FORMAT 2011, the UK’s leading international festival of contemporary photography and related media, has announced its programme for its 5th edition. Taking place at various venues in and around Derby, from 4th March until 3rd April, FORMAT 2011 is curated around the resurgence of street photography. The Festival is organised in two strands, FOCUS and EXPOSURE. FOCUS will show curated exhibitions and new commissions by leading international artists, whereas EXPOSURE will feature work by some 50 of the most exciting new photographers from around the world.

Format Press Release

FORMAT International Photography Festival 2011 Programme Announced
4th March – 3rd April 2011
Various venues, Derby

FORMAT announces programme highlights and street photography theme for 5th edition of festival

FORMAT 2011, the UK’s leading international festival of contemporary photography and related media announces its programme for its 5th edition, which takes place at various venues in and around Derby, 4th March-3rd April, 2011. This year’s theme, Right Here Right Now: exposures from the public realm, is curated around the resurgence of street photography, and investigates the social and political worlds of the public realm.

The Festival is organised in two strands, FOCUS and EXPOSURE. FOCUS will show curated exhibitions and new commissions by leading international artists. Highlights include the FORMAT11 Commission by Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden at Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Outside in Derby Market Place, Magnum Photos and FORMAT in association with Birmingham National Photography Archive, will present a major survey show of 140 large scale street photos by leading Magnum photographers, including Constantine Manos, Richard Kalvar, Raymond Depardon, Chris Steele Perkins, Bruno Barbey, Trent Park and Alex Webb.

As part of this premier strand, QUAD Art Gallery will show works of international significance in a variety of media, from world-renowned photographers such as Amy Stein, Joel Meyerowitz, Michael Wolf, Zhao Liang, Polly Braden, Raghu Rai, and Wassink Lundgren. Street photography collective In- Public will showcase 40 works by their top photographers at Derby Museum and Art Gallery.

Raghu Rai’s Invocation to India will be showing at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham during the Festival. Organised in association with FORMAT and Aicon Gallery, this is the first solo museum show of the acclaimed Indian photographer to take place in the UK.

EXPOSURE will feature work by some 50 of the most exciting new photographers from around the world, alongside public participation projects. Iranian artist Mehraneh Atashi’s Tehran’s Self Portraits explores life in a city undergoing rapid change. Vidisha Saini’s series Pratibimb presents portraits of a cluster of lower caste communities in India, nomadic costumed artists going door-to-door. Street Life shows work by young people from Derby working collaboratively with counterparts from the Seagull Foundation for the Arts in Kolkata, India, whose work consists of immediate responses to seeing each others’ cities through the camera.

Mob FORMAT is an international Mass submission online project in association with Flickr. Submissions will be shown on the BBC Big Screen in Derby Market Place, and on mobile screens around Derby, while a Hype-style gallery in a central pop-up location will print and display the best submissions daily in a constantly-evolving exhibition.

The exhibition programme will be accompanied by an extensive series of events, which include the Festival conference Right Here Right Now; portfolio reviews with reviewers from around the world; talks and workshops by leading international artists and practitioners, Festival tours, the Portfolio Awards, and the comedy performance Al Pitcher’s Picture Show.

A selection of films that have influenced street photography and vice versa will be screened at QUAD cinemas throughout the Festival.

FORMAT is curated by Louise Clements and organised by QUAD in partnership with: Derby City Council, Derby University, Derby Museums,; and supported by Arts Council of England, Magnum, Troika Editions, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Blurb, Foto8, Shoot Experience, New Art Exchange, Aicon, In-Public, Birmingham Photo Archive, Photo-Festivals, British Journal of Photography and John E. Wright. FORMAT has been supported by East Midlands Development Agency through an investment made in Derby’s festival programme. emda is one of nine Regional Development Agencies in England, set up in 1999 to bring a regional focus to economic development.

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