Showing posts with label Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Festival. Show all posts

Friday, 5 December 2008

A human vision

© Timotheus Tomicek

I recently met with Timotheus Tomicek from Vienna at a Festival in eastern Europe and i was impressed with his project Something Human You can see an online book version of the project on his website. Timotheus says about this work:


"is solely about pointing to the traces and effects of human behavior.
I steer clear both of exceptions and the exceptional. Instead, I search out
the opposite of so-called attractions. The ingredients are of a rather simple
kind. Any truth contained in these images is based on correspondences and
analogies. If the represented alone came to the fore I would have missed my
mark. I am not aiming at the visible but at the invisible that it points us to.
The idea is to hit the nail on the head. Without hammer or nail"

© Timotheus Tomicek

Monday, 10 November 2008

Bratislava, Photography from the East

Symon Kliman ©

A few days ago Bratislava Month of Photography was taking place with a number of exhibition around town. Here is some of the interesting work that we found during during the Sittcomm Award and the Portfolio Review Slideshow.
Grzegorz Klatka with his car project, Symon Kliman with his Gypsies Made Nice, Maros Krivy with Green Dessert project and Mikolaj Dlugosz with the Real Foto series.
Filip Berendt was the winner of the Sittcomm Award.
Grzegorz Klatka ©


Filip Berendt ©

Mikolaj Dlugosz ©

Oliviero Toscani was also showing an installtion of 50 life size pictures of donkeys in the main square. Apparently Toscani did not show up for the presentation conference and later when we walked by the square a loud sound of donkey braying was organized in the square by the people waiting.

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

End of Festival FotoGrafia in Rome?




After months of speculation now It`s ufficial , The International Festival of FotoGrafia in Rome is not longer in calendar for 2009 due to financial difficulties. Marco Delogu, creator and director of the Festival was surprised by the decision, and confirmed to the press here that all the sponsor are in place for next year and the Festival team has been working as normal to organize the event. On the FotoGrafia Roma website you could see the previous seven edition of this vibrant event for a city mostly known for its past. Meanwhile there are rumors about Milan preparing a Biennale Internazionale di Fotografia with the Fondazione Triennale di Milano and other institution to welcome the Expo 2015, more detail to come.

Tuesday, 10 June 2008

Thomas Demand at PHE08

© Thomas Demand


Thomas Demand is on show at the Fundación Telefónica in Madrid as part of Photoespana 08.
On the night of the opening a large crowd was at the event including the artist. In the afternoon Demand meeting the press said: "I am not an expert in photography — I hoped nobody would find out! My work is about ideas." Thomas Demand works with pre-existing images of historical nature, which he turns into large scale paper model that he then photographs and destroys. The exhibition contains ten works from Yellowcake, images of Niger’s embassy in Rome . Also works from the series Pool, Tavern and five videos are also part of the installation.
More infos http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/noticias/not_166.htm

For more of Thomas Demand works www.thomasdemand.de/

Monday, 9 June 2008

Descubrimientos 08

Yann Goss ©

Yann Gross is the winner of Descubrimientos 2008 at Photoespana. The 70 finalists from 42 different countries were chosen from more than 900 international portfolio. During the festival all finalist had a chance to present their works to top curators, gallery owners, publishers and other photography experts.

Yann work "Horizonville " is a journey into a swiss valley documenting people and their American dream. Yann sais "Most of the people I photographed haven’t ever been in the United State of America. They feel a sense of belonging to another culture that they don’t really know. Far from the Swiss stereotypes, the confusion of symbols and the lifestyle of the people take us in a strange atmosphere, a dreamed reality which doesn’t exist in facts.

To see more of his works click here. http://www.yanngross.com/horizonville.htm

PhotoEspaña 08, Madrid


The Place is the theme of this year’s PHotoEspaña an International Festival of Photography and Visual Art held in museums, institutions, art galleries across Madrid. PHE08 programme aims to provide different visual works related to the notion of place in its broadest sense and would be on show at Casa de América, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Círculo de Bellas Artes and the Prado Museum, and many other locations. Sergio Mah (Artistic director of Photoespana 08) was questioning : "What distinguishes a place in terms of its physical, poetic and ideological characteristics? How do we experience places and how do they affect us? How are places connected and shaped by society and politics? Which are the paradigmatic places of the contemporary landscape? " Sergio Mah, wanted a show on space as "a vague combination of experiences, emotions and significant mementos".
Exhibitions include an in-depth look at the work of Historic and great Masters, such as Bill Brandt, Robert Smithson and Eugene Smith as well as a contemporary view on this year theme.


© Roni Horn

The "opening" tour started with the Roni Horn with a selection of the works developed in Iceland by the artist which includes pictures, drawings and publications of an artist linked with minimalist movements.
Next stop was downstair in the same building, Ciculo de Bellas Artes where a video installation by David Claerbout was on show. The video is showing an oriental family group playing ball surrounded by a cityscape under a big-brother suvaillance camera.
On the same night there was also a very interesting show at the Fundacion ICO, a collective exhibition with works by Augusto Alves da Silva, Patricia Dauder, Pedro Barateiro, Geert Goiris, Beate Gütschow, Joachim Koester, An-My Lê, Walter Niedermayr, Peter Piller titled Compromised Places/ Topography and Actuality. A visual reflection that embrace the theme for this year and displays a landscape of history, politics, urbanity and social changes.

The day after was the opening of Thomas Demand, one of the most popular event at PHE08. At the press event the artist said about his work: "I am not an expert in photography — I hoped nobody would find out! My work is about ideas."



Florian Maier-Aichen ©

At the Museo Thyssen works by Florian Maier-Aichen with dramatic colours and viewpoints to create an unreal sensation in her landscapes. At the Royal Botanical Gardens, Ignasi Aballi with Weeds, a display of large panels placed in different spots around the gardens. The works compares nature subject with a more spontaneous and secondary one. As well as providing a showcase for new local and international talent, the festival also offers courses, master-classes, debates and guided tours, plus a night-time projections during the Noche de la Fotografía on 13 June. More infos about both the Official Section and the Off Section at the festival website www.phedigital.com

Monday, 5 May 2008

Fotografia Europea Reggio Emilia


A third edition of Fotografia Europea has just open in the town of Reggio Emilia with exhibition until 8 of June. Curated by Elio Grazioli for the second year running it is one of the most important event for photography in Italy. During the first week Fotografia Europea is packed with meeting, events, talks and performances around the theme of "Human, Too Human" intended as bodies and their representation in photography and contemporary visual arts. As most contemporary festival is divided in the official and off section with a large number of works on display, impossible to see all in one day so be prepared for long walks.
Edward Steichen is surely one of those exhibition that can`t be missed, divided in two different sites "Un Epopea Fotografica" at Palazzo Magnani an exhibition of the entire career of the artist and a second exhibition at Chiostri di San Domenico with works from 1923- 1927 during the years at Conde` Nast. In the same building you could see "Heroines"by Bettina Rheims, a series of large sculptural portrait depicting actresses and models in couture and nude.
A series of colour polaroid by Paolo Gioli is on display at Palazzo Casotti, just behind the main square, with images of torsos, busts, anatomy. A research into the use of polaroid from an artist that has creatively explored this medium in his work.
Together with Paolo Gioli this section includes Raoul Hausmann, Jorge Molder, Pierre et Gilles and Wols that you could visit accross Reggio Emilia.
Bruno Cattani works are on display at Musei Civici exhibiting black and white photographs of sculptures from various museum. The artist says that his work " wasn’t carried out by following academic clichés, but with an aesthetic choice in which figures communicate and exchange looks of complicity, repeating the gestures that are part of their history". This photographic research project on the theme "Human, Too Human" together with projects by the italian artist Jarno Zaffelli and Patrizio Esposito are on diaplay at the same museum together with stuffed animals, old paintings and antiques. Works by Elio Mazzacane Vanni Codeluppi, Fabio Donato and Benedetta Alfieri, enhances and completes the exhibitions on offer at Fotografia Europea 2008.
On the international front, Aneta Grzeszykowska at Palazzo Torello-Malaspina and Ann-Sofi Sidén at Spazio Gerra are showing visual performance of the body. Performatives experience that in the case of Ann-Sofi Sidén involved filming over 200 persons in Reggio Emilia sliding down a fire station emergency pole. Other international artist includes Antoine D’Agata from France and Erwin Olaf from Holland.
Human, Too Human could is as a visual retrospective into the body, that the curator describes as a "body of photographic images, a body that has developed and changed over the years as much as the human body, incorporating new materials, new techniques and new devices, right up to the apparent immateriality of digital technologies" .

Tuesday, 22 April 2008

Biennale de la photographie - Liège 2008

Xavier Delory ©



The sixth Biennale de la Photographie is on the way in Liege. The curator is Dorothée Luczak and the theme of the event is "The concept of Territories" and its different aspects
like “Mental Territory”, “Political Territory”, “Mutating Territory” or the relationship between “Territory and Identities”. On display works by Edward Burtynsky, Xavier Delory and Patrick Messina. Fot more infos http://www.biennalephotoliege.be/

Wednesday, 9 April 2008

Fotografia international Rome`s Festival


Fotografia international Rome`s Festival is now into the seventh edition, different exhibitions opening from April 4th to May 25th. For more informations http://www.fotografiafestival.it/eng/index.asp
Giorgio Barrera is the winner of the second edition of the FotoGrafia – Baume&Mercier International Award. The jury was composed by Olivier Spillebout (Transphotographiques, Lille), Massimiliano Tonelli (Exibart), Laura Serani (Deleguée generale del prossimo Mois de la Photo à Paris and SI FEST), Tim Davis (U.S.A., photographer) and Marco Delogu (FotoGrafia).


Thursday, 3 April 2008

Graciela Iturbide, 2008 award winner Hasselblad Foundation

Graciela Iturbide © , House of Frida Kahlo

The Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography for 2008 has been made to Graciela Iturbide from Mexico City.
Graciela Iturbide is considered one of the most important and influential Latin American photographers of the past four decades. Her photography is of the highest visual strength and beauty. Graciela Iturbide has developed a photographic style based on her strong interest in culture, ritual and everyday life in her native Mexico and other countries. Iturbide has extended the concept of documentary photography, to explore the relationships between man and nature, the individual and the cultural, the real and the psychological. She continues to inspire a younger generation of photographers in Latin America and beyond.
This year’s prize committee, which submitted its proposal to the Foundation’s board of directors, comprised:
Frits Gierstberg, (Chair) Head of Exhibitions, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands,
David Chandler, Director, Photoworks, Brighton, England,
Monika Faber, Chief Curator, Albertina Collection of Photographs, Austria,
Michiko Kasahara, Chief Curator, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan,
Patricia Mendoza, Director, Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca, Mexico.

Sunday, 30 March 2008

New York Photo Festival


Curators Martin Parr, Kathy Ryan, Lesley A. Martin, and Tim Barber

About the New York Photo Festival:
Founded by Daniel Power and Frank Evers, and a joint initiative of powerHouse Books and VII Photo Agency, the New York Photo Festival will be the first international-level Festival of photography to be based in the U.S., with the ambition of documenting the future of photography in all its forms. For the inaugural edition (May 14-18, 2008) of this new annual event, a group of internationally respected curators have been selected to deliver their personal vision of the newest and most important trends in contemporary photography: Magnum photographer Martin Parr, The New York Times Magazine picture editor Kathy Ryan, Lesley A. Martin of the Aperture Foundation, and Tim Barber of tinyvices.com. In addition to the curated pavilions, the Festival will offer visitors an extensive range of activities that will generate dialogue and buzz among all the communities of photo professionals, amateurs, students, and aficionados of art and culture: seminars, slide shows, book signings, photographic workshops, live performances and events, and a gallery row. The New York Photo Festival will be headquartered in DUMBO.