reality crossings
now through october 21st 2007
In autumn 2007, the three cities of the Rhine-Neckar triangle, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg, are joining forces to present cutting-edge international photography and video art under the heading ‘Reality Crossings’.
The 2nd Foto Festival Mannheim-Ludwigshafen-Heidelberg runs from 22 September to 21 October 2007. Some 80 photographers and video artists from 25 countries will be showing their work at distinguished exhibition venues.
This year’s Festival will also include moving pictures (video), as well as photography. Moreover, numerous installations and works from all sorts of different yet related fields of contemporary art will be integrated.
The exhibitions – How real is reality?
‘Reality Crossings’ invokes the convergence of different levels of reality and the media in current photography and art with the realities of life surrounding us. The works chosen to be shown will render in visual terms what is otherwise only perceived (sub)consciously, over looked or ignored. They discuss socially relevant topics and uncover multiple facets of reality – at times to shock, at others to enlighten but always making a direct impact. The positions shown will stir viewers by triggering off feelings and stories in their minds. ‘What delights and distresses us is what brings this exhibition to life,’ explains Christoph Tannert, this year’s festival art director and curator. For him, pictures are occasions for thinking about pictures. The Foto Festival is a process of reflection to find new answers beyond the scope of conventional documentary photography.
Artist in Residence projects
In recent months, three artists taking part in the Festival have been living and working in the Rhine- Neckar Metropolregion. Beth Yarnelle Edwards (USA), Michelle Sank (GB) and Kim Yunho (South Korea) have been capturing the realities of the three cities Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg and the people who live in them. The work they have been doing here in film and photography will be on view for the first time at the Festival.
The venues
This year the 2nd Foto Festival is collaborating with numerous regional institutions to concentrate exhibition activities more and promote anchoring the Festival more firmly in its present location. Exhibition venues are the Kunsthalle Mannheim and the Mannheim University, Schloss. In addition, there will be exhibitions at the Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, at the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum (Ludwigshafen), the Ernst-Bloch-Zentrum (Ludwigshafen), the Kurpfälzisches Museum (Heidelberg), the Heidelberg Kunstverein the Sammlung Prinzhorn (Heidelberg), halle_02 (Heidelberg), and the Karlstor Kino (Heidelberg).
For more information, visit: http://www.fotofestival-ma-lu-hd.de.
