|
June 2009 | Don Norris
The Ballarat International Foto Biennale (BIFB) festival has an ambitious aim: to be a world class celebration of the photographic arts in the great tradition of the Recontres de la Photographie d'Arles in France.
Running from September 4 to October 4, 2009, the BIFB will see more than 150 photographic events staged in and around Ballarat. Using the proven Arles model of a Core Exhibition Program and an associated open entry Fringe Exhibition, the Ballarat Festival will not only provide a showcase for the works of a wide variety of photographers, it will also include a comprehensive Educational Program. There will be workshops, seminars, portfolio reviews, schools programs, and other special photographic events.
While the Core Exhibition Program will be devoted to the works of invited photographers, the BIFB Fringe Program is open to any photographer or group of photographers who can find a suitable venue in Ballarat or the immediate district and pay the modest registration fee. Fringe events and exhibitions are planned for Daylesford, Creswick, Trentham and Clunes. With upwards of 75 such exhibitions in the 2009 program, the BIFB organisers are confident of achieving their goal of a diverse and thoroughly democratic festival.
All but one of the 20 shows compising the Core Exhibition Program will be staged in Ballarat's Arts Precinct (the Art Gallery of Ballarat, the Mining Exchange, the Ballarat Town Hall, The Ballarat Trades Hall, the Post Office Gallery and the Ballarat Contemporary Art Space). This means that the shows will all be within a few minutes walk of one another. The remaining Core Program exhibition will hang in the Gold Museum at Sovereign Hill and while it will entail an entry fee, all the other BIFB'09 Core Program venues are free.
The fine arts photographers whose work makes up the Core Exhibition Program include 11 Australians and nine artists from around the world. Among the countries represented are China, Lithuania, Canada, the USA, Italy, Poland, Germany and Sweden/Hong Kong.
Photo Review is pleased to support the BIFB with a preview of some of the artists whose works will be appearing in various of the exhibitions.
Photographer Profiles:
Thomas Roessler
Drex Brooks
Mindaugas Kavaliauskas
Gary Steer
Robert Billington
MAP Group
The exhibition website is www.ballaratfoto.org.
|