Opening night of the FotoFest Biennial 2020 exhibition African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other, Houston, TX. Courtesy of FotoFest. Photo: Os Galindo.
FOTOFEST BIENNIALS
2024
Critical Geography
The FotoFest Biennial 2024 central exhibition, Critical Geography, reexamines traditional Western and historical understandings of geography while investigating shifting and emergent spatial realms.
Borrowing its name from the sub-discipline of geography that questions and challenges power structures, inequality, and dominant ideologies shaping spatial patterns, Critical Geography explores how space, place, and communities are influenced by social, economic, and political forces. By critically analyzing these dynamics, the works in the exhibition aim to provoke conversations around social justice, environmental sustainability, and transformative change.
Critical Geography features a diverse range of image-based practices: from photographers and storytellers whose works shed light on systemic oppression, violence, and urgent environmental concerns, to artists and image-makers who appropriate mapping, social media, and technology to explore inequality in colonial and post-colonial contexts. The exhibition presents a range of unorthodox strategies employed to construct new narratives around place and community while imagining alternative social organizations of space. The Biennial exhibition also includes several site-specific commissioned works by participating artists.
2022
If I Had a Hammer
If I Had a Hammer, considers the ways artists utilize images to unpack the ideological underpinnings that inspire collective cultural movements around the globe. Together, the twenty-four included artists propose alternative techniques of seeing and engaging with the world, working with both conventional and new media to shed light on the systems that encourage social theories and political imaginaries to become dogma at the click of a shutter or tap of a button.
The exhibition explores both artistic and activist interventions into the structures of contemporary image-production, calling attention to how these structures both reflect and inform our perception of the world, historical narratives, and the agency to engage in collective cultural discourse. If I Had a Hammer proposes that the systems and structures that support ideological formation such as historical archives, digital media networks, sociopolitical organizing campaigns, and infrastructural and territorial developments, are inextricably linked to the history and development of photography and image technology. Through disparate approaches, the artists in If I Had a Hammer offer strategies to resist and replace legacies of colonialism, imperialism, and systemic violence by exploiting the language and material of image-production and media circulation. In doing so, the artists show how images can be used to both support progressive movements as well as reinforce and bolster systemic inequities.
2020
African Cosmologies: Photography, Time and the Other
The 2020 Biennial’s central exhibition, African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other, and its related programs, examine the complex relationships between contemporary life in Africa, the African diaspora, and global histories of colonialism, photography, human rights, and representation. The exhibition links notions of blackness untethered to the specificity of geography or chronology. The exhibition is curated by Mark Sealy, Director of Autograph ABP, an organization founded in 1988 in London to support black photographic practices, and dedicated to exploring identity, representation, human rights, and social justice.
The Biennial artists turn an eye to social, cultural, and political conditions that inform and influence concepts of representation as they pertain to image production and circulation within Africa and beyond. These artists question the ways in which subjectivity is constructed and deconstructed by the camera, and in the process, reveal legacies of resistance by those who defy traditional ideas of sexual, racial, gender-based, and other marginalized identities. The FotoFest Biennial 2020 marks the first time in its 37-year history that the Biennial’s central exhibition will focus on artists of African origin.
2018
India: Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art
The FotoFest 2018 Biennial India features contemporary artwork from 47 living artists, from India and the global Indian Diaspora. Curated by photographer, curator, and researcher Sunil Gupta, and Steven Evans, FotoFest Executive Director, the Biennial will be among the largest exhibitions of contemporary Indian art ever presented in the United States. Each of the 47 artists, which includes both established and emerging artists, are making work about a number of current and prescient issues including, new technologies and development, the environment, human settlement, migration, integration, economics, caste and class, gender and sexuality, conflict, racism, and religion.
2016
Changing Circumstances: Looking at The Future of The Planet
The 16th International Biennial of Photography and New Media Art is dedicated to examining humanity's relationship with the planet Earth, the dynamics of our changing world, the impact of human societies, and the potential for creative action. Changing Circumstances presents 34 artists from nine countries investigating the Anthropocene, Earth’s most recent geologic time period, defined as being human-influenced, with the planet’s system processes being altered by humanity.
One of the central exhibitions of the Changing Circumstances Biennial is a survey of Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky and his 30 years of work on land, mining, energy, water, and the impacts of industrialization across the globe. FotoFest is also presenting, with the National Geographic, three of its prominent photographers, David Doubilet, David Liittschwager, and Joel Sartore, who have worked on major conservation issues for National Geographic. The FotoFest 2016 Biennial exhibitions are co-curated by Wendy Watriss and Steven Evans with Frederick Baldwin. Looking at the Future of the Planet is a continuation of FotoFest's over thirty-year commitment, to presenting a platform for art and ideas.
2014
VIEW FROM INSIDE: Contemporary Arab Video, Photography and Mixed Media Art
The centerpiece of the 2014 Biennial is four newly created exhibitions on Arab Video, Photography, and Mixed Media Art – VIEW FROM INSIDE – presenting a broad and diverse vision of Arab art, society, and politics.
The exhibitions present works from 50 leading Arab artists from the Middle East and North Africa – a generation of artists who turned from traditional forms of visual art in the late 1990s to begin experimenting with video, photography, and mixed media. Their works coincided with the widespread presence of satellite television, new forms of film, the Internet, and social media over the past 15 years. The effect of these combined technologies, with more immediate access to people and ideas around the world, has had a profound impact on Arab art.
VIEW FROM INSIDE features 50 leading Arab artists from 14 countries and promises to be the largest presentation of contemporary Arab photography and mixed media art presented in the United States in many years. Over the past five years, FotoFest Senior Curator Wendy Watriss has been looking at the work of Arab artists with Karin Adrian von Roques, a German curator with over 20 years of experience working in the Middle East and North Africa. An expert in classical Islamic and contemporary Arab art, Ms. Von Roques has been commissioned by FotoFest as Lead Curator for the Arab exhibitions.
2012
Contemporary Russian Photography
The FotoFest Biennial explores modern and contemporary Russian photographic history over the last five decades, from the post-Stalinist period of the 1950s to the present day. Three main exhibitions present three periods of Russian modern and contemporary photography, with the works of 142 artists from Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine: After Stalin, “The Thaw”, The Re-emergence of the Personal Voice (1950s-1970s), Perestroika, Liberalization and Experimentation (1980s-2010), and The Young Generation (2009-2012). Many of the works are being shown for the first time outside of Russia.
The three main FotoFest 2012 Biennial exhibitions feature 800 historical and contemporary works including classical photography, video, and mixed-media installations. These exhibitions look at the evolution of creative photographic art in Russia from the beginning of “The Thaw” through the late 1970s, the early and late periods of Perestroika reforms (late 1980s to 2010), to the current period (2009-2011). These exhibitions are accompanied by a special exhibition of Soviet photojournalists who were winners of the World Press Photo Awards from 1950-1991.
2010
Contemporary U.S. Photography
In the 20th century, the cultural and economic dominance of the United States after World War II has led some scholars to call this period the “American Century.” U.S. photographers in the last century developed themes and styles that would come to be an important part of contemporary art in the United States. In 2010, FotoFest turns its attention, for the first time, to the subject of Contemporary U.S. Photography with its Thirteenth International Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art.
The central exhibition features the work of 45 U.S. artists and is accompanied by a fifth, non-thematic exhibition, Discoveries of the Meeting Place, spotlighting ten artists who presented work in the previous Biennial’s portfolio review. FotoFest’s exhibitions are joined by more than 80 independently organized photographic exhibitions citywide, forums on contemporary curating, the world’s largest portfolio review for artists, an International Fine Print Auction, programs for art collectors, workshops on online multimedia and social media technologies, films, and public Evenings with the Artists.
2008
Photography From China 1934–2008
In terms of art and photography, a possible prolonged period of creative give-and-take between China and its own cultural/political past, as well as between China and the rest of the world, appeared improbable until fifteen years ago. Today, there is not only a resurgence of new kinds of artistic expression in China but also the re-emergence of work and artists whose work and careers had been caught up in China’s political vicissitudes - individual artists and works that had essentially “disappeared” for decades.
The organization of Photography from China 1934-2008 for FotoFest 2008 Biennial took this history into account. In designing these exhibition programs, we have created a framework that we hope will stimulate a longer and deeper look at the twentieth-century history of Chinese photography.
2006
The Earth & Artists Responding to Violence
FotoFest’s Eleventh Biennial surrounds two themes: The Earth and Artists Responding to Violence. They are independent and interconnected.
The Earth: The capacity of human society to inflict violence upon itself and the earth is expanding with the ever-increasing spread of technology and population. The physical and mythic force of earth presents itself in art in many guises. FotoFest 2006 presents work that engages The Earth metaphorically and figuratively. The art encompasses mixed-media work, classical photography, video, and film. It addresses both human and non-human life in broad existential ways as well as issues of land use and geophysical history.
Artists Responding to Violence: Human-created violence, from war to the household, is omnipresent and ubiquitous. It is not only threatening the existence of earth but is transforming the nature of political society. In exploring this theme, FotoFest was not focusing on the depiction of violent acts but rather on how creative artists interpret these acts of violence, the human capacity for violence, and the presence of violence in many aspects of life.
2004
FOTOFEST 2004: Water
The tenth Biennial is dedicated to the theme of Water through art, science, and public policy. FotoFest creates 29 exhibitions, forums, film and video programs, and a student curriculum on Water. FotoFest collaborates with the Institute for Flow Sciences in Herrischreid, Germany to show its pioneering methods of visually recording the internal, generally unseen movements of Water. The Institute’s work is designed to stimulate a new understanding of the sensitivity and complexity of water and establish new benchmarks for judging the purity of water systems.
2002
FOTOFEST 2002: The Classical Eye and Beyond
FotoFest creates one of the major presentations of new technology, multi-media photographic art in the U.S., spanning digitally created photographic imagery to Web-based Internet art. Exhibitions include DJ and video performances, mobile video installations, and projections. FotoFest also presents five classical, black and white photography exhibitions, including the first showing of late 19th and early 20th-century Russian Pictorialism. This exhibit begins a long-term collaboration between Russian museum institutions and FotoFest.
2000
FOTOFEST 2000: Eighth International Month of Photography
FotoFest creates widely praised inaugural showing of contemporary Korean photography, the work of Spanish photographer Chema Madoz, Highlights in Nordic Photogravure from the Museet for Fotokunst in Denmark, mixed-media installations by Robin Hill, Linda Darling, and Linda Orloff, work by contemporary Mexican photographer Mauricio Alejo, photographs by Texas-based photographer Neil Maurer, Argentine photographer Paula Luttringer's work El Matadero and Swedish artist Anders Petersen's work on the mentally disturbed, Nobody has Seen It All.
FotoFest commissions 17 installations by Houston-based artists for display windows in Foley's Department store downtown.
1998
FOTOFEST 1998: Seventh International Month of Photography
FotoFest commissions and creates 18 exhibits: a groundbreaking exhibit on contemporary Slovak staged photography, contemporary photography from Mexico, photographic art from South Africa, with one of the first U.S. presentations of world-renowned South African artist, William Kentridge, Finnish master photographer Pentti Sammallahti, Brazilian artist Eustaquio Neves, large-scale contemporary Italian landscape photography, and historical Peruvian work by Eugene Courret among others.
1994
FOTOFEST 1994: The Fifth International Month of Photography
For the Fifth International Month of Photography, FotoFest orchestrated three central exhibitions, American Voices: Latino Photography in the U.S., The Global Environment, and Fashion: Evolution/Revolution. American Voices, Latino Photography in the U.S., a ground-breaking exhibition of contemporary photographic art by artists from the three oldest and largest Spanish language cultures in the U.S. A Symposium on Latino photography and culture in the U.S. includes Latino artists and scholars as well as cultural leaders from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. FotoFest presents the first group exhibition of post-revolutionary Cuban contemporary photographers from the island.
FotoFest creates The Global Environment, a multi-faceted exhibition featuring still photography, sculptural installations, and a six-computer workstation on the geography, population, and natural resources of the earth. FotoFest creates The Earth Forum computer station with the Houston Museum of Natural Science. After 1994, FotoFest donated The Earth Forum to The Museum of Natural Science where it has been used as an earth study center training 10,000 public school children a year since 1995.
Fashion, Evolution/Revolution is a 20th-century look at the evolution of fashion through the eyes of the world’s best-known fashion photographers. The exhibit is a collaboration with Staley Wise Gallery in New York. The Fashion exhibit is accompanied by a Rice University Continuing Studies course.
In addition to the exhibitions, the world’s first photograph came to FOTOFEST 1994 in a Brink’s armored truck. FotoFest creates special technology to enable the first public showing of the Niépce (1826) work in almost 100 years.
1992
FOTOFEST 1992: Europe and Latin America 1860–1992
FotoFest creates and commissions 13 exhibits by European artists and 15 exhibits by Latin American artists to reflect important political, economic, and cultural/ aesthetic directions on both continents.
Among the European highlights are Charles Marville’s vintage prints showing the rebuilding of Paris from 1865-1880; early editions of the famous Soviet magazine – USSR under Construction; 1930s work from the Bauhaus Archive; avant-garde Czech artist and designer Karel Teige; a hidden archive of the World War II Hunger Winter photographs from The Netherlands; contemporary Black British photographers; Spanish artist Tony Catany's work on The Mediterranean; contemporary Soviet photography from Soviet Manifesto; and Polish artist Wojiech Prazmowski.
All exhibits from Latin America are new to U.S. audiences – the first portfolio of war photography in Latin America, The War of the Triple Alliance 1865-1870; the Catholic legacy, Guatemala; exploration and opening of Brazil by Marc Ferrez; pioneer women photographers from Argentina; a secret archive of the War in Salvador; contemporary work from Argentina and Uruguay; colorwork from Brazil; contemporary conceptual work from Colombia and Venezuela. Brazilian ambassador to the U.S., French, Dutch, and Argentine cultural officials, and the Director of Bauhaus Archives in Berlin come to Houston to open FotoFest exhibitions.
1990
FOTOFEST 1990: The Third International Month of Photography
FotoFest launches the third Biennial at The George R, Brown Convention Center with a replica of the Berlin Wall. The Biennial salutes historic changes in Central and Eastern Europe. FotoFest transforms Houston’s Convention Center into an immense art gallery with 27 exhibits from 22 countries. There are inaugural exhibits from Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria as well as a special behind-the-scenes look at the rise of Vaclav Havel and the Czechoslovak Velvet Revolution.
1988
FOTOFEST 1988: The Second International Month of Photography
For the Second International Month of Photography, FotoFest presents three groundbreaking exhibitions covering a wide range of topics. historical and contemporary Japanese exhibitions. Princess Christina of Sweden opens FotoFest’s exhibit of contemporary Swedish photography. Presented the Nelson Mandela exhibit coincides with Mandela’s release from prison. Collaboration with Eastman Kodak brings the predecessor of CD technology to Houston – a laser disk showing over 6,000 images from the portfolios of 300 international photographers.
FotoFest sponsors photographic publishing workshops and photography workshops with photographers Larry Fink, Mary Ellen Mark, Neal Slavin, Duane Michals, George Tice, Maria Cosindas, Jerome Liebling, and Robert Sisson.
1986
FOTOFEST 1986: The International Month of Photography
FotoFest inaugurated the first citywide international Biennial of Photography in the United States in 1986. FotoFest curates and commissions 30 exhibitions for the First Biennial hosted in six Houston museums, fourteen art spaces, twenty-seven commercial galleries, and seventeen corporate buildings show photography from 16 countries. The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) opens an acclaimed exhibit of Robert Frank by MFAH curator, Anne Tucker. 110 international and North American curators, collectors, publishers, and photographic experts to come to FotoFest to review photographer's portfolios at The International Meeting Place Portfolio Review for Artists.
The Meeting Place becomes one of the hallmarks of FotoFest, widely replicated by photo events in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Mexico, Romania, Slovakia, the U.K., and the U.S. The Meeting Place has launched the careers of thousands of photographers since 1986. Thirty years later, over 400 photographers’ portfolios are reviewed by 120 museum curators, gallery owners, magazine editors, and representatives of photo agencies, collectors, and publishers – from the U.S. and around the world.
The inaugural FotoFest 1986 Biennial was covered by Art Forum, Art News, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Cosmopolitan, Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Texas Monthly, USA Today, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Washington Post. Broadcast media includes BBC, Finnish TV, Italian Radio, and Japanese TV, among others. 33 local/regional publications, 26 national, and 33 international publications, with a combined circulation of 46.7 million people.
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