VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The FotoFest Biennial is the longest running photography biennial in the United States - one of the most acclaimed photography vents in the world. For the FotoFest 2010 Biennial, FotoFest is inviting, for the first time, outside Curators to put together its central exhibitions. The focus of these exhibitions is Contemporary U.S. Photography. The exhibitions feature 45 contemporary U.S. photography and video artists.

In addition to FotoFest exhibitions and over 80 independently curated exhibitions, FotoFest 2010 Biennial features Forums on Curating, the Meeting Place Portfolio Review, the Fine Print Auction, collectors' evenings and Evenings with the Artists, Workshops on online media, a Film and Video program, Artists Book Signings, the nationally known photo-eye bookstore and exhibition tours. The FotoFest 2010 Biennial Catalogue is available in early March 2010.

"Curatorial Diaglogues: Conversations with Contemporary Curators"
MARCH 14 - 31, 5:30pm
The Doubletree Hotel Downtown Houston, Texas

Understanding the role of the art curator is an important part of FotoFest's programming for the FotoFest 2010 Biennial.

FotoFest has invited five leading contemporary curators from museums and online sites to curate its principal 2010 Biennial Exhibitions on Contemporary U.S. Photography. They are part of a new generation of curators redefining the role of museums and art spaces in terms of their relationship to audiences, the public and other social institutions. These curators are doing a series of free individual dialogues about their role as interlocutors between art makers and the public, how they see the future of art in institutions, what influences their curatorial choices and to whom they are talking, how they and their institutions are using online platforms.

Sunday, March 14, 2010 -
Aaron Schuman, Independent Curator, Founder and Editor, SeeSaw Magazine
with Madeline Yale, Adjunct Curator, Houston Center for Photography

Friday, March 19, 2010 -
Edward Robinson, Associate Curator, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
with Anne Wilkes Tucker, Curator of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Friday, March 26, 2010 -
Natasha Egan, Curator, Museum Of Contemporary Photography,
Columbia College, Chicago
with Clint Willour, Curator, Galveston Arts Center

Wednesday, March 31, 2010 -
Gilbert Vicario, Curator, Des Moines Arts Center
with Fernando Castro, Independent Curator and Collector

The FotoFest 2010 Biennial, the Thirteenth International Month of Photography and Photo-related Art, begins March 12 and continues through April 25, 2010 with programming for the public occurring every week.

The full program is available online at www.fotofest.org/biennial2010.

ABOUT FOTOFEST
The FotoFest Biennial is the first international Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art in the United States. Through the FotoFest Biennial and its year-round art programs, FotoFest is known as a Platform for Art and Ideas, combining museum-quality art with important social and aesthetic issues. FotoFest curated exhibitions give priority to the works of important but little-known photographic artists from the U.S. and around the world.

Founded in 1983 and based in Houston, Texas, FotoFest is a non-profit organization promoting photographic arts and education. FotoFest is recognized for its discovery and presentation of important talent, contemporary and historical, from around the world, its commitment to presenting important social ideas through the photographic arts, its groundbreaking exhibitions and its portfolio review program, The International Meeting Place. FotoFest has curated and commissioned exhibitions of photo-based art from Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. In addition to year-round art exhibitions and programming, FotoFest’s school-based education program, Literacy Through Photography, uses photography to stimulate visual literacy, writing and analytical thinking.

Pictured above:  Sandra Valenzuela, "X-boyfriends Alias Fake Memories (Paco)," 2007, From the FotoFest 2010 Biennial exhibition "Medianation: Performing for the Screen."  Courtesy of the artist and EDS Galería