FotoFestiwal 2013 – Poland

Fotofestiwal was born in 2001 as one of the first photography events in Poland. Since then, both photography and the ways of organising cultural events have changed. Fotofestiwal has always been up to date with these changes. It is intended as a space for various forms of photography and a forum for discussion on art and society, but also as a search for alternative methods of talking about photography and presenting it.

Poland –

June 6, 2013 till June 16 2013 Lodz Poland

Born in 2001 Fotofestiwal is one of Poland’s first photography events. Along with exhibitions and discussions, the festival significantly encourages new and alternate ways of presenting photography. Old factories, villas, tenement buildings and mansions of factory owners have always been crucial components of the festival’s landscape. Among Fotofestiwal’s two distinct programmes are the ‘Grand Prix Programme’, a competition for young artists whose works are rarely presented in Poland and the ‘Factory of Photography’, a unique programme which reviews photography schools.

HIGHLIGHTS 2013

The New York Times Magazine: Photographs Tearsheets
Long-time photo editor of the magazine Kathy Ryan curates the exhibition. The collection includes more than 400 photographs showing the most important events in world history as well as the portfolios of the greatest photographers such as Nan Goldin, Roger Ballen, Lee Friedlander, Malic Sadibé, Gregory Crewdson, Simon Norfolk, Paolo Pellegrin, Andres Serrano, Sebastião Salgado, Gilles Peress, Annie Leibovitz, Philip Lorca di Corcia and Mary Ellen Mark. The exhibition format is out of the ordinary and will reflect the original newspaper layout.

I ARTIST. Transcendent Amateur
The exhibition curated by Joan Fontcuberta, this year’s winner of the Hasselblad Award granted to the most influential creator, focuses on amateur and anonymous photography, and its evolving artistic and social status including transformations in media and visual communications. Among many approaches to the topic, it will feature arts and community involvement projects, humorous reinterpretations of popular culture images by Joachim Schmid and a series of hilarious photos found online by Philip Schuette. The second part of exhibition programme has a focus on so-called vernacular photography.

OTHER EXHIBITIONS TO WATCH OUT FOR
British photography legend Nadav Kander will show a series of portraits titled Bodies. 6 Woman. 1 Man. Unusual projects such as The Harvest of Death by Karl Burke, is a photo experiment using computer games pictures. Palimpsest by Emilio Pemjean aims to reconstruct architectural objects and spaces shown in the world’s most famous paintings. Ilona Szwarc will present her World Press Photo Award-winning project American Girls.

For further information and a complete timetable of the programme please log on to the FotoFestiwal website.