PHOTO 2020 23.04 – 10.05.20 International Festival www.photo.org.au of Photography

Media Release 21 February 2019

MAJOR NEW INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY ANNOUNCED FOR

PHOTO 2020 International Festival of Photography – a major new visual arts biennial for Melbourne and Regional – is being delivered in collaboration with over 25 cultural organisations, museums, galleries and universities including Museums Victoria, Monash Gallery of Art, CCP, NGV, Koorie Heritage Trust, Gertrude Contemporary, Arts Centre Melbourne, Royal Botanic Gardens and Metro Tunnel Creative Program, with the Festival Hub located at State Library Victoria.

The festival, supported by the City of Melbourne, will take place from 23 April to 10 May 2020 and will explore the relationship between photography and truth in the post-internet age.

Sally Capp, City of Melbourne Lord Mayor, said:

“Melbourne is the ideal city to be hosting this exciting new international festival which promises to surprise and delight audiences across many of our city’s fascinating locations.

“The City of Melbourne is delighted to support PHOTO 2020 which will bring together Melbourne’s world-class cultural resources, collections, curatorial expertise and artistic talent.

“I can’t wait to see what promises to be ’s leading photography festival and the most significant festival of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.”

Led by Artistic Director Elias Redstone and fellow board members Naomi Milgrom AO, Bill Bowness and chair Mark Henry, PHOTO 2020 will be hosted across multiple venues in Melbourne alongside outdoor commissions in unexpected locations throughout the city, from streets and laneways to the Royal Botanic Gardens. Exhibitions and events will also be presented in locations across Regional Victoria including Geelong, Bendigo and Albury- Wodonga.

Naomi Milgrom AO, PHOTO 2020 Board Member, said:

“Photography is the medium of the digital age. It is estimated that every day over 2 billion photographs are shared online. As a visual language and an art form photography is accessible to everyone. PHOTO 2020 is an inspiring new idea for Melbourne that will bring photography to the streets of the city and invite audiences to consider the role photography plays in our lives and its power to change the way we see the world.”

Elias Redstone, Artistic Director and founder of PHOTO 2020, said:

“Melbourne is Australia’s capital of photography. It is the perfect setting to celebrate both the art of photography and photography’s ability to address the major issues of our time. As new phenomena such as artificial intelligence, social media and fake news are shifting our sense of reality, PHOTO 2020 will present a timely investigation into the critical relationship between photography and truth.”

PHOTO 2020 is a time for the arts, culture, business and academic sectors across Australia and overseas to come together and contribute to global dialogue about the innovative ways in which artists are engaging with photography and the future of the medium.

Alona Pardo, Curator, Barbican Art Gallery, London, said:

“Melbourne’s ambitious PHOTO 2020 festival will undoubtedly become an important marker in the international photography calendar as the photographic medium continues to play an increasingly important role in our material and visual culture.”

Program highlights include:

- 12 major outdoor commissions by international and Australian artists, in partnership with Metro Tunnel Creative Program - Outdoor commissions supported by the City of Melbourne - An international symposium delivered in partnership with RMIT School of Art - Festival Hub at State Library Victoria, with talks by artists, curators and academics alongside workshops, displays and activities for children - Photography installed in the Royal Botanic Gardens - A new photography commission will support the production and presentation of work that champions photography's ability to increase a sense of belonging and engagement for disenfranchised sectors in society - A photographer in residence at Parliament House - Professional development opportunities for artists and photographers including portfolio reviews and masterclasses

Opportunities for Australian and international artists to participate in PHOTO 2020 include:

- An open call for local and international artists and photographers, in partnership with Metro Tunnel Creative Program - A new photography fellowship, in partnership with State Library Victoria - A new international photobook prize, in partnership with Perimeter Books - National Photography Prize, in partnership with Murray Art Museum Albury

PHOTO 2020 runs from 23 April to 10 May 2020.

For more information visit: www.photo.org.au

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NOTES TO EDITORS

For all press information please contact: [email protected] ABOUT

PHOTO is a major new international festival of photography that will activate Melbourne and sites across Regional Victoria with the most inspiring photography from Australia and around the world.

Taking place every two years, the festival addresses the major issues of our time in a program of free exhibitions, outdoor displays and artist commissions across the city, as well as talks, film screenings, masterclasses, education programs and awards. Presenting ideas critical to contemporary photographic discourse, PHOTO encourages the public to engage with and think about photography and visual culture in new and inspiring ways.

The inaugural festival, PHOTO 2020, runs from 23 April to 10 May 2020 and is being delivered in collaboration with over 25 cultural institutions, museums, galleries and universities. The theme for PHOTO 2020 invites artists, curators, writers and academics to interrogate the relationship between photography and truth in the post-internet age.

The identity for PHOTO 2020 is designed by Collingwood agency U-P, with a bespoke font - Whyte PHOTO Medium - by award-winning Swiss type foundry Dinamo.

PROGRAM PARTNERS IN MELBOURNE

Arts Centre Melbourne Asia-Pacific Photobook Archive Metro Tunnel Creative Program Australian Centre for Photography Monash Gallery of Art Bunjil Place NGV Buxton Contemporary Parliament House Centre for Contemporary Photography Photography Studies College Footscray Community Arts Centre Royal Botanic Gardens Gertrude Contemporary RMIT Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art State Library Victoria Immigration Museum The Substation Koorie Heritage Trust Victorian College of the Arts Margaret Lawrence Gallery West Space

PROGRAM PARTNERS IN REGIONAL VICTORIA

Bendigo Art Gallery La Trobe Art Institute Geelong Gallery Murray Art Museum Albury

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Naomi Milgrom Executive Chair, The Sussan Group Bill Bowness Chair, Wilbow Group Mark Henry (Chair) Partner, Maddocks Elias Redstone Artistic Director, PHOTO 2020

DIGITAL PLATFORMS

Website: www.photo.org.au Instagram: @photofestivalau Hashtag: #PHOTO2020 Twitter: @photofestivalau Facebook: @photofestivalau