Martin Parr Autoportrait. Collection of Martin Parr
Martin Parr, Curator of the 2010 Brighton Photo Biennial, has promised a festival of photography full of surprises and adventures that will “make the notion of spontaneity an absolute virtue.”
Speaking in Brighton during a showcase for next year’s event, the renowned photographer described how the Biennial would also be the first “frame-free photography festival in the world.”
Work by participating photographers, including Parr himself, will be simply pinned or pasted on walls or put onto billboards.
Rinko Kawauchi 'Untitled' from the series "the eyes, the ears"', 2005
“No other festival in the world of photography to my knowledge has ever done this before,” said Parr who explained that photographers would provide files so that prints could be made locally. “This will save us money and give us the operability to be very spontaneous.”
With the tag line 'New Documents', Parr’s Biennial will feature a slew of new specially commissioned works by emerging talents and some unusual central locations such as advertising hoardings and city walls.
“To me the whole notion of the festival is about discovery and surprises,” he said. “I guarantee when you come to this festival in October 2010 there will be new images for everybody. It’s that spirit of excitement and adventure I want to generate.”
Alec Soth 'New Orleans', 2002
A key element of Parr’s programme is to take the established national and international photography festival and add a strong local element by focussing on Brighton and Hove.
Already commissioned are three internationally known photographers who will travel to Brighton and snap away in the colourful city by the sea for an exhibition at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.
They include Alec Soth, who Parr describes as “probably the hottest documentary photographer at the moment – he’s as hot as you get.”
Joining him will be the emerging Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi and UK photographer Stephen Gill. “These new photographers have a language, an idea and a presence that we haven’t seen before,” said Parr, “and it’s going to be absolutely fascinating to see how they interpret Brighton.”
Jose Emilio Fornaris 'Street Hats Bogata'
Other audacious adventures in photography include Fabrica’s House of Vernacular, which will be a series of installations of vernacular photography – which as Parr explains is photography done for a specific purpose.
“We have collected seven bodies of work, which we will make into an installation so that when you go into Fabrica you will be wending your way through this path where you go from one installation to the next.”
The installation will include street photographs from Bogota of men wearing hats, an archive of 1960 and 1970s Brighton street bins culled from the Design Archives at the University of Brighton and a remarkable collection showing the interiors of aeroplanes used by African dictators in the 1960s and 1970s.
Molly Landreth 'Ronni and Jo, Seattle, WA', 2005
At the other key Biennial venue, Lighthouse, the skills of two emerging American photographers, Zoe Strauss and Molly Landreth, will be employed to provide a portrait of Brighton’s gay community. Again the intention is to explore the local and present it to an international audience.
“I think this duality of appealing to the local audience but also being international is going to be key,” said Parr, who also promised visitors will “arrive in Brighton station, pick up a programme and be able to explore all of the exhibitions in one day on foot.”
Parr also promised “ample opportunities for participation for people of all ages through a wide range of community and educational events.”
New Documents: The Brighton Photo Biennial 2010, curated by Martin Parr, takes place between October 2 and November 14 2010. For more information see www.bpb.org.uk.
2010 is Year of the Museum in the South East, discover a museum at www.culture24.org.uk/southeast and find out about the Beautiful South at www.visitsoutheastengland.com.
