ALMOST THERE
Aleix Plademunt

Co-published with MACK

19,8 cm x 25,5 cm
116 pages including 2 gatefolds
68 tritone images
Printed paper hardcover
Edition of 2000

Design by Aleix Plademunt and Gregoire Pujade-Lauraine
Printed in Germany

September 2013
ISBN 978-1-907946-54-7

40 euros

"As your perspective of the world increases not only is the pain it inflicts on you less but also its meaning. Understanding the world requires you to keep a certain distance from it. Things that are too small to see with the naked eye, such as molecules and atoms, we magnify. Things that are too large, such as cloud formations, river deltas, constellations, we reduce. At length we bring it within the scope of our senses and we stabilise it with fixer. When it has been fixed we call it knowledge. Throughout our childhood and teenage years we strive to attain the correct distance from objects and phenomena. We read, we learn, we experience, we make adjustments. Then one day we reach the point where all the necessary distances have been set, all the necessary systems have been put in place. That is when time begins to pick up speed." Karl Ove Knausgaård, "A death in the family".

Almost There is a book work which presents a challenging constellation of images. Exploring of what is closest and what is furthest away. Ultimately it communicates the frustration of never being close enough and never being far enough away. Just managing to be almost there. The impossibility of reaching one's destination. Photographing the photograph. Photography as an imaginary return journey and at the same time as a reflection of that place and that thing we can never go back to, which we can never see again in the same way. Almost There, in short, explores the genres and languages we use to try to understand the world through images. But it also examines how photography conditions our visions as well as the intrinsic mystery of each place: being there, getting there, seeing it from afar or observing it up close.

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"Cuando la visión de conjunto del mundo se amplía, no sólo disminuye el dolor que causa, sino también el sentido. Entender el mundo equivale a colocarse a la cierta distancia de él. Lo que es demasiado pequeño para verlo a simple vista, como las moléculas, lo ampliamos; lo que es demasiado grande, como el sistema de las nubes, los deltas de los ríos, las constelaciones, lo reducimos. Cuando lo tenemos al alcance de nuestros sentidos, lo fijamos. A lo fijado le llamamos conocimiento. Durante toda nuestra infancia y juventud nos esforzamos por establecer la distancia correcta de cosas y fenómenos. Leemos, aprendemos, experimentamos, corregimos. Y un día llegamos a un mundo en el que se han fijado todas las distancias necesarias, y establecido todos los sistemas. Es entonces cuando el tiempo empieza a correr más deprisa." Karl Ove Knausgaård, "A death in the family".

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Almost There presenta una constel·lació complexa d'imatges explorant allò que està més aprop i allò més llunyà. En darrera instància comunica la frustració de no poder trobar-nos mai suficientment a prop ni suficientment lluny, únicament gairebé ser-hi. Almost There fotografia la fotografia. La fotografia com a viatge de retorn imaginari i, alhora, com a reflex de l'allà i l'allò on mai podrem tornar, que mai podrem tornar a mirar de la mateixa manera. Almost There proposa, en suma, una mena de deambular pels gèneres i els llenguatges amb els que mirem d'entendre el món a partir de les imatges, però també pel com la fotografia condiciona les nostres visions, així com el misteri intrínsec de cada lloc: ser-hi, arribar-hi, veure'l de lluny o observar-lo de molt a prop.

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