Cinematic signatures

From June 28, 2010 to January 30, 2011 – Museu del Cinema

The Vicenç Arroyo Collection

The photograph of an actor or an actress may be personalized by their autograph, that written line that assures us of their presence. But these legendary beings of our time can also sign it in many other ways that are related to their cinematic identity. A smile, a way of looking, of exposing their body to the camera, or even the convergence of them as real people and what they represent for the collective imagination sometimes say things that we would otherwise be unaware of.
Vicenç Arroyo's collection of autographed photographs gives us, in this sense, a gigantic topography in which a thousand and one varieties of cinematic signatures are displayed, beyond the flourish that illustrates a portion of the image. And then this universe becomes something more than a mere object for collectors of legends. Being confronted by these images that talk to us results in a concise history of the cinema covering almost all of its periods. A discontinuous and fragmented history arranged as a puzzle to which we must give meaning. But also a history that confronts us with our own history, with what these ghosts evoke in us. It is not only a case, therefore, of us observing, but also of being observed. And the resulting exchange of looks is also a signature that allows us to leave our mark on these faces and these figures that are already part of our lives.