The Guangzhou Photo Biennal is one of the best festival to investigate on Chinese Photography, I will post later on what , for me, has a particular interest, here for now the official statement from the Biennal 2009 :
Sightings：Searching for the Truth (“看真D．COM” in Chinese) is the theme of this Biennial. The original Chinese “看真D” has a literal meaning as to see more clearly, while ".COM" is no doubt the most used term on the Internet. In this sense, both the liveliness of the Cantonese language and the importance of new media in spreading news and pictures are neatly packed by the theme.
As we've made “看真D．COM” the central theme, we want to carry forward these messages: first, starting with emphasizing "sightings" and "truth", we can go back to thee very basic links between photography and human life; second, The Cantonness of the theme also make the local context, local experience and local problems more relevant to the show, which in turn puts a subjective value judgment of "seeing" in photography into spotlight; third, we aim to stress interference and interpretation of photography in real life, to focus on a perennial photographic watch of life itself, and to reveal the sociological significance of photography; fourth, the theme displays a combination of real life and virtual life. We want to reflect upon some problems with local photography in the context of globalization, and find an answer to the roles and functions that the practice of photography can play in the nexus of the socio-historical past and the current now. We give a heavy focus on some of the most valuable individuals and photos in this nexus with a belief that visual communication is a necessary step for photography to have a social significance. In this way, there is a notable nexus between people, society, history and photography in this show. The political-historical and political-ethical dimensions will stand out prominently, the modernity and distinctive features of photography will also be expanded and enlarged in the nexus of life, society and history. Freedom to express and collective memories of a society are viewed as the very reasons for the spread of photography. In this sense, this Biennial will be a feast for shows of art and also a platform for academic discussions, where thoughts and ideas flow.
As we've made “看真D．COM” the central theme, we want to carry forward these messages: first, starting with emphasizing "sightings" and "truth", we can go back to thee very basic links between photography and human life; second, The Cantonness of the theme also make the local context, local experience and local problems more relevant to the show, which in turn puts a subjective value judgment of "seeing" in photography into spotlight; third, we aim to stress interference and interpretation of photography in real life, to focus on a perennial photographic watch of life itself, and to reveal the sociological significance of photography; fourth, the theme displays a combination of real life and virtual life. We want to reflect upon some problems with local photography in the context of globalization, and find an answer to the roles and functions that the practice of photography can play in the nexus of the socio-historical past and the current now. We give a heavy focus on some of the most valuable individuals and photos in this nexus with a belief that visual communication is a necessary step for photography to have a social significance. In this way, there is a notable nexus between people, society, history and photography in this show. The political-historical and political-ethical dimensions will stand out prominently, the modernity and distinctive features of photography will also be expanded and enlarged in the nexus of life, society and history. Freedom to express and collective memories of a society are viewed as the very reasons for the spread of photography. In this sense, this Biennial will be a feast for shows of art and also a platform for academic discussions, where thoughts and ideas flow.S
