Exposure Festival: What does Calgary's favourite photography festival have in store this year?
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Entering its 17th season, Exposure Photography Festival has delighted Calgarians with unique photography exhibitions in galleries, local businesses, online, and outdoors. Through its program of exhibitions, portfolio reviews, artist talks, discussions and events, Exposure explores what photography is, what it can be, its current place in contemporary art, and the future of the medium. New for 2021, Exposure will bring an exciting city-wide public exhibition to its audiences in Calgary including the Arts Commons Presents visual and media arts exhibition of The Fall of CHOP by Nicole Wolf and Gavin John.
We had a chance to sit down with Festival Coordinator Bethany Kane to talk about Exposure 2021 and how the festival is exploring new ways to continue to support the photography community and share the artform of photography while respecting the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
What events are free to the public?
The majority of our programme is free to the public.
How many events and exhibitions are now virtual compared to in the past?
This year all of the Exposure 2021 exhibition related events will be hosted online, including artist talks and opening receptions. Last year we hosted events via Instagram Live to increase accessibility to our programme and allow a many-to-many communication model between the festival and its audience through inviting questions, discussion points, and comments via the chat feature. This year, we are again using the Instagram Live feature to encourage conversation with our exhibiting artists through a series of in-conversation sessions.
Giving birth where the family is. Photography by Amber Bracken - The Photoville Fence Works
What kind of professional development opportunities are there this year for photographers?
The Exposure 2021 Portfolio Review is going online for this year’s festival. The Portfolio Review provides a unique experience for photographers to gain input and advice on how to develop their practice and career from some of the world’s most influential industry professionals. We have an amazing group of Reviewers from Alberta, Canada, the USA and the UK! New Reviewers include Hana Kaluznick from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London UK, MaryAnn Camilleri, the Director of The Magenta Foundation based in Toronto, Naomi Potter, the Director and Curator of Esker Foundation, Sarah Burtscher of Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto and Tiffany Jones, the Publisher of Overlapse Books in London UK among others!
Check here for more information on the Exposure 2021 Portfolio Review.
Photo by Mirja Maria Thiel - International Open Call Works
Additionally, we have 30+ online events happening now and throughout February. To hear more from some of the Exposure 2021 exhibiting artists, check out the Exposure 2021 Festival Launch (Feb 6), The Photoville Fence – Western Canadian Edition Online Presentation (Feb 7) and the series of in-conversation events hosted on Instagram Live (Ella Morton Feb 2, Sean Du Feb 9, Jooeun Bae Feb 16, Rachel Nixon Feb 17, Jason DeMarte Feb 18, Kriss Munsya Feb 23 and Rachael McArthur Feb 24).
Check here for more information on the Exposure 2021 Events Programme.
How do you continue to provide access to your exhibitions?
Our exhibition programme will be hosted online, outdoors, in galleries and local businesses in accordance with COVID guidelines.
Exposure Curated exhibitions, the International Open Call and Emerging Photographers Showcase, will be presented at Contemporary Calgary, online via the Exposure website and outdoors via Exposure Billboard.
Exposure understands that online materials and programming may not be for everyone, so we have also programmed 2 large-scale public exhibitions for people to engage with safely during the pandemic.
Calgary will see the return of The Photoville FENCE exhibition. This extensive 800ft long public exhibition will highlight more than 90 international visual artists that have been selected by a jury of 70 industry professionals, spotlighting a wide range of photographic and lens-based stories. Calgary’s Olympic Plaza will be the only location outside of the USA that will host this incredible exhibition, thanks to Exposure’s partnership with Photoville, based in Brooklyn, New York and Calgary’s Chinook Blast Festival, with support from the City of Calgary, Calgary Arts Development and Calgary Tourism.
Exposure Billboard is an exciting city-wide public exhibition. In partnership with Pattison Outdoors, Exposure Billboard will show the work of 30 international and local artists and photographers via digital billboards located throughout the city. Photography will be hosted in three different locations for a three-week duration. Exposure continues to provide innovative ways for Calgarians to engage with the arts.
Textures of a watershed. Photography by Callan Field - The Photoville Fence Works
Our Exposure 2021 partners have also hosted an array of exhibitions that will take place outdoors and online. These include Inside the Fall of Chop presented by Arts Commons and located in the 8th Avenue kiosks outside of the Arts Commons building, Embodiment presented by the AUARTS Student Association online, Click Club Curation and Conversations presented by SEITIES online, It Takes Time, Peter Coombes online, How We Were, Shirley Baker presented by the Museum of Youth Culture online, The Timelapse, Letizia Lopreiato online and A Phantom Speaks, Angeline Simon presented by the Southern Alberta Art Gallery online.
To learn more about Exposure Photography Festival and how you can experience the many events, exhibitions, and talks, visit exposurephotofestival.com.
