistance and collapsed in 2020, when Degelko, along with millions of citizens, participated in protests against widely contested elections.

Through works such as The Winners and Seeding, along with murals, flags, videos and materials from the Archive of Public Protests, the exhibition underscores the power of collective practices as forces capable of challenging the established political order.

The exhibition is organized by el Círculo de Bellas ArtesThe Polish Institute of Culture and PHotoESPAÑA, with the collaboration of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Samsung and the sponsorship of KRUK.

Montium Ruin, Raphaëlle Peria 

In the province of León, the landscape of Las Médulas bears the marks of its transformation. In this environment, in this territory shaped by water and revealed by fire, Raphaëlle Peria (Amiens, 1989)—one of the most recent and promising voices in contemporary French photography and currently an artist-in-residence at the Casa de Velázquez—is developing an investigation that begins with photography but moves beyond documentary record-keeping. On her images, she scrapes, erases, and draws, transforming them into a field of exploration where the landscape continues to change.

In dialogue with the festival's theme, "Reimagining," the work invites us to reconsider the landscape not as a fixed form, but as a territory open to new readings and new imaginings.

Each work in this exhibition, curated by Claude Bussac, is geological memory, human history and artistic gesture, and invites us to think of the landscape not as a fixed form, but as a territory open to new interpretations.

Between the erosion of water, the mark of fire, and the artist's patient intervention on the photograph, the landscape appears as a stratigraphy of times and materials. Each image is thus constructed as a surface where geological memory, human history, and artistic gesture overlap.

About PHotoESPAÑA

With nearly forty exhibitions in its Official Section, the international photography festival will celebrate its 29th edition between May 13 and September 13 under the motto "Reimagine," and will expand into nearly 100 exhibitions and venues with 65% female artists in one of the most relevant photography events on the international scene.

Different perspectives, generations, viewpoints and styles make up a proposal that will include masters of the discipline such as Richard Avedon or Robert Frank —Robert Frank and The Americans presents for the first time in Spain in its entirety the emblematic photographic series— or references of photojournalism such as Colita and Isabel Azkarate to established figures such as Isabel Muñoz and contemporary authors of reference such as Talia Chetrit, Laia Abril, Bego Antón, Greta Alfaro, Rafał Milach, José Quintanilla or Gorka Postigo.

The Netherlands is the guest country of this edition, thanks to a program that brings together two exhibitions in el Círculo de Bellas Artes and in the exhibition hall of the Fernán Gómez Theatre, in addition to her participation in the program for professionals.