Warsaw Photo Days : Photography Festival in Poland

Warsaw Photo Days festival was initiated by its organizer, the Association of Polish Artists Photographers ZPAF Warsaw District in 2013. Its first edition will be held from October 4-31, 2013 and is planned to be a place for meetings and presentation of various forms of photography, both from historical perspective and contemporary activities. Under the Main Programme presented will be three group exhibitions: “Female Metamorphoses of the Interwar Period” – a historical exhibition of Polish interwar photographs (curator: Magdalena Durda-Dmitruk), “PHOTO OBJECT” – an exhibition presenting the spatial objects  created- with the use of photographs – between the ’60s of the twentieth century and present days  (curators: Leszek Golec, Jagna Olejnikowska) and “Princesses” – a multimedia exhibition about the world of ‘girlish’ desires and fantasies depicted by contemporary Polish and foreign artists (curator: Katarzyna Majak, substantive consultant: Agnieszka Żechowska). Moreover, organized will be curatorial selection and review of the most interesting photocasts of the recent years (curator: Andrzej Zygmuntowicz), as well as photographic workshops (including, among others, self-publishing and professional preparation of portfolio), meetings with authors and panel discussions. A special highlight of the festival will be a unique,  in concept and formula, Performative Symposium Gesture Towards Photography.(concept: Krzysztof Pijarski), during which the artists will be partners in the exchange of ideas and co-creators of the dialogue. The main focus will be to investigate, describe, and above all, to “demonstrate” the visual and practical ways of expressing  thoughts and “show” how the imagination and the critical mind work. The material recorded during the symposium will be a base for preparing the movie – a specific visual “treatise” on gesture.                                                      Sarah Maple©Lollypop-Lollypop-2011 Under the Open Programme competition, the theme of which is widely understood “CLASH,” exhibited will be six projects drawn from more than 600 entries from around the world. The ZPAF Warsaw District (organizer of the festival) is a structural unit of the existing since 1947 Association of Polish Artists Photographer ZPAF – a creative association bringing together the finest Polish photographers. Its main objective is to promote Polish photography within and outside the country. To accomplish this mission, it runs photo galleries (The Old ZPAF Gallery / Stara Galeria ZPAF and the Obok ZPAF Gallery) deals with a broad scope of photographic education – e.g. by running the ZPAF School of Photography, focuses on copyright protection and representation of authors’ interest (as the organization for collective administration of copyright), as well as on supporting the trading of photographs (ZPAF Agency). On 19th October,2013 – Editor-in-Chief of Emaho Magazine, ManiK Katyal will present a slideshow from Asia.                                                            Liana-Yang©Flowers-&-Hidey