Alterations Contemporary Photography Exhibition at the Royal Collections Gallery

Alterations explores the intersection of contemporary art and historical collections by inviting four contemporary artists to engage with the museum's permanent displays. Through photography, the project generates new stories and perspectives that challenge historical interpretations and expand traditional narratives.

Alterations presents a reinterpretation of the Royal Collections Gallery's holdings from a contemporary standpoint, encouraging a dynamic dialogue between historic collections and present-day creativity. The exhibition showcases four distinct artistic interventions—by Bleda y Rosa, José Manuel Ballester, Teo Barba, and Andrés Pachón—that re-contextualize the objects and spaces of the permanent display. By manipulating, de-contextualizing, or reimagining historical archives and landscapes, these artists invite visitors to reflect on the nature of history, territory, and identity. The project highlights how photography can function as a tool for both investigation and creation, transforming how viewers engage with the museum's royal legacy. Each artist brings a unique approach: Bleda y Rosa reflect on memory and absence in landscapes of historical conflict; José Manuel Ballester strips canonical paintings of human presence to focus on space and time; Teo Barba explores the subjectivity of the gaze in royal sites; and Andrés Pachón exposes the artifice in colonial-era anthropological photography. Together, these interventions offer a contemplative journey that reassigns meanings to fixed historical spaces.

Access to this exhibition is included with the general admission ticket for the Gallery. Visitors can access the displays across floor -1 and floor -2 during standard museum opening hours, from Monday to Saturday until 8 pm and Sundays until 7 pm, with no additional booking required for the exhibition itself beyond the standard entry process.