Augenblick, Festival : Sifest 2010, Savignano Festival

One of the most interesting festival for photography will open soon in Savignano Sul Rubicone.The Sifest 2010 is curated by Stefania Rössl and Massimo Sordi which have prepared a very interesting program and a great list of photographer to look closely. The Sifest is also an happening with a so called "White Night" of photography, portfolio Reviews and projection. Among all the photographer that will exhibit Roger Ballen, Andrew Phelps and Paola De Grenet.
Also very interesting the collective Global Photography which will include also Vanessa Winship, Rafal Milach, Muge, and Amy Stein .
There is also a good opportunity to look at new Italian photographers such as Patrizia Zelano and Cesare Cirardini which I am going to talk later on in my blog.

Augenblick. Blog on Photography , Festival , Lucca DigitalPhotoFest

A little bit of everything at the Lucca DigitalPhotofest , workshops and lectures and some good exhibitions. Among other photographers like Alex Majoli , Richard Avedon, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Ernesto Bazan and Martina Bacigalupo will exhibit. Indeed an interesting retrospective of Japanese Photographer Eikoh Hosoe from which I post the cover photo of this article.

Augenblick. Blog on Photography , Festival : Rencontre de Bamako

A good way to look deep into African Photography is certainly the Rencontre De Bamako (Biennal of African Photography) which will be opening this year on the 7th of November , the photo festival will display a good collection of photographers from the forgotten Continent. The festival will not only include exhibition but also screening, lectures and meetings in order to better understand African Photography and perhaps better promoting in the world. Among the many photography which will introduce their work Jodi Bieber (South Africa) , Kadar Attia (Algerie) , Yo-Yo Gonthier (La Réunion) and indeed an interesting retrospective on Malik Sebide' (Mali).

Here some words from their official presentation:

While the Bamako Encounters have achieved recognition over the years as an opportunity for African photographers and professionals from all over the world to exchange ideas and discover each other's work, one of the aims of this year's edition is also to turn the Encounters into an event and a celebration for the local population. The focus placed on photographs of "everyday life", the activities and exhibitions assembled in some of the major and popular locations within Bamako (National Museum, Palace of Culture, District Museum, INA Gallery, French Cultural Centre...) and the campaign organised ahead of the event to publicise the Encounters in schools and universities are an integral part of the desire to occupy the city's urban space and involve its inhabitants. At the same time the Biennial’s international network will continue to expand, especially with the new Arles Encounters/Bamako Encounters partnership and the presentation of the series Luxury by Martin Parr, the invitation from the Michael Stevenson

Gallery of Cape Town, which will feature a film look at two of its artists: Pieter Hugo and Nandipha Mntambo, as well as introducing international artists and projects. These programmes will enhance the national visibility of the Encounters while at the same time develop its key role internationally in spreading African photography.

Festival : Chinese Cosplayer at Pingyao Photo Festival

This time I will have to post something about myself.. I am very happy to exhibit my on going project on Cosplay in China at the Pingyao International Photo Festival which will open the 19th of September, the project is my first approach to the different youth subcultures which I want to work on in the next years. Not an easy project as I am intend to visit these kids in their home (rather than a park or in some official events) , I will be quite happy if one day I will come up with 15-20 good photos, at this stage I would say i am half of the way but already happy to have seen an interest from magazines and curators of Pingyao festival on the work.

I will write more about Pingyao as I am going there, there are some good photography to talk about furthermore in this blog.

Assuming the fact that working on a topic of cosplay could be tricky (many people already worked on it) I tried to set up a different view, try to dont let their mask taking over the portrait. To explain that I better post the statement written by Sara Vincenzi which she has found a remarkable text to explain my project. Here the statement :

Chinese youth's subucultures : Cosplayer

Fallen angels from heaven, wrapped in sheets garish robots, futuristic knights and princesses. In this way ', encased in heavy armor, transmuted by the speed' of change, Chinese’s teens take refuge in the imaginary dream, the ones of the epic heroes and characters of “Manga” and Japanese cartoons. They are the losers of the Chinese miracle, people born on the ashes of a generation speechless in its dreams and libertarians ideals.

”That day you covered my eyes and the sky with a red flag, you asked me what I was seeing, "Happiness'" I said ..... This feeling made me forget that I have no place to stay, you asked me which direction I want to go, I answered on your way... " Was singing Cui Jian , founder of Chinese rock, marking 'the end of that generation of the 80' who had fought and hoped.

Deprived of a past buried by the bulldozers of modernity 'and phagocytized by speed', the only unit 'of measurement of the Chinese metropolis of 21 th century, the new generations closing up in themselves, cover, disguise, dress, put colored wigs trying to live the real size of this elusive transmuting it into a fictional world where names, codes and social behaviors are re-invented and re-written in the language of the game.

China is "cannibal" said Lu Xun, is like Kronos devouring his own children at the cyclical rhythm of history and that lets you naked in front of it. Stripped off from their Mao’s blue uniforms with white Student’ shirts, disillusioned by the "magnificent destiny and progress" that social inequalities have widened dramatically over the past ten years, throw in virtual worlds, live double lives where the peeling and moldy walls of China are razed with blows of lasers and magic wands."Learn from Lei Feng" shouted the young red guards holding the booklet of Mao in the 60s. But today's Communist ideals and Confucian’s patriotism squeaking against the advance of globalization and economic growth that sweeps away layers of millenary culture and identity '.

The "Riben guizi," the once "Japanese devils" are a renewed target of national pride but also, at the same time, inspired a new matrix identity in a fluctuating split between public life and private life, reality 'and dream.Language, as always, is 'the first archaeological finding of the future: generations of bloggers and internet users destructure language itself, the slogans of the revolution pop fade like old “dazipao” on the walls, emblems of a past whose memory is' a luxury bitter and the young remain for a few Jiong "spechless" An idiogramma that remains voiceless, a virtual scream, a linguistic mask of China's future apophasis on the search of a new identity.

Exhibition : Global Photographer at Savignano Immagini Festival

I have, earlier, posted an article on Massimo Sordi, a photographer
and educator in Italy which has now curated a group exhibition called
"Global Photographer" inside the Savignano Immagini Festival (Si
Fest) in Italy. The group exhibition has interesting names such as Michele
Cera, Jen Davis, Andrew Phelps , Richard Renaldi, Carla Van de
Puttelaar and Shen Wein (from which i take the cover photo of this
article).The list of photographer is bigger and you can have more
information visiting the web site of the festival from which I am
going to post more as there are more beautiful shows and exhibitions
to talk about .
Here the statement of the exhibition:
Not alone in a big house
The special attention to young photography, showed by the Festival of
Photography of Savignano during its eighteen years of life, expressing
through the large panorama of exhibitions, awards, lectures, workshops
and portfolio readings, suggested the wish to set up a "young section"
within the Si Fest, as a selection of late experiences of Italian and
International photography.
Global Photography wants to be an observatory on emerging photography
and Savignano Immagini becomes its support, representing a basic
reference to its natural development and diffusion.
Since the starting with the Si Fest 2009 edition, this event focus on
the meanings of the term identity; questioning about different aspects
of the cultural or geographical sources deriving from it, we can
interpret multiplicity of codes discerning from the relationships
between people, and between people and places, through the perception
of their mutations.
"A troubled age is an age that wonders about the coherence of the
world and about the relevance of the languages in charge of expressing
such coherence. In this age more than ever, there are elements of
incomprehensible, uncertain, not interpretable nature, floating
meanings scattered all over. The identity's certainties and the
languages of "representation", which are definitely not the ones of
the doubt, as a reaction, recreate themselves. […] We must urgently
address the issues which arises in a different way: thinking, talking,
writing otherwise."
Identity and globalization appear to become essential terms to
describe the features of the contemporary and reflect, through their
vagueness and generality, the delicate fragility of circumstances and
events that increasingly characterize our existence.In this context
the never-ending system established by the global network, universally
shared, seems to offer a democratic use of informations, relying on
each one to be understood and personalized.
Looking at / Looking for approaches the theme of vision as research of
an inner path that digs into the human figure to overcome the physical
limitations of the body assuming a broader corporeity or materiality.
The body becomes a sort of vehicle, the unrenounceable way between the
world and ourselves, the material entity that gives us the measure and
the distance between the reality and the illusion of a photographic
image.
Looking at wouldn't have any significance without looking for, so as
looking for would fall into vagueness without the real support from
looking at: in a permanent balance the apparent borders of both terms
encroach to compose in unison the metaphoric photographing act.
The different authors, in the exhibition of disconnected distances
between clear perceptible realities, shape the imaginary paths that
would be ascribed to such qualities as Lightness, Quickness,
Exactitude, Visibility, Multiplicity.
Announced as "Six proposals for the next millennium", these categories
seem to emphasize the questions arising from the pictures. They
materialize the distinct expressions of the single images to define a
common ground to belong to which communicates the primary relationship
between the artwork and ourselves, an interior sincerity otherwise
impenetrable.
The protagonists of the pictures get to undo their identities
revealing the multiplicity of interpretable signs beyond the image of
themselves.
But "who are we, who is each one of us, if not a combinatoria of
experiences, information, books we have read, things imagined? Each
life is an encyclopedia, a library, an inventory of objects, a series
of styles, and everything can be constantly shuffled and reordered in
every way conceivable".

Festival : Dali Photo Festival 2009

Interesting exhibition at the 2009 Dali Photo Festival. In the little beautiful town of Dali in Yunnan the festival will showcase photographers such as Alain Buu, Claudine Doury, Brent Stirton and other . The festival organized by the Local Government has been curated by Jean Loh of Beaugeste gallery in Shanghai.
Here a note from the organization of the Festival
The Eighth China Photography Art Festival & 2009 Dali International Photography Exhibition 　This is a special year when China is celebrating its 60th birthday, and when photography has been around the world for 170 year. This year is also the one when the Eighth China Photography Art Festival is taking place in Dali where its culture runs deep and its natural beauty is stunning. Dali has been known as the place of ‘breeze, blossom, snow and the Moon’, and the city where mountain and water competes its beauty. With The Eighth China Photography Art Festival setting up here, Dali is also celebrating the First Dali International Photography Exhibition. The Photography Festival/Exhibit

Festival : Guangzhou Photo Biennal 2009

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

Festival : Fotografia Festival in Rome

The Fotografia Festival in Rome will present a wide range of exhibitions and lectures. Among the many authors Nan Goldin with her series "Heartbeat", Guy Tillim with "Roma , citta' di mezzo" and Giorgio Barrera of which I will present another post. Apart from Single show I also appreciate the big panel "La Gioia" which will present a good list of modern photography , among this list Juliana Beasley, Rafal Milach, Gus Powell and many other. Roma Fotografia Festival is a young festival but perhaps the best photographic show in Italy.

Festival : Fotografia Europea , Reggio Emilia , Italy

The photo festival "Fotografia Europea" will have Eternity as topic, displaying different photographers from Europe. Among Luigi Ghirri, Josef Sudek, Maria Papadimitriou, Balthasar Burhard.

Here the statement from Fotografia Europea site:

This year’s edition, on the immense topic of Eternity, treats the theme of time in the photographic image. Photography has a very peculiar and special relationship with time: it has shown the real instant to man, the present, for the first time, fixed in an image, but as soon as it is done, the moment has already passed, leaving the observer with a strange sensation. Looking at a photographic image is always looking into the past. But above all, there are moments and instants, some short, others longer, suspended, vibrant, dilated, and there is the time of the image itself, which captivates and guides the viewer.Eternity indicates a long time, a time of suspension, of meditation, ofsedimentation ; the time of art. But it also evokes the hypothesis of new and different temporal dimensions, which have to reckon with changes and persistence, with memory and together with new technologies. Which idea do we have of eternity today, in the age of the Internet?

Festival : Month of Photography - Los Angeles

Sound a bit of everything in the 2009 Month of Photography Festival in Los Angeles, there are interesting exhibition and some historical photography like for Paul Outerbridge with his Command Performance and Edward Steichen with "Early Years" retrospective. Indeed interesting the work of John Delaney ( Golden Eagle Hunters of Mongolia ) and Mark Edward Harris with his work on North Korea.
Here a note from the official web site :
In April 2009, the inaugural Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA) will showcase the enormous photography community, inclusive of commercial, fine art and photojournalism. As the second largest photography community in the United States, Los Angeles will provide a distinctive backdrop to the celebration of the photographic image.
MOPLA was established and exists to advance the celebration of Photography, through a variety of events and programs designed to inspire and invigorate the photography professional, enthusiast, emerging professional and collector.
MOPLA's two-fold mission is to advance dynamic programming designed to engage and stimulate the photography community, as well as to present a comprehensive resource of exhibitions and events in April 2009.