FotoFest opens its 16th International Biennial of

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Joel Sartore, Brown Hooded Kingfisher (Halcyon albiventris), Chitengo Camp, Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, 2011.
From the series Photo Ark, 2006–2016. Courtesy of the artist and National Geographic.
CHANGING
CIRCUMSTANCES:
Looking at the Future of the
Planet
March 12 – April 24, 2016
Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
www.fotofest.org
HOUSTON, TEXAS, MARCH 10, 2016 - FotoFest opens its 16th International Biennial of Photography and New
Media Art on Saturday, March 12, 2016, in Houston, Texas. Dedicated to examining humanity’s relationship with
the planet Earth, the dynamics of our changing world, the impact of human societies and the potential for creative
action, the FotoFest 2016 Biennial presents 34 artists from nine countries in its central exhibition, CHANGING
CIRCUMSTANCES: Looking at the Future of the Planet, on view through April 24, 2016.
CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES is the largest exhibition of its kind presented in the United States to date, and
presents individual artists investigating the Anthropocene, Earth’s most recent geologic time period, defined as being
human-influenced, with the planet’s system processes being altered by humanity.
FEATURED ARTISTS
Amy Balkin (USA), Mandy Barker (UK), Daniel Beltrá (Spain), Atul Bhalla (India), Edward
Burtynsky (Canada), Barbara Ciurej and Lindsay Lochman (USA), Pedro David (Brazil), Luis DelgadoQualtrough (Mexico/USA), Susan Derges (UK), Nigel Dickinson (UK), Dornith Doherty (USA), David
Doubilet (USA), Peter Fend (USA), Roberto Fernández Ibáñez (Uruguay), Karen Glaser (USA), Gina
Glover (UK), Ingo Günther (Germany/USA), Niklas Goldbach (Gemany), Lucy Helton (UK/USA), Chris
Jordan (USA), Isaac Julien (UK), David Liittschwager (USA), Pablo Lopez Luz (Mexico), Evelyn Messinger and
Kim Spencer (USA), Vik Muniz (Brazil), Robert Harding Pittman (Germany/USA), Meridel
Rubenstein (USA), Joel Sartore (USA), Toby Smith (UK), Jamey Stillings (USA), Martin
Stupich (USA), and Brad Temkin (USA)
The CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES exhibition and programming are curated by Wendy Watriss, FotoFest Cofounder and Senior Artistic Advisor; and Steven Evans, FotoFest Executive Director; with Frederick Baldwin,
FotoFest Co-Founder and Chairman.
"FotoFest is working to provoke and inspire—to get people to think about seeing the world and nature in new ways,
including their own relationships to the planet,” says Wendy Watriss.
“The artists’ work focuses on many parts of the environmental and economic factors that are shaping our world,” adds
Steven Evans. “They address climate change, industry, urbanization, biodiversity, water, use of natural and human
resources, human migration, global capital, commerce and consumption, energy production, and waste. The
approaches are distinct and diverse, and the CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES project encourages unorthodox
conversations between artists that are not typically placed in dialogue with one another—documentary and
journalistic approaches are in conversation with studio-based conceptual methodologies.”
FotoFest has partnered with Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam, to publish a hardcover book exploring the CHANGING
CIRCUMSTANCES theme. The book features over 150 full color and duotone images from 34 featured artists, with
essays by Co-Curator Wendy Watriss and leading scholars Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy and Dr. Geoff Rayner. In the
United States, the CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES book is available exclusively through FotoFest during the
Biennial, and then widely thereafter.
Many of the artists will travel to Houston during the Biennial to participate in public talks, tours, dialogues and panels.
The CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES exhibition is on view at four venues – Silver Street Studios, The Silos at
Sawyer Yards, and Spring Street Studios in the Washington Avenue Arts District, and the Williams Tower
Gallery, in Houston’s Uptown Business District.
CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES PROGRAMS
The CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES exhibition is accompanied by six weeks of associated programming, including
dialogues, talks, tours, music, two film series, and educational opportunities.
FotoFest is pleased to announce a partnership with National Geographic to present the work of David Doubilet,
David Liittschwager, and Joel Sartore. The three artists will participate in a special evening panel discussion with the
public on Wednesday, March 16.
As part of CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES, FotoFest is showing a large presentation of images from Canadian
artist Edward Burtynsky, notable for his 30 years documenting the imprints of human activity on the Earth. Few
artists have studied the global impact of the human society on the natural world as broadly. Edward Burtynsky leads
a public tour of his work Sunday, March 20.
Over a dozen other talks, tours, and dialogues with the artists, and Biennial curators are scheduled for March and
April. Every one of them is free, and open to the public.
FotoFest is partnering with Ballroom Marfa and the Public Concern Foundation to present Marfa
Dialogues/Houston, March 24–26, 2016. This fifth installment of the multi-day conference is dedicated to
considering the scale of climate change from the perspective of artistic practice, public policy, critical theory, and
environmental science. Panelists include keynote speaker the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, community activists, leading
scientists and researchers from NASA, Rice University, and Texas A&M University as well as artists and musicians
whose work addresses these topics. Events will take place at the Menil Collection, Contemporary Arts Museum
Houston, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
FotoFest is collaborating with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Environmental Film Festival in the
nation’s capital for two Environmental Film Series in April.
FotoFest is collaborating on the premieres of two new, original music works for the Biennial. Composer Marcus
Maroney and MUSIQA perform EARTH MUSIC, new chamber music inspired by the works of Biennial artist Edward
Burtynsky and presented in the artist’s gallery in the Silos at Sawyer Yards, Thursday, April 7.
FotoFest and Da Camera have co-commissioned the Houston premiere of The Colorado: A Film Oratorio, a
multidisciplinary film performance with live chamber music and a chorus, which explores water, land, and life in the
Colorado River Basin. The concert features Grammy Award-winning Roomful of Teeth, a vocal project dedicated to
mining the expressive potential of the human voice, Wilco’s Glenn Kotche, and former Kronos Quartet cellist
Jeffrey Zeigler. The Colorado: A Film Oratorio takes place Tuesday, April 12, at the Cullen Theater, Wortham
Theater Center.
FotoFest’s Literacy Through Photography education program has developed a number of classroom and family
resources to accompany the CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES exhibition. A free, specially-developed in-school
curriculum provides educators with tools for incorporating the art and ideas of the Biennial into the classroom. New,
original teacher, and parent resource guides are also available at each FotoFest exhibition venue. Information on
the curriculum and other resources is available by contacting Chelsea Shannon, at [email protected].
A full listing of CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES programs may be found on the FotoFest website at www.fotofest.org.
OTHER PROGRAMS
FotoFest’s Discoveries of the Meeting Place is a special exhibition highlighting the talented artists participating in
our international portfolio review for artists – The FotoFest Meeting Place. The Discoveries exhibition, March 12 –
April 24, features ten artists identified as particularly noteworthy “discoveries” from the FotoFest 2014 Biennial. The
ten artists are chosen by ten invited curator/reviewers from the previous Biennial’s portfolio review. The 2016 featured
artists are: Mary Ellen Bartley; Clare Carter; Max De Esteban; Roger Eberhard; Leonora Hamill, Maxine
Helfman, Mahtab Hussein, Jason Larkin, Diana Matar and Meghann Riepenhoff
The Meeting Place Portfolio Review, March 12 – 30, is one of the key programs of the FotoFest Biennial. Over the
course of 16 days, 500 artists from over 30 countries connect one-on-one with 160 global photography experts –
curators, gallery directors, collectors, book publishers, magazine editors, and others. FotoFest established the format
of modern, professional Portfolio Reviews. Over thirty similar events now take place throughout world. The Meeting
Place is the largest event of its kind in the world, and one of its most respected.
Organized to coincide with the Meeting Place, there are three FotoFest Professional Development Seminars for
Artists, addressing book publishing and maintenance of photographic collections.
FotoFest’s respected International Fine Print Auction takes place Tuesday, March 21 at the DoubleTree by
Hilton Hotel Houston Downtown, the headquarters hotel for the FotoFest 2016 Biennial. Renowned auctioneer and
photography expert Denise Bethel, a veteran of Sotheby’s, leads the live auction, featuring 70 works from leading
U.S. and international photographers.
In addition to the four CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES galleries, and the Discoveries of the Meeting Place venue,
over 120 independent spaces are putting up exhibitions of photography – the Participating Spaces. Participating
Spaces stretch across the region, from Galveston to Fayetteville. Participating Spaces are included in the FotoFest
Biennial Map and Calendar, on the FotoFest website, and in the Biennial Catalogue, the document of record for the
FotoFest Biennial. The 2016 Participating Spaces include: Contemporary Art Museum Houston; Museum of
Fine Arts, Houston; the Menil Collection; CENHS (the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the
Human Sciences at Rice University), in collaboration with the Rice Building Workshop; Arts Brookfield and the
Houston Center for Photography.
FOTOFEST 2016 BIENNIAL
MAJOR INSTITUTIONAL SPONSORS (as of this date)
The Brown Foundation Inc.; Texas Commission on the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; Cullen Foundation;
The Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; The Winslow
Foundation; DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Houston Downtown; The Wortham Foundation; National Geographic; Royal
Bank of Canada; the Trust for Mutual Understanding; Judith and Gamble Baldwin; The Powell Foundation; The
FotoFest Board of Directors; H-E-B; Saint Arnold Brewing Company; The Art Institute of Houston; HexaGroup; iLand
Internet Solutions; The Deal Company; Silver Street Studios; Williams Tower Gallery; Individual Contributors to the
Green Un-Gala; Individual Contributors to the 2014–2015 Capital Campaign
ADDITIONAL INSTITUTIONAL & INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT
Citizens Environmental Coalition; Deep Eddy Vodka; Lawndale Art Center (Houston); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston;
ROMA Moulding; Saks Fifth Avenue; T Distribution of Texas (Houston)
MEDIA PARTNERS
Art in America; Aperture Magazine; European Photography Magazine; Houston Public Media; L’Oeil de la
Photographie; PaperCity Magazine; ArtsHouston Magazine
FOTOFEST INTERNATIONAL
Founded in 1983, FotoFest International was established to promote international awareness of museum-quality
photo-based art from around the world. FotoFest is a non-profit photographic arts and education organization based
in Houston, Texas. The first FotoFest Biennial was held in 1986. It is the first and longest running photographic arts
festival in the United States. It is considered as one of the leading international photography Biennials in the world.
As a producer of serious international photographic arts exhibitions, FotoFest is a platform for art and social issues.
FotoFest is known as a showcase for the discovery and presentation of important new work and new talent from
around the world. The FotoFest Biennial takes place citywide in Houston with participation from the leading art
museums, art galleries, non-profit art spaces, universities and civic spaces. The Biennial has an audience of 275,000
people from 34 countries. This audience includes a select group of 150 museum curators, gallerists, publishers,
editors, photography collectors, directors of non-profit art spaces and international festivals from Asia, Europe, Latin
America, Canada and the United States.
More information on FotoFest, and the FotoFest 2016 Biennial may be found on the FotoFest website at
www.fotofest.org.
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For further information, images, or to arrange an interview, members of the press may contact:
Vinod Hopson
FotoFest Press
+1 713-223-5522 ext 26
[email protected]
Elisabeth Meddin
Blue Medium, Inc.
+1 212-675-1800
[email protected]