NOORDERLICHT IN TOP 5 BESTE FESTIVALS TER WERELD

The World's Best Photo Festivals - www.pdnonline.com

September 06, 2007

By Simon Bainbridge

Don't photographers just love a party? No surprise then that new photo festivals are springing up at a rate of more than one a month, the latest additions to an already crowded autumn calendar being Si Fest near Rimini in Italy and Photoquai in Paris.

Europe is hot to trot, with France alone boasting more than 70 festivals of its own, but the U.S. has yet to really embrace the party vibe. Which is strange, given that the world's first photo festival was inspired by Lucien Clergue's trip to North America in the late 1960s. The Frenchman was so impressed by the photography shows he saw in the U.S. that he determined to improve the medium's status back home, setting up a small festival in Arles loosely modelled on the theatre festival in nearby Avignon.

Thirty-eight years later, Rencontres d'Arles is still flourishing, attracting nearly 7,000 visitors in the first of its 12-week run this summer. In the last decade there's been an explosion of new festival launches, from Perth to Krakow. There is also talk about a major photo festival taking place in New York later next year.

But all festivals are not the same. Some, of more humble means, largely serve a local audience - so be careful before you pack off on a career adventure to one of Eastern Europe's more obscure towns or villages. Others, like Arles or Photo España provide a focal point for the photography world's elite legion of curators, publishers and collectors, hunting for the Next Big Thing. The top festivals deliver a more global perspective on contemporary photography, alongside folio reviews, workshops, networking and lively debate. Most of all, they provide inspiration - and just maybe, that most elusive of goals, the first steps on your way to international stardom. Here's our guide to the five best, followed by best of the rest.

THE FIVE BEST

Noorderlicht, The Netherlands, 16 September-28 October 2007

Northern Holland seems an unlikely destination for a festival renowned for its cutting edge, but Noorderlicht has been unearthing important new talent through its open submission policy since its inception in 1990. It now alternates between the cities of Groningen and Leeuwarden; the former presenting images along themes, such as this year's "Act of Faith." while the latter concentrates on non-Western photography. Both lean towards documentary work. This year's shows in Groningen, about a two-and-a-half hour train ride from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, are supplemented by master classes (European students and graduates only), lectures, discussions, a film program and a meeting of international curators to debate the future of photo festivals themselves. Next year's event in Leeuwarden will focus on Eastern Europe before the fall of communism. Check the website for updates on how to submit your work.

Paris Photo, France, 15-18 November, 2007

Paris Photo is an art fair rather than a festival, but especially when it coincides with the biannual Mois de la Photo next up in 2008, it becomes an essential meeting point for galleries, collectors and photographers. More than 40,000 visitors packed the Carrousel du Louvre (underneath the museum housing Leonardo's Mona Lisa), despite the 15 Euro daily admission price, for what is essentially an art supermarket, crammed with blue-chip gallery stalls. The focus is on collectors, so photographers hawking their folios generally get short shrift, but for the cannier among you there's some serious networking to be done. Otherwise, Paris Photo provides a unique insight into the latest whims of the art market, having usurped AIPAD as the premier international photo fair. This year's country spotlight is Italy.

African Photography Encounters In Bamako, Mali, 24
November-23 December, 2007

Curious about what's going on beyond Western photography? Then make West Africa your destination this winter. Bamako, capital city of Mali and home to the late, great portrait photographer Seydou Keïta, hosts its seventh biannual festival, showcasing the best in African photography. This year's event is themed "In the city and beyond," exploring urban centers and their peripheral zones through the eyes of photographers based right across the continent, from Tunisia in the north, right down to South Africa. In truth, this one's for the more intrepid, as there are no direct flights from the U.S., but African Photography Encounters clearly demonstrates the proliferation of photo festivals to the four corners of the earth. Networking opportunities are limited, though a select group of professional visitors (curators, gallery owners and the international press, mostly Gallic, as this festival is backed by French money and expertise) fly in for the weekend of 26-27 November. That said, Bamako (the name derives from a word meaning "place of crocodiles") is a fascinating destination, and is within striking distance of one of the great architectural wonders of the world, the Great Mosque of Djenné.

Photo España, Spain, May-July

Madrid's decade-old festival gives Rencontres d'Arles a run for its money, though the two events couldn't be more different. Photo España utilizes the vibrant Spanish capital's premier arts and cultural institutions (and what venues they are!) staging museum-quality exhibitions that are the envy of all others. No wonder this is the festival that curators rate highest. The festival's strength and weakness is that there's no particular focal point, with activities spread throughout its eight-week run. Exhibitions open over the first fortnight, when invited guests and the artists showing are in town to schmooze, and there's an excellent folio review, "Descubrimientos," open to photographers via a pre-selection process, details of which appear online in December. The "Campus" workshops and master classes begin mid-way through, this year featuring Anders Petersen, Sylvia Plachy and Eikoh Hosoe, among others. Joan Fontcuberta, one of the great brains of contemporary photography, will lead the program next year. And towards the end, The Night of Photography, is the festival's most popular attraction. This year's anniversary event, the first not come under the eye of one overall artistic director, featured shows by such diverse talents as Andres Serrano and Madrid's own No Photo collective. But next Spring it returns to its established formula. No official details have been announced yet, but a Portuguese curator has been appointed, who will work along the theme of "place."

Rencontres D'Arles, France, July-September

If you go to just one photo festival, make it Arles, which still provides the blueprint all other festivals follow, nearly 40 years after Lucien Clergue and friends established it. The opening "professional week" in early July delivers unlimited meeting opportunities, as curators, picture editors, gallery owners, collectors and fellow photographers from all over the world take over the intimate surrounds of the town's Place du Forum, made famous by Vincent Van Gogh's The Café Terrace. But you'll need to adjust to the laid back pace of southern France. Touting your work around aggressively is frowned upon and no one would be so vulgar as to describe Arles as a networking opportunity. Instead, Rencontres (which translates as "meeting") provides a friendly, social environment in which to establish contacts to build for the long term. In the meantime, professional week provides plenty of other activities, from nightly screenings to a formal portfolio review, not to mention dozens of often cutting-edge exhibitions (which continue until mid-September) staged among Arles' spectacular Roman and medieval architecture. Combine this with the excellent cuisine of nearby Provence and Marseilles (to where there are direct flights from the U.S.) and hours of endless sunshine, then what's not to like? One word of warning though: Arles' return to popularity in recent years has made finding a last-minute hotel room virtually impossible. Ideally, book in advance of the program announcement in May, when you should also take note of how to take part in workshops, the folio reviews, and the separate fringe festival, Vois Offwhich, unlike the Rencontres, has an open submission policy.

THE BEST OF THE REST

Mois De La Photo, Canada, 6 September-21 October, 2007
"Replaying narrative" is the theme of North America's premier biannual photo festival held in Montreal, and which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary.

Lianzhou International Photography Festival, China, December 2007
Lianzhou, five hours' drive from Guangzhou in the foothills of the Wuling Mountains, is another unlikely destination for a photo festival photo festival, but this is the place to find a different take on Chinese photography from that shown in the more fashionable galleries of London, New York and Paris. International work is exhibited alongside.

Rhubarb Rhubarb, UK, July 2008
Possibly the best-run portfolio event you'll find, Rhubarb Rhubarb based itself on the Houston Fotofest model - flying in top international curators and editors from around the world for pay-to-view bookings - then improved it by pioneering online bookings that let photographers read reviewers profiles first.

Fotofest, Texas, 7 March-20 April 2008
The good news is that the daddy of all folio reviews is right here in the U.S. The bad news is that it's fully booked. Houston's biannual Fotofest provides the essential showcase for emerging talent - at a cost. Still, there's much else besides, including dozens of shows on Chinese photography, and workshops which reflect the businesslike focus of the folio reviews. Note to self: book early for 2010.

Moscow Photobiennale, Russia, March-May 2008
Moscow's last Photobiennale pulled in more than half a million visitors, yet remains committed to presenting the cutting edge at what is probably the world's largest photo festival.

Fotografia, Italy, April-June 2008
Rome's event is also one of the biggest in terms scale and ambition, but lacks a central focus to provide a sense of festival.

Contact, Canada, May 2008
The Toronto festival is already looking for submissions for its next edition in Spring 2008, which has the theme "Between memory and history". It also features a lecture series, film program, folio reviews, seminars, workshops and tours.

Hereford Photography Festival, UK, 29 September-27 October, 2007
After a few uncertain years, Herefordis back with a heavyweight director (Paul Wombell, former director of The Photographers' Gallery in London) and secure funding. The theme is South African photography, with exhibitions split in two parts, the second showing in 2008, when the festival switches to an annual spring date.

Foto Arte, Brazil, October-December, 2007
Brasília turns the focus on itself for the latest edition of Foto Arte, showcasing 45 photographers' viewpoints of the architecturally splendid 45-year-old Brazilian capital. Further highlights include a folio review (17-21 October) and a contest with an environmental theme.

Fotofestiwal, Poland, May 2008
What Lodz's festival lacks in budget it more than makes up for with the energy of its young team and the scope provided by the city's fabulous transformed factory spaces. Go for the opening weekend and expect openings, parties, folio reviews, attended by reviewers from across Europe. Next year's festival will focus on Chinese photographers, but there's an open entry show too.