ABSTRACT
Cambó casted doubts on the benefits of an Exhibition focused exclusively on electricity and its applications. This chapter builds on this trend of research, using the preliminary discussions for a new Universal Exhibition to be held in Barcelona in the early 1900s to elaborate an argument on the interplay between the construction of substate national identities and the reception of technology. It provides new insights on the long-standing debate on the relationship between Modernity and regional identities. The labeling of electricity as "foreign" by both Cambó and Puig seems paradoxical, if we take into account that Catalonia had an emergent electric industry and that it was the professional association of businessmen in this sector who promoted the celebration of the Exhibition. Discussing electricity and the photo archive during the planning for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition allows a rethinking of the dynamics of representation of art, archaeology, and other related disciplines vis-à-vis more explicitly technological improvements such as electricity.
