Paris Photo 2011 Will Open in its New Home at the Grand Palais

Written by Dominique Laguiller Monday, 07 November 2011 01:14

Paris.- Held this year from November 10th through November 13th, Paris Photo celebrates its 15th anniversary by moving to a new location, the Nave of the Grand Palais, a spectacular venue like no other in the French capital for presenting works by photographic artists, thus marking a major turning point for this important international event. Paris Photo 2011 takes African photography as its special theme, paying tribute to the rich breadth and diversity of work produced by the continent’s creative talent in this field, from Bamako to Cape Town. A total of 118 international galleries, representing France and 29 other countries, have been selected to present the best of nineteenth-century, modern and contemporary photography in the heart of Paris.

Taking on greater prominence with its move to the Grand Palais, Paris Photo continues to develop activities for all of its visitors, always with the objective of making a vital contribution to, and exploring interconnections with, the city’s cultural programming. For example, Paris Photo organises personalised itineraries for its VIPs through the city’s cultural institutions and other venues so as to treat them to the best of what the current Paris arts scene has to offer. Again this year, Paris Photo aims to welcome the participation of over thirty cultural institutions, organisations and patrons, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and Metz, the Photographer’s Gallery and the Tate in London, the International Center of Photography (ICP) and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain (MAMCO) in Geneva and the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne who have already announced their presence at Paris Photo 2011.


After having paid tribute in earlier editions to Germany, the Netherlands, Mexico, Switzerland, Spain, the Scandinavian countries, Italy, Japan, the Middle East and Central Europe, Paris Photo celebrates its 15th anniversary by turning the spotlight on the photographers of Sub-Saharan Africa, from Bamako to Cape Town. This celebration encompasses all aspects of the fair in 2011. In addition to the presentation of works by African photographers from the Walther Collection, Paris Photo 2011 welcomes the participation of numerous artists from the continent and their galleries, whether based in Africa or elsewhere. Paris Photo 2011 will also pay tribute to the role played by the Rencontres de Bamako, which have been held every two years since 1994 and continue to highlight and serve as a catalyst for the photographic work of the continent’s artists. A special exhibition this year, entitled  “African Emerging Photography”, will introduce visitors to the newest generation of African photographic artists. This exhibition is curated by Michket Krifa and Laura Serani, coartistic directors of the Rencontres de Bamako, the only biennial devoted to photography from Africa.

Spurred by its raised profile, Paris Photo is reinventing itself and has developed a new identity for the event, structured around four features to be inaugurated this year, which will also give shape to its programming in the future. At Paris Photo 2011, three cultural institutions from around the world will be presenting their recent acquisitions. Through this aspect of the fair, Paris Photo aims to underscore the wide variety of acquisition strategies pursued by museums. For this first year, the participating institutions will present a selection of works in an exhibition space within the fair reserved for this purpose. Contributing works will be New York’s International Center of Photography (ICP), London’s Tate Modern and Lausanne’s  Musée de l’Elysée. Alongside public galleries and museums, commercial galleries and art dealers, various initiatives by private institutions are exploring the history of photography, while lending their support to emerging artists. Each year, “Private Collections” will reveal the passions, expertise and curiosity of major collectors. For the first time in France, Paris Photo presents works from the collection of Artur Walther, shown in last year’s exhibition “Events of the Self: Portraiture and Social Identity” at the Walther Collection (Neu-Ulm, Germany). On the theme of the  photographic portrait, this exhibition juxtaposed works by three generations of African photographers with those of modern and contemporary German photographers (guest curator: Okwui Enwezor).


Another innovation by Paris Photo this year is the  Paris Photo Platform, an experimental workshop and discussion forum on issues in photography. Under the leadership of art critic, exhibition and event curator and consultant Chantal Pontbriand, this year’s Platform takes as its theme the concept of “Mutations”. During the fair itself, “The Live Platform” will offer a series of interviews with prominent figures as well as round-table discussions and performances, related to the field of photography. In echo to this, “The Book Platform”, in the form a publication to be released in French and in English, will be co-published by Paris Photo and Steidl.

For some photographers, books provide a vital creative impetus, an end in itself. These artists choose to disseminate their work primarily through the printed medium. Whether conceived in symbiosis with a publisher and graphic designer or self-published, the printed volume serves as an expressive platform allowing photographers to pin down their approach, making it cohesive and definitive. Paris Photo felt it was important to pay homage to the vitality of this medium. In this spirit, the fair inaugurates a new exhibition space this year dedicated to publishers and specialist booksellers. They will present newly listed titles, old and rare books, as well as limited editions, and all participants plan to organise numerous signing sessions with photographers attending the fair. Against this backdrop, the exhibition "Love on the Left Bank", conceived and curated by Markus Schaden, will round out this celebration of printed works by deconstructing page after page, photo after photo, the design of the ground-breaking, cult classic photo-novel of the same title by Ed van der Elsken (1956), which is available today in a reprint edition (1999) published by Dewi Lewis.

Lastly, Paris Photo is pleased to announce the first annual  Paris Photo Book Prize. In honour of Paris Photo’s 15th anniversary, this introductory edition of the Prize will pay tribute to the published photographic books that have made the greatest impact over the last 15 years. Four specialists will each select 15 books published since 1997, all of which will be exhibited at Paris Photo 2011. An international jury of professionals will select the winner of this year’s Prize from among these nominated titles, taking into account the level of proficiency and the techniques employed by the artist, the quality of photographs presented as a series, and the impact of the conception of the book as an object (design, editorial and manufacturing aspects). Visit the fair's website at ... http://www.parisphoto.fr

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