WHAT DOES UNDERGROUND MEAN?

Underground: 1.- Adj. Situated beneath the surface of the ground. / 2.- Adj. Relating to or denoting the secret activities of people working to subvert an established order. 3.- Adj. Relating to or denoting a group or movement seeking to explore alternative forms of lifestyle or artistic expression; radical and experimental. / 4.- N. An underground railway.

In this issue of EXIT we focus on what is hidden, out of view, growing and developing underground. We focus on that wealth and misery which, without light, is capable of enlightening us. In fact, like an iceberg, what we see is only a small part of the whole body, and the hidden part is what enables the visible part to exist. The part we ignore is the part that actually sustains us.

To address the idea of Underground we have tried to develop the concept in all the aspects that the term denotes, basically what is hidden, both the underground and what is not entirely visible; what is hidden from the public eye, the uncommon and the marginal. And, as usual, we have sought out artists who document these aspects through photography. It never ceases to surprise us how photography touches on all aspects of contemporary life, from a documentary, symbolic, creative and ironic perspective, through disparate and sometimes opposite forms and attitudes.

Photography is the art of light and darkness. That is why its search in the dark, descending underground, entering the prohibited places, seeking what is hidden, seems natural to us. Throughout its history photography has always been a spelunker of life, of feelings and of death, a witness to the visible and the invisible. That is why it has become the art form of the century, the art form most widely accepted and recognized by a society that not only sees itself reflected in it but in which it also participates and with which it coexists. Photography walks hand in hand with a society undergoing continual change and always partly hidden. Photography unfolds in a life that parallels the society it portrays, exploring its most hidden and most subterranean aspects and showing them in full light.

Editorial: 
Parallel Lives. Rosa Olivares.

Texts: 
Journey to the Center of the Earth. Jules Verne.
Morning of the Magicians. Joachim Koester.

Interview:
Miguel Trillo, by Sergio Rubira.

Dossiers: 
Sophie Calle, David Goldblatt, Bob Mazzer and Taryn Simon.

Artists: 
Raúl Belinchón, Sergio Belinchón, Peter Beste, Bleda y Rosa, Oliver Boberg, Nuno Cera, Salvador Costa, Walker Evans, Alex Fradkin, Robin Friend, Naoya Hatakeyama, Peter Hujar, Branislav Kropilak, Jesús Madriñán, Santu Mofokeng, Christopher Morris, Diana Scherer, and Michael Wolf.

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