We are here again to present you the 16th International Biennial of Photography EUROPA 2017.

It has been a long time since we called the first edition of this exhibition in 1973. Much has changed in photography, as in Europe and the world. However, we remain faithful to that original spirit of opening up a window to the world from Catalonia, our small spot in the Mediterranean.

Una finestra que aleshores i ara ens porta aire fresc, idees, imatges, sensacions, maneres d’entendre l’art de la fotografia tan diverses com ho són els autors que ens envien les seves obres i els països d’on procedeixen.

It is a window which, then and now, brings us fresh air, ideas, images and sensations. Most remarkably, the variety of ways of understanding the art of photography is on a par with the number of artists who keep sending us their pieces of art and projects and the number of countries they come from.

Thanks to this diversity we can further understand the world around us, a world which Catalonia has part of for many centuries. Catalonia wants to make itself heard again in Europe and the rest of the world as it was so until three centuries ago.

Our small country wants to form part of this world as another piece of the puzzle Europe is, always united in its diversity. Through the Europa Salon, and through photography, we try to place ourselves on this diverse map the world of image.

We would like to thank the 309 artists who have sent us 3753 photographs from 53 countries, and who have helped us to place ourselves on this map and allow us to enjoy, one more year, the best photographs made nowadays in the world.

We hope to meet again next year, which by then we expect our country to have changed radically. It will have become a completely different one.

Please allow me to thank you once more and hope to see you again in 2018.