Mark your calendar for Thursday, September 18th. Photoville 2014 is returning to Brooklyn Bridge Park for two weekends and the last will co-inside with DUMBO Arts Festival and Atlantic Antic! Workshops, talks, and panel discussion programming is yet to be announced, but we’ve put together a 5×5 of some of the exhibitions we are particularly excited for at Photoville 2014.
Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley 1985-2000, curated by Robert Peacock
Photographer, Doug Menuez, spent fifteen years documenting a group of engineers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley as the digital revolution revealed technologies that would take us years to truly master. Although one could argue we’re still uncovering the social and cultural influences of said technologies, we’re now viewing most photographic representation through digital means. We’re looking forward to seeing the documentation of discovery, risk, and innovation that changed the way we project, and what we expect, from even our own photographic imagery.
It began in 1985 when I gained access to document Steve Jobs with his team for LIFE Magazine as they built a new computer from birth to product launch. Because Steve trusted me, everyone did and I expanded my project to include every major innovator of the era.
Steve was an avatar for a new generation of idealists flooding Silicon Valley. Through Steve, I wanted to gain insights into who these people were and to understand his process of innovation. They appeared to have this tremendous potential to ‘change everything’ through the power of their ideas- they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.“- Doug Menuez
KÖPRÜALTI, curated by James Wellford
In the summer of 2013, two photographers, Jake Price and Emine Gozde Sevim, independently from each other found themselves in the same place: Gezi Park in Istanbul and its vicinity during the 18 days of protests that shook prime minister Erdogan’s eleven year old regime as never seen before. More than purely focusing on what took place in the streets between the protestors and the police forces, both photographers saw this period as an outburst of deeper notions embedded within, eventually expressed in the form of a protest. They both approached this historic moment brought about by the protestors as a manifestation not only about a Park, but as a symbol in which the people of Turkey ventured to protect their existence in contemporary Turkish society. For Photoville 2014, under the curatorial lead of James Wellford, Price and Sevim will recreate their shared experience as an installation entitled “Köpruüaltı (“Under the Bridge” in English)”
I’m looking forward to this exhibition primarily as a reminder of past events in Istanbul that have quickly escaped the public’s attention. As crucial as mobile camera phones, social media, file sharing, and online outlets are to helping construct well-rounded and well-represented narratives of conflict, the abundance of news content can easily distract us from the realities of others. Images filtered through news outlets quickly become recycled, then replaced with new news. I hope these images can provide a reminder that because the viewer can turn off their phone, computer, or television, does not mean that those who are directly affected can find such similarly easy escapes.
Land Grabbing, images by Alfredo Bini, supported by Blue Chalk Media
Companies from wealthy countries have always sought low-cost land for agricultural production. Today, governments allocate funds to domestic companies wishing to invest overseas. Governments did not provide such support for much of the last century, but do so now in a manner reminiscent of colonial practices.
These land use decisions are made far from the land itself, and far from the people whose lives are rooted in it. In Ethiopia, more than six million people survive because of UN food aid, while agricultural products cultivated on land leased to foreign investors are exported. A paradox.
Alfredo Bini is a photojournalist and has found his own personal form of expression in reportage photography. His work has been on show in exhibitions and photography festivals worldwide. His reportages won national and international awards and are used as debating material for presentations and conferences in public venues, Universities and on TV news programs. He is represented by the Paris based Cosmos Photo agency.
From the images we’ve previewed, Bini successfully captures the mulch-facited relationships between the land, those who tend to it, and those who benefit from providing private corporations with agricultural land overseas. Another captivating aspect to the series is the illustration of food production, planning, and distribution on these farms. Bini is a solid story-teller and we’re looking forward to seeing his edit from Land Grabbing.
You Are Here, photographs by Lindsay Morris
Photographer and photo editor, Lindsay Morris, presents You Are Here, a series that documents an annual summer camp for “gender non-conforming children and their families. This camp offers a temporary safe haven where children can freely express their interpretations of gender alongside their parents and siblings without feeling the need to look over their shoulders.”
Morris explains, “This body of work speaks out against intolerance while sharing with the viewer the beautiful spark of these children. I intend for the essay to serve as a guidepost for parents and the general public who struggle with their own uncertainties and prejudices with regard to the gender unique population.
This is a place of acceptance. A place which can serve as a model for a society in which the first generation of children able to express an openly gender variant childhood will come of age.”
From the preview we’ve seen of Morris’ work with this series, the images give the viewer a small, subtle glimpse into the complex politics of gender identity, but mostly, children having a great time at summer camp.
Call + Response + Response, supported by International Center of Photography, moderated by Marvin Heiferman
We are a collective of 13 artists united by the quest for personal, artistic, and intellectual development. We are more than just peers—we are comrades, confidants, brothers, sisters, mentors, and pupils. We are a community of artists united by the passion to create who believe that knowledge is gained from diverse opinions. We believe that nurturing and maintaining our connections with one another are imperative for our continual learning and growth—both individually and collectively.
From reading the small manifesto put forward by the participating artists, isn’t this what we’re all longing for?!
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