Mercredi 22 Avril 2015 10:41:04 par Juliette Sellin dans Festivals

Fotofestiwal is already 14 years old… and it is growing up like a teenager! Many things have changed from our first edition in 2001, but not the important ones: the variety of our exhibitions and activities and the presence of remarkable photographers from around the world. We open up in Łódź (Poland) on May 28th and we will be watching, celebrating, listening and discussing until 7th of June.

ART_INKUBATOR, main festival center in Tyminieckiego 3, will be holding a total of eighteen exhibitions. Our rooms will be filled with projects of Fotofestiwal’s 2015 Grand Prix finalists and with works of award winning photographers such as Mateusz Sarełło (with Swell), Anna Grzelewska (with Julia wannabe – about her daughter’s growing up process); Cyrill Costilhe, with a dark, lynchian work on Diego Suarez in Madagascar; Patrick Willocqa, in a colorful project on tribal rituals in Republic of Congo; or Sarker Protick, depicting Dhallywood film sets in Bangladesh.

Young, noteworthy artists will be presented from now on in the section called DISCOVERY SHOW. This year, we will be starting with a huge, monographic exhibition of the Mozanbican photographer Mario Macilau. Almost thirty year-old, Macilau has already exhibited his work around the globe and has got his catalogues introduced by the master Roger Ballen.

OFF-PIOTRKOWSKA, our second festival center in Piotrkowska 138-140, will be also a must-see: the former industrial complex will be hosting three projects of Fabrica –Benetton communication research center in Italy – and the pictures of Dougie Wallace on English nightlife. On the top floor, an new concept of portfolio review – PORT-OFF-FOLIO – will bring together more than thirty international well know names in the photographic field (artists, curators, historians) with selected applicants, in order to discuss and get feedback about personal projects. The call to participate is open until April 24th and you can find in our webpage, www.fotofestiwal.com

Not just our centers but also the entire city gets involved in Fotofestiwal, and several galleries partner together to bring top exhibitions to their spaces. To note just one of them, Atlas Sztuki will be showing the images of Karl de Keyzer, one of our panelists and member of Magnum Agency. All of this, in addition to workshops, parties and contests as Polish Photographic Publication of the Year is waiting for you… it’s just the beginning!