The Observatory Archives are structured around particular themes and have a clear purpose: to encourage a critique of contemporary culture and society, using different strategies, among others, video art, independent documentary, and mass media archaeology- The Archives cover a huge range of works that are very different from one another, but share a commitment to freedom of expression and reflect on our individual and collective fears and pleasures- Together, they offer a multifaceted view, thousands of tiny eyes that probe and explore our world and announce other possible worlds- It is a discourse that above all values heterogeneity, plurality, contradiction and subjectivity, an antidote to the cloning and repetition of corporate mass media- Given that the call for entries organized by OVNI every 18 months is theme-based, the works selected over the years offer a reading, a kind of record of some of the dreams and nightmares of our times- We have seen the range of issues and preoccupations become more focused over time, from works with very diverse themes in OVNI 1993 to 1996 (extending and exploring the video medium, regaining the formal and the thematic freedom of its early years), to progressively narrow down to increasingly specific themes: identity versus media (1997-1998), community (2000), globalisation (2002), Post Sept 11th (2003), Resistances (2005), The Colonial Dream Autonomous Zones (2006), Exodus, The Margins of the Empire (2008), Rhizomes (2009), Dis_Reality (2011), Oblivion (2012), In Limbo (2014), Arxius de l'Observatori ( 2015), The Border as a Center- Zones of Being and Non-Being-Migra and Coloniality (2016), Path of Return (2018), Winter's End (2020)-

In 1962, René Vautier, together with some Algerian friends, organized an audiovisual formation center to encourage a “dialogue in images” between the two factions. A film was edited from that experience, but the French police partially destroyed it. The images that were saved represent an unprecedented historical document: They tell of the Algerian War and the history of the ALN (National Liberation Army), as well as showing life after the war and, particularly, the reconstruction of the cities and the countryside after the war of Independence. It is the first film from independent Algeria Dirección y fotografía | Réalisation et image | Directors and cinematographers René Vautier Ahmed Rachedi Nacer Guenifi Héléna Sanchez Sidi Boumédienne Mohamed Guennez Allal Yahiaoui Mohamed Bouamari André Dumaître Taïbi Mustapha Bellil

Port Trade Portrait is a portrait of the old Barcelona cargo port, which has been transformed into a tourist leisure area. Today, tourists step around Africans who are trying to make a living in the face of the constant threat of persecution and detention, right on the same docks from which the slave ships that enriched distinguished families set sail not so long ago.

El ciclo De lo imaginado a lo tangible, propone presentar ideas abstractas que nos ayuden a reflexionar sobre la realidad donde vivimos, inmediata, concreta y material. Toni Serra, codirector de los Archivos OVNI, presenta diferentes piezas de las más de 2000 que este archivo audiovisual ha reunido a lo largo de 21 años, ofreciéndonos una visión incómodo del siglo donde vivimos, pero también los sueños y deseos de unas sociedades que no se ven reflejadas en el imaginario de los medios corporativos.

The cycle From the Imagined to the Tangible, proposes to present abstract ideas that help us to reflect on the reality where we live, immediate, concrete and material. Toni Serra, co-director of the OVNI Archives presents different pieces of the more than 2000 that this audiovisual archive has gathered over 21 years, offering us an uncomfortable vision of the century where we live, but also the dreams and desires of societies that do not see each other reflected in the imaginary of corporate media. Museum of World Cultures, Barcelona. 4th October 2016.