addressing the anthropocene through art

FOTOFEST 2016 BIENNIAL | www.fotofest.org
For additional media inquiries please contact:
Ken Fountain, FotoFest Biennial Outreach Coordinator, +1 713.223.5522 ext 15, [email protected]
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Jamey Stillings, #10768, 25 June, 2013. Late afternoon over Ivanpah Unit 3, with Mount Clark in th Distance. From the series The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar.
Courtesy of the artist
ADDRESSING THE ANTHROPOCENE
THROUGH ART
FotoFest 2016 Biennial
March 12 - April 24, 2016, Houston, Texas USA
HOUSTON, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 10, 2016 - The debate over how to meet the challenges posed by climate change and everincreasing globalization and industrialization has often been seen as being confined to the political or scientific realms.
But artists have long been at the forefront of bringing humanity’s relationship with the changing planet to the public
consciousness – and that will be on full display during FotoFest’s 16th International Biennial of Photography and
Mixed Media Arts, taking place March 12 – April 24, 2016 with the central theme, CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES:
Looking at the Future of the Planet.
“Confronting the ever-quickening pace of global change is a major challenge for humanity, and we must meet it with
creativity and new thinking,” says Steven Evans, FotoFest Executive Director and Co-curator, with FotoFest founders
Frederick Baldwin and Wendy Watriss, of the 2016 Biennial.
FOTOFEST 2016 BIENNIAL
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The exhibitions and associated programs for CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES examine the dynamics of change and the
potential for creative action in a series of exhibitions, videos, films, books and educational programs with over 30
leading international artists, scientists, and environmental thinkers.
The artists’ projects address the Anthropocene – climate change; industrialization and urbanization; biodiversity; water;
the use of natural and human resources; human migration; global capital, commerce and consumption; energy production;
and waste.
“The coming test for human civilization, through its global and national institutions and through its patterns of everyday
life, is to slow or mitigate the damage to Nature that has already occurred and which will project far into the future,” says
Dr. Geof Raymer, a British sociologist and public health policy expert, who has advised the Biennial’s organizers and has
written an essay in the event’s accompanying hardcover book.
“The even more Herculean task is to halt new damage, recognizing that this can only be achieved through more sustainable
processes of economic activity, from farming to industry,” continues Raymer. “To use a modern idiom, this is a big stretch.”
Raymer’s essay will be featured in the book alongside one by scholar Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy, the so-called “Godfather of
Biodiversity”. The two essays are presented alongside the artists’ statements and extensive color reproductions of their
works.
Biennial Co-curator and FotoFest Senior Artistic Advisor Wendy
Watriss says, “The exhibitions present the experiences and
stories of artists who have lived and worked for many years
in close proximity to the natural world. The artists’ practice is
the product of rigorous engagement and research within the
science, and philosophy of the topics they address”
Co-Curator and FotoFest Executive Director Steven Evans adds,
“The Biennial, and its programs, occupy a space between
creativity and science. They engage in a dialogue that is as
concerned by questions about the future of the planet, and our
place on it, as it is about creative solutions”
The artists in CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES hail from nine
countries across Europe, Asia, and North and South America.
Many of the artists will travel to Houston to participate in
lectures, tours, and other programs during the Biennial.
One of the central exhibitions of the CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES
Biennial is a survey of Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky and
his 30 years of work on land, mining, energy, water, and the
impacts of industrialization across the globe.
Other featured artists include Vik Muniz, a Brazilian-based
photographer whose work documents the people who make their
living picking through huge piles of garbage outside Sao Paulo;
and Dornith Doherty, whose Archiving Eden project focuses on
international seed banks and their preservation efforts in the
face of climate change. Doherty is a 2016 Texas State Artist of
the Year, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to develop
the Archiving Eden project around the world.
FOTOFEST 2016 BIENNIAL
Amy Balkin, detail from The Atmospere: A Guide, 2013-2015.
Courtesy of the Artist.
CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES - 02/10/2016, PAGE 2
FotoFest is working with prominent environmental, scientific, and academic groups including Rice University’s CENHS
(Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences) and the Rice Building Workshop, Houston, to
present programs on the Rice University campus.
FotoFest’s Literacy Through Photography (LTP) education program partnered with Artist Boat, the Galveston, Texas-based
cultural and environmental education group, to create an accompanying curriculum for students in grades 3-12, that
explore the health and future of the Gulf of Mexico. The curriculum is available for free.
FotoFest is partnering with a number of arts and cultural groups interested in climate change and sustainability, including
Ballroom Marfa (Marfa, Texas), and the Public Concern Foundation, who will collaborate to present Marfa Dialogues/
Houston, March 23-26, 2016. In March and April, FotoFest is working with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH)
Film Department at the Museum’s Brown Auditorium, and with the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital at
MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theatre Center Houston) to present two series of prize-winning films addressing environmental
concerns.
CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES: Looking at the Future of the Planet is a continuation of FotoFest’s more than 30year commitment to presenting a platform for art and ideas. Since the early 1990s, FotoFest has addressed important
environmental issues through art: The Global Environment in 1994; Celebrating Water. Looking at the Global Crisis in
2004; and The Earth in 2006.
FOTOFEST 2016 BIENNIAL
MAJOR INSTITUTIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL SPONSORS (as of this date)
The Brown Foundation Inc.; Texas Commission on the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; The 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; The Washington Avenue Arts District
MEDIA PARTNERS
Art in America; Aperture Magazine; European Photography Magazine; Houston Public Media; L’Oeil de la Photographie;
PaperCity Magazine; ArtHouston Magazine
FOTOFEST INTERNATIONAL
Founded in 1983, FotoFest International was established to promote international awareness of museum-quality photobased 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 one of the leading international photography Biennials in the world.
As an 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, nonprofit art spaces, universities and civic spaces. The Biennial attracts 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.
FOTOFEST 2016 BIENNIAL
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