Although Pictotales' main headquarters is in Bilbao (Basque Country), its original seeds were sown in Dresden (Germany). Making use of a blog-support platform, and taking inspiration from the act of creation, one of us, living there, had the thought of linking one main image to the telling of its tale, and went online with this in November of 2011. The main goal of that project was, using images connected with architecture, to invite a viewer-reader to journey both into oneiric atmospheres and into atemporality; the outcome was a blog that in barely over a year has had many more visits than a blog hopes for: arkitektonirika.

Though the original idea for that project as germinated persists, it has had evolutions here. The most obvious one, probably, is that of putting a name to the artistic entity made up of a picture and a tale, and laying out a specific format. We also thought it was essential to put into practice the option of sharing these creative works, feeling that the worldwide tendencies of the day call for such a thing. From that global perspective likewise, we also wanted to offer the option of reflecting as many of the world’s languages as possible. As the outcome of all this, here, at long last, is the Pictotales website.

From the beginning, the Pictotales project has had a loyal travelling companion in New York (United States). Gifted with artistic curiosity and great hopes, we’ve shared ponderings and perspectives and other contributions, sometimes on either side of a table, other times from either side of the ocean. To a large degree, that collaborative work has caused this project to take on its global perspective toward languages. So the Bilbao-New York tandem is essential to the success of the project. We bring together a lot of connecting links, and moreover trust that we will for a long, long time.

Pictotales is a project of humble intentions. But still it has had a bunch of silent helping hands who’ve found it interesting, who have brought things to propose and have offered their help, both on the technical side and in regard to content. Some have had to have great patience in getting contributions to us and making sure they’re understood; but everyone has shown us tremendous honesty and generosity. Our warmest thanks, therefore, to all who have nudged us onward in building this project, each in his or her own way.