FotoFest 2010 Biennial Exhibitions and Participating Spaces
Focus on Contemporary U.S. Photography
March 12 – April 25, 2010
Houston, Texas
FotoFest is pleased to announce the exhibitions and participating spaces for its 2010 Biennial, with four principal exhibitions, curated by five invited curators, dedicated to the Biennial’s theme, Contemporary U.S. Photography. “The 2010 Biennial is a platform to show the different perspectives of photographic art being created today and the perspectives of a new generation of curators,” says FotoFest Creative Director Wendy Watriss.
FotoFest Biennial Exhibitions
Road to Nowhere
Curated by: Natasha Egan, Deputy Director, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago
FotoFest at Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter St, Houston, Texas
Natasha Egan’s selections explore the United States at the close of the “American Century” as the nation negotiates its transition from Cold War superpower to an embattled, economically fragile nation.
Artists: Sheila Pree Bright, Jeff Brouws, Tim Davis, Myra Greene, Eirik Johnson, Jason Lazarus, An-My Le, Nic Nicosia, David Oresick, Trevor Paglen, Greta Pratt, Michael Robinson, Jason Salavon, Victoria Sambunaris, Christina Seely, Paul Shambroom, Greg Stimac, and Brian Ulrich.
Whatever Was Splendid
Curated by: Aaron Schuman, Independent Curator, Editor and Co-founder, Seesaw online magazine
FotoFest at Vine Street Studios, 1113 Vine Street, Houston, Texas
Aaron Schuman explores the legacy and continued influence of a “thoroughly modern photographic figure,” Walker Evans.
Artists: Will Steacy, Michael Schmelling, Greg Stimac, Tema Stauffer, Jason Lazarus, Jane Tam, Richard Mosse, Craig Mammano, Todd Hido, Hank Willis Thomas, RJ Shaughnessy, and Mitch Epstein.
Assembly: Eight Emerging Photographers from Southern California
Curated by: Charlotte Cotton, Creative Director, National Media Museum, Bradford, U.K.; former Head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Edward Robinson, Deputy Curator, Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
FotoFest at Williams Tower, 2800 Post Oak, Houston, Texas
Charlotte Cotton and Edward Robinson are both transplants to Southern California. Their exhibition and the artists’ work in it, are a reflection of the region’s place in the American mythos.
Artists: Nicole Belle, Matthew Brandt, Peter Holzhauer, Whitney Hubbs, Matt Lipps, Joey Lehman Morris, Asha Schechter, and Augusta Wood.
Medianation
Curated by: Gilbert Vicario, Curator, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa; Former Assistant Curator of Latin American Art and Latino Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
FotoFest at New World Museum; Art League, Houston; and other locations
As a curator of contemporary art, Gilbert Vicario sees photography as just one of several media, including video, installation and performance, used by contemporary artists. In Medianation, Mr. Vicario, “explores the interrelationship between the digital image and notions of process and performance in contemporary art.”
Artists: Leslie Hall, Susanne Jirkuff, Adria Julia, Kalup Linzy, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Laurel Nakadate, Sandra Valenzuela, and Emilio Chapela.
DISCOVERIES OF THE MEETING PLACE
Of the five Biennial exhibitions sponsored by FotoFest, the one non-thematic exhibition is the returning Discoveries of the Meeting Place, the eighth in a series that has proven to be a launching pad for photographic careers. Envisioned as a showcase for some of the best work discovered at the FotoFest’s previous Biennial portfolio review, the Discoveries exhibition presents work chosen by ten reviewer/curators.
FOTOFEST PARTICIPATING SPACES
FotoFest’s exhibitions are joined by over 100 other independent exhibitions at venues across Houston, Galveston, and surrounding counties. These Participating Spaces include the city’s major museums and commercial galleries, non-profit spaces, artist-run spaces, corporate spaces, and retail establishments that choose to exhibit photographic art as part of the FotoFest Biennial. In 2008 over 120 spaces participated in the Biennial. The list of the FotoFest 2010 Biennial Participating Spaces (as of October 1, 2009) is available at www.fotofest.org/biennial2010
FOTOFEST 2010 BIENNIAL WORKSHOPS
For working artists, arts professionals, art lovers and the public, FotoFest is sponsoring two media Workshops as part of the FotoFest 2010 Biennial. Forms are available for download at www.fotofest.org/biennial2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 – Beyond Print: Using New Media to Reach the Global Art Market
Presenters include Mary Virginia Swanson and Katrina d’Autremont with Museum and Gallery Curators, Photo Editors, Publishers, and Founders of Online Art Sites
Sunday, March 21, 2010 – Multi-Media Storytelling: Narrative and Conceptual Art
Presenter Brian Storm – MediaStorm ( mediastorm.org )
SPONSORS (as of October 1, 2009)
The Houston Endowment, Inc; The Brown Foundation, Inc; Continental Airlines; The Wortham Foundation; City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown; Texas Commission for the Arts; American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP); HexaGroup; Iland Internet Solutions; Vine Street Studios. Media Partner: Art in America
For more information on FotoFest or the FotoFest 2010 Biennial, please visit www.fotofest.org
Media Contact: For Further information, interview and visuals, please contact,
Vinod Hopson, FotoFest Press Officer, T: 713.223.5522 ext 26, E: press3@fotofest.org
ABOUT FOTOFEST
Founded in 1983 and based in Houston, Texas, FotoFest is a non-profit organization promoting photographic arts and education. FotoFest is recognized for its discovery and presentation of important talent, contemporary and historical, from around the world, its commitment to presenting important social ideas through the photographic arts, its groundbreaking exhibitions and its portfolio review program, The International Meeting Place. FotoFest has curated and commissioned exhibitions of photo-based art from Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. In addition to year-round art exhibitions and programming, FotoFest’s school-based education program, Literacy Through Photography, uses photography to stimulate visual literacy, writing and analytical thinking.
The FotoFest Biennial is the first international Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art in the United States. Through the FotoFest Biennial and its year-round art programs, FotoFest is known as a platform for Art and Ideas, combining museum-quality art with important social and aesthetic issues. FotoFest curated exhibitions give priority to the works of important but little-known photographic artists from the U.S. and around the world.
FOTOFEST BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David Ayers, President; Fred Baldwin, Chairman; Karen Bering; Blair Bouchier; Michael A. Casey; Krista Dumas; Slavka B. Glaser; Carola Herrin; Mavis P. Kelsey, Jr.; James C. Kempner; Meg King Murray; Laura Nolden; John Parsley; Gregory M. Spier; Alice Thomas; Fletcher Thorne-Thomsen Jr.; Phuong Tranvan; Anne Wilkes Tucker; Wendy Watriss
