Krakow Photomonth Festival 2014

2014 Krakow Photomonth will take place from 15 May until 15 June. This year's edition – entitled Re:Search – was composed in co-operation with Aaron Schuman, independent curator, artist, writer, and founder of SeeSaw Magazine. In 2014 the Main Programme of the Festival is focused on the relationship between photography and the search for knowledge; it will consider the possibilities of understanding the world around us through photography. We will present both projects confirming this potential as well as those which will cleverly question the popular belief that everything that looks scholarly needs to be true. The Festival will both investigate various roles that photography often plays within the search for knowledge, and celebrate photography as a unique form of study, inquiry, investigation, intensive searching – and research – in its own right. The Main Programme The Main Programme of the Festival this year is composed of 9 exhibitions of extraordinary and renowned artists, in many cases never before presented in Poland. The Last Pictures by Trevor Paglen (Starmach Gallery) is a project aiming at describing reality through a particular set images; The Picture Collection by Taryn Simon (MOCAK) explores the seemingly neutral motif of cataloguing knowledge about the world; Further Reading is a thorough presentation of the work by the British artist, Clare Strand (National Museum in Krakow, The Szolayski House); Hotel Oracle by Jason Fulford will be a grand mystery for the Festival's public, and an invitation to search for hidden knowledge; the starting point for Forensic Aesthetics (Pauza Gallery) is the belief that photography leads to the truth; FOLK: A Personal Ethnography (EMK) is Aaron Schuman's story of exploring the collection of the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow via his own personal history; Walker Evans: The Magazine Work (MOCAK) will present a different side of one of the most recognized photographers of the 20th century; Radiation, the visual essay created by the curator Wojciech Nowicki (Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology) will look at the relationship between scientific and artistic photography; and this year's Experimental Section will take the form of an exhibition – Echoes, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery – in which it's curator, Jakub Woynarowski, will investigate whether the photographic image has the potential to influence senses other than sight. ShowOFF Section The hugely popular ShowOFF Section of the Krakow Photomonth will be made of 8 exhibitions of young artists chosen in an open competition from a number of applications, a record number of foreign ones included. The Jury: Nicolas Grospierre, Gunia Nowik and Patrick Komorowski, Ewa Tatar and Agata Ubysz chose eight Laureates (or creative collectives): Daniela Dostálková, Lucian Bran, Empty Collection (composition: Pawe? B??cki, Wiktoria Bukowy, Maciej Stachowiak), Diana Lelonek and Marek Kucharski, Przemek Branas, Irenka Kalicka, Monika Krzynówek and Dominika G?sicka. Laureates are currently working on their exhibitions along with their curators. Accompanying events: 9th Portfolio Review, meetings, workshops and discussions The events accompanying Photomonth 2014 will be an integral part of this year’s Main festival programme. The whole month will see workshops and meetings with artists. In this year’s Accompanying Events programme, as per tradition, there will also be the Portfolio Review, a unique opportunity to meet and get valuable tips from experts. More information on this year's edition of Krakow Photomonth coming soon! 2014 Krakow Photomonth Re: Search 15.05–15.06.2014 curator of the Main Programme: Aaron Schuman