FotoFocus Biennial Announces Program Week

FotoFocus, the Cincinnati-based non-profit arts organization that champions photography and lens-based art, is proud to announce new programming details for the fourth FotoFocus Biennial-the largest biennial of its kind in America. The FotoFocus Biennial takes place this October, across more participating venues than ever, spanning over 80 museums, galleries, and universities across Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Dayton, and Columbus, Ohio, and featuring over 250 artists, curators, and educators.

This year's theme, Open Archive, examines the fundamental need to preserve photographs and to tell stories through their collection, organization, and interpretation, and explores the centrality of photography and lens-based art to modernism.

In addition to the main program of exhibitions and events curated by FotoFocus, new programming details for 2018 include a solo exhibition by Gillian Wearing, two exhibitions from Mickalene Thomas (one curated by the artist), portraits by renowned Cincinnati-based music photographer Michael Wilson, and other exhibitions that explore global conflict and social justice.

Mary Ellen Goeke, FotoFocus Executive Director, says, "In addition to so many internationally recognized artists, I'm particularly excited about the historical photography exhibitions that explore, specifically, Cincinnati's social history and architectural past through archives. We're pleased to see the depth of history being brought to bear on contemporary life."

Kevin Moore, FotoFocus Artistic Director, says, "We're excited to present a broader range of voices this year, with lots of guest curators, artists working in different mediums, and historical as well as contemporary shows. Archives are such a vital aspect of our lives." FOTOFOCUS BIENNIAL PROGRAM The FotoFocus Biennial Program Week is the heart of the Biennial and establishes the theme of Open Archive, which unites the broader programming. Highlights include:

Thursday, October 4, 2018

• Keynote address at the Taft Museum of Art by Clément Chéroux, SFMOMA's Senior Curator of Photography, drawing from his recent major exhibition of Walker Evans. 7-8 PM

Friday, October 5, 2018

• Conversation with artist Akram Zaatari and Eva Respini of the ICA, Boston, at the Contemporary Arts Center. 7-8 PM

Saturday, October 6, 2018

• FotoFocus Biennial Symposium at Memorial Hall. 10:30 AM - 4:45 PM
  *For full schedule please visit the FotoFocus website*
  Including:
  - Painter Mamma Andersson in conversation with Kevin Moore. 12 PM
  - Performance at FotoFocus ArtHub: Mid-Day Ghost by INTERMEDIO. 1 PM
  - Curator and artist panels throughout the day. Highlights include: panel moderated by Ulrike Meyer Stump with Anne McCauley and Ed Juler (No Two Alike); panel moderated by Carissa Barnard with artists Jimmy Baker, Chris Engman, Mike Jacobs, Sheida Soleimani, and Sigrid Viir (Wide Angle: Photography Out of Bounds); comment by Paul Roth of Ryerson Image Centre; panel moderated by Kevin Moore with Peter Barbarie and Julia Van Haaften (From Paris to New York)
• Performance of Blind Spot, a new interdisciplinary collaboration between writer and photographer Teju Cole and acclaimed composer and pianist Vijay Iyer, at Memorial Hall. 5 - 6:30 PM

Sunday, October 7, 2018

• Conversation with artist and writer, Teju Cole, and Drew Klein, FotoFocus Guest Curator and Contemporary Arts Center Performing Arts Director at the Mercantile Library. 12 - 1:00 PM
• Conversation with filmmaker, artist, and writer Miranda July about her archive project Joanie 4 Jackie with Kelly Gallagher at the Woodward Theater. 6 - 7:30 PM
• FotoFocus at The Mini: Cinema and Archive at The Mini Microcinema. A selection of films from the month-long screening program. 12 - 5:30 PM

*More details to be announced and are subject to change* FOTOFOCUS-CURATED EXHIBITIONS For the first time in the Biennial's history, every exhibition floor of the Zaha Hadid-designed Contemporary Arts Center will include exhibitions curated by FotoFocus.
CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER Mamma Andersson
Memory Banks
October 5, 2018 - February 10, 2019
A solo exhibition by Swedish painter Mamma Andersson highlighting her physical photographic archive. Andersson will create a large new painting on-site for the biennial. Curated by Kevin Moore, FotoFocus Artistic Director. L: Mamma Andersson, Lore, 2014. Oil on panel, 37? x 26 inches. © Mamma Andersson. Photo by Adam Reich. Courtesy the McEvoy Family Collection | R: Mamma Andersson, In The Room of Another, 2002. Oil on panel, 64 x 81 cm. © Mamma Andersson. Akram Zaatari
The Fold: Space, time and the image
October 5, 2018 - February 10, 2019
Acclaimed Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari combines the roles of image-maker, archivist, curator, filmmaker, and critical theorist to explore the performative role photography plays in fashioning identity. Guest curated by Steven Matijcio, Curator, Contemporary Arts Center. L : Akram Zaatari, The End of Love [detail], 2013, Courtesy of the Adrastus Collection. Image courtesy of the Artist, Thomas Dane Gallery, London; Kurimanzutto Gallery, Mexico City; Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg & Beirut | R: Akram Zaatari, Bodybuilders: printed from a damaged negative showing from left to right: hassan al aakkad, munir el dada, and mahmoud el dimassy in Saida, 1948, 2011 No Two Alike: Karl Blossfeldt, Francis Bruguière, Thomas Ruff
September 21, 2018 - January 13, 2019
This exhibition restages the 1929 exhibition of plant photographs by the German sculptor Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) and photographs of cut-paper abstractions and multiple exposures by the American photographer Francis Bruguière (1879-1945). The works are in dialogue with Thomas Ruff's contemporary photographic abstractions. Guest curated by Ulrike Meyer Stump, Photography Historian and Lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts. L: Thomas Ruff, phg.02_I, 2013. Chromogenic print, 94½ x 72? inches. © Thomas Ruff. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London/Hong Kong. © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Limited Use: Additional permission required on a case-by-case basis. Contact Ali Rigo at ali@culturalcounsel.com, (203) 554-1908. | M: Karl Blossfeldt, Adiantum pedatum. Maidenhair fern, before 1926. Courtesy of Karl Blossfeldt Archiv / Stiftung Ann und Jürgen Wilde, Pinakothek der Moderne, München | R: Francis Bruguière (American, 1879-1945), Cut-paper abstraction, ca. 1930. Gelatin silver print. Courtesy of George Eastman Museum TAFT MUSEUM OF ART Paris to New York: Photographs by Eugène Atget and Berenice Abbott
October 4, 2018 - January 20, 2019
A historical exhibition based on the encounter during the 1920s of young American photographer Berenice Abbott and the elderly French photographer Eugène Atget, two pioneering street photographers. Curated by Kevin Moore, FotoFocus Artistic Director. L: Berenice Abbott, South and DePeyster Streets, 1935. Gelatin silver print, 9 x 7? inches. Courtesy of Museum of the City of New York | M: Eugène Atget (French, 1857-1927), Boulevard de Strasbourg, Corsets, 1912. Gelatin silver chloride print. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art | R: Berenice Abbott, Seventh Avenue Looking South from 35th Street, 1935. Gelatin silver print, 9¼ x 7½ inches. Courtesy of Museum of the City of New York WESTON ART GALLERY Chris Engman
Prospect and Refuge
August 31 - November 18, 2018
L.A.-based artist Chris Engman creates a new site-specific installation for the Biennial, accompanied by a selection of his mind-bending photographic constructions of landscapes. Curated by Carissa Barnard, FotoFocus Deputy Director. L: Chris Engman, Landscape for Quentin, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles | R: Chris Engman, Prospect, 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles Wide Angle: Photography Out of Bounds
September 21 - November 18, 2018
A group exhibition of nearly 20 artists manipulating the photographic medium including Jimmy Baker, Kathe Burkhart, Harry Callahan, Tom Friedman, Robert Heinecken, John Houck, Mike Jacobs, Sol Lewitt, Goshka Macuga, Rick Mallette, Christian Marclay, Marilyn Minter, Laurel Nakadate, Seth Price, Robert Rauschenberg, Brett Schieszer, Sheida Soleimani, John Stezaker, Sigrid Viir, and John Wesley. Curated by Carissa Barnard, FotoFocus Deputy Director. L: Sheida Soleimani, Minister of Petroleum & Hydrocarbons, Courtesy of Edel Assanti Gallery | M: Sigrid Viir, Hans_55 (CMYK), 2016. Pigment print on aluminum, maple frame (detail from photo installation), 27 x 34 cm. Courtesy of Temnikova & Kasela Gallery | R: Jimmy Baker, Bullrun Sieve, 2017. Courtesy of LMAK Gallery THE MINI MICROCINEMA FotoFocus at The Mini: Cinema and Archive
October 2018
A month-long film series guest curated by C. Jacqueline Wood, Director, The Mini Microcinema. 40 screenings throughout October by filmmakers including Stephanie Barber, Dan Browne, Cheryl Dunn, Vanessa Haroutunian, Abbas Kiarostami, Guy Maddin, and more. *For full schedule please visit the FotoFocus website* OTHER BIENNIAL HIGHLIGHTS CINCINNATI ART MUSEUM Life: Gillian Wearing
October 5 - December 30, 2018
A major exhibition of work by the Turner Prize-winning British conceptual artist. L: Gillian Wearing, Me as an Artist in 1984, 2014. chromogenic print, 51½ x 63 inches (framed). © Gillian Wearing. Courtesy of the artist; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Maureen Paley, London; and Regen Projects, Los Angeles | R: Gillian Wearing, Snapshot (detail), 2005. 7 videos for framed plasma screens, 6 min., 55 sec. (loop). © Gillian Wearing. Courtesy of the artist; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Maureen Paley, London; and Regen Projects, Los Angeles DAYTON ART INSTITUTE Muse: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and companion exhibition tête-à-tête
October 20, 2018 - January 13, 2019

A solo presentation of Mickalene Thomas's iconic photographs, alongside an exhibition she has curated of artists that have inspired her. Artists in tête-à-tête include Renée Cox, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Deana Lawson, and Carrie May Weems, among others. Organized by Aperture Foundation. L: Mickalene Thomas, Racquel Leaned Back, 2013. Color photograph and paper collage on archival board, 8¼ x 10 inches. © Mickalene Thomas. Courtesy the artist; Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong; and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York | R: Derrick Adams, Crossroads, 2012. Digital C-print, Edition 3/3, 44 x 36 inches. Courtesy the artist