Today drool reviews some Festival X shows.

Now, that’s probably boring for you droolers who don’t live in Kapital
City, might even be boring for you who do. So just skip the boring bits.

Then, after the reviews, there are some thoughts about Festival X itself.
I hope you local droolers read that and feel free to comment.

SOME FESTIVAL X SHOWS

Les Filles du Roi- GENEVIEVE THAUVETTE

Genevieve keeps mining, and undermining, history, recently with
her work about the Dionne Quintuplets and now, with a beautiful
and amazing show at Galerie St-Laurent Hill. Les Filles du Roi.

Very briefly (from notes provided by the gallery). . . .

“Les Filles du Roi is the name given to the large
group of poor young women sent from France
to Canada in the 1600’s as brides of the state.
About 800 selected girls, usually orphans, were
given a dowry from Louis XIV to help populate
the fledgeling colony. On average they were wed
within four or five months of their arrival and
would bear 7 to 8 children.”

Who knew?

As usual, Ms Thauvette uses herself, props, other actors, lots of
research, a great sense of humor and history, a camera and Photo-
shop.These largish prints have been output as B+W’s on an inkjet
printer and then hand tinted in the old-fashioned way.

Beautiful and fun to look at; subversive but not angry. There’s a
lot to like about these fotos.

XXXX

DÉVELOPPÉ

Développé was a collaboration between SPAO alumni and The
Canada Dance Festival, in which fotografers were paired with
dancers and fotografy ensued.

As might be expected with such an undertaking, the work on
display runs the gamut. . .from modern to mundane, tricky to
straightforward.

The highlights for me were Gaylen Eyre’s hard and soft pairing
which struck me as perfectly modern, and Magida El-Kassis’
lyrical yet awkward images shot in a field.

But, like I say, there is enough different work here that you
might be able to find your own favorite foto.

images by Gaylen Eyre

images by Magida El-Kassis

XXXX

Strange Weather- KARINA KRAENZLE

Housed in what must be Ottawa’s most scenic gallery, BLINK, you
will find Strange Weather. Indeed.

Working with a series of found fotos, all shot some time ago in some
living room, photo-based artist Karina Kraenzle sandwiches those
found fotos with salt on a scanner and then prints those scans on
glass. What she ends up with is some mystery and a bit of magic.

She then hangs (and sets) these new combines in the gallery, which
has been dressed to resemble the room where the original snaps
were snapped. Not only that, but there’s salt on the floor as well.

It’s all quite dense and kind of claustrophobic and requires some
time to seep in. Ms Kraenzle tells me that many visitors are not
willing (or interested enough) to allow that seepage to happen.

Fair enough, since there is kind of a weird feeling of being an
interloper when you enter the space. Perhaps that’s the point.

And in this day and age we (and I include myself in that “we”)
have been trained by the internet to be relentless consumers
of everything. To glance and move on. The virtual world has
been stood on its head with this show.

XXXX

Debris- MICHAEL TOOLE

From the exhibition description on the Fest X website:

Debris is defined as scattered remains,
ruins…Debris the exhibit seeks to draw
attention to those things both forgotten
and remembered.

One has to enter the Gordon Harrison Gallery and ask at the desk
to see the fotos, which are downstairs, tucked into a corner behind
the staircase or, on the other side, left leaning against a wall.

“alone” © Michael Toole

“industry” © Michael Toole

So either the fotos, and their installation, are craaaazy, modern, brilliant,
in terms of relating to the exhibition description, or this exhibition was
attached to the festival as a way to draw traffic. I suspect the latter and
wonder why such a display is included in Festival X.

FESTIVAL X

Now, right up front I want to make clear that I’m just some guy sitting here at
his computer being an armchair quarterback. I have had brief discussions about
the festival, and made suggestions to some of its Board of Directors, but have
done nothing else in terms of participating at that level. I’m just an interested
bystander, an onlooker. But one who is concerned.

Before I begin let me quote from the Fest X website:

Since its inception in 2007, Festival X has been
committed to advancing photographic knowledge,
creativity and innovation in Ottawa. Through its
programming, X intends to increase exposure to,
and recognition for regional, Canadian and inter-
national photo-based artists.

You would think that by now certain kinks would have been worked (or figured)
out. Things like, at the most basic level, a website that contains images (have you
ever seen a foto festival website with no fotos?) and is updated in a timely way.

But there are other concerns. . . .

The festival happens once every two years. That seems like plenty of time to pick
a theme and get a few feature shows organized around that theme. (The theme
this year is “Otherwise than Seeing:Photograph, Image and Representation”.) But
that’s not the case. There were no feature shows that relate to that theme, nor
were there any publications or other critical writing about what that theme might
mean. There will be a round table discussion and, I believe, at some point (after
the fact) there will be an essay made available that will, using backwards logic,
retrofit certain exhibits into the theme (are you still with me?).

What you do get is a random bunch of shows, some solo, many group. I’m sure
that in amongst these shows there is something for everyone. So that’s good, I
guess.

But the festival’s stated purpose is to advance photographic knowledge, creativity
and innovation in Ottawa. And I, for one, am not sure that the way to do this is
to simply provide an official forum for fotografy in Kapital City and then to stand
back and just let things unroll.

Obviously there has to be an acceptance of all the different kinds of foto-practice
that happen here if you are to have a popular festival. But without feature shows
and critical oversight, without the inclusion of fotgrafers from outside the region
and without the publication of materials and catalogs that speak to, expand and
illuminate the theme, the festival is not advancing foto-practice here, it is merely
promoting it.

And, for me, there is a big difference between promotion and advancement.

LIST (1)

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Conscientious, Joerg (The Blogfather)
Colberg’s seminal and influential blog, fotobloggers around the world were
asked to share the occasion by talking about the future of photography. To
talk about what’s bold, brave and new in the photo-world.

I’m honoured that Colin Pantall has seen fit to mention LIVE THROUGH THIS
in this context. Surprising in a way because the photos don’t allude to the
history, uses or future of photography.

No. Colin saw them as a possible way forward simply because of their
engagement with the subject. Okay.

Mr Colberg has compiled a list of all the bloggers involved, and their
choices. I suggest you check it out and arrive at your own conclusions.

And while you are there, bookmark Conscientious because it’s something,
agree or disagree, you should be reading.

The list: XXXX

FESTIVAL X (1)

Well Festival X, the Kapital City Foto Fest, kicked off this week. First with
a formal function (speeches) at St Brigid’s Centre for the Arts and, then
the next day (that’d be the Friday) with a bunch of openings.

Now I have my problems with this festival. I have often wondered about
its ambitions and how it represents fotografy in Kapital City. There will
be more on that next week, after I’ve had a chance to see more shows
and digest a little bit.

I did, though, make it to 4 exhibitions/openings on the Friday nite. And
am happy to announce that 1/2 of them were more than worthwhile.

Of course, the show that should be a feature, Scot Sothern at LPM Gallery,
isn’t even a part of Festival X. That’s because of a difference of opinion
between the Director at LPM and the Board of Fest X. Instead, LPM runs
a Month of Photography every September.

(For the full disclosure aspect here I will say that 1: LPM Gallery represents
me, 2: Scot Sothern and I are friends 3: I teach at SPAO and 4: I have work
up in the TEASE show at Patrick Gordon’s.)

So, LowLife at LPM.

A selection of 11×14 silver prints from LowLife, accompanied by stories.
The folks I met at the opening couldn’t figure out which affected them
more, the fotos or the words. That’s great. Both are impossible not to
think about and both pack a wallop.

This approach dovetails quite nicely with what I like about fotography.
That is: as a way to get out into the world, have experiences and bring
back souvenirs. Funnily enough, that’s one of the main reasons anyone
takes fotos, as markers and souvenirs. But when you are a serious foto-
practitioner you want to be able to define your intelligence and your
sensibility with your fotos and approach. This is what Scot does.

Like I say, this show is not featured in any Fest X brochures or on their website.
But it must be one of the shows you go to see if you are at all interested in
fotography or human nature.

And, while you’re in the area, also go see Weather Report, by Andrzej Maciejewski,
at The Red Wall Gallery, SPAO.

Andrzej built a camera obscura at the foot of his driveway and took fotos. (Details
in the statement above.)

I was pleasantly surprised at the beauty such a formal arrangement yielded. The idea
of calling the work Weather Report, and of including the weather and the date and time
of the exposures really adds a layer of thought and complexity to the fotos.

Both these shows, though very different in tone, subject matter and aesthetics,
use a very straightforward approach; Nothing fancy here. But the intelligence
of the fotograpfers belies the need for tricky shooting and shiny post production
methods.

The Enriched Bread Artists (so named because the building they occupy used to
be the Enriched Bread bakery) show seemed to be a collection of fotos mostly
done by artists (painters, sculptors, etc.) who dabble in fotography, and it showed.
Mixed in was some work by actual fotografers who are not members of the EBA
collective. But their work (some good, some ordinary) was lost in the chaos of
of a foto show seemingly organized around the theme of what EBA members are
doing with fotografy. As such the show is a kind of hit or miss affair. You either
like the foto you happen to be looking at, or not.

The highlight for me was the work done by Danny Hussey, who, amongst other
things, has a project going called by the descriptive title: Screen Prints on Artist
Photographs. Fotografers give Danny prints and he, well, the title of the project
says it all.

Here’s a thing he did to a Pedro Istin print. Nothing fancy, but fanciful none the
less. Danny told me that he just does what he wants and doesn’t worry about it
too much. Nice.

Finally we come to TEASE, a show of fotos by SPAO alumni and teachers. The
premise of the show was, obviously, what a foto shows you and what it just
alludes to; tease. That’s something all fotos do, of course, and the curators
mention that right up front. I’m in this show so will refrain from saying any
more about it.

Plus, I have to mention that the Fest X party at Patrick Gordon’s is becoming
famous. It’s the place to go on the opening weekend of Fest X, a big, drunken
blowout.

And that, as much as any exhibition, is what the Kapital City Foto Scene
needs. (Of course, the other thing Kapital City needs is less booster-ism
and more critical thought. More courage to take a stand. Less politeness,
more factionalism. Let’s get that party started.)

I’ll try to get out to more Fest X shows this week because I have thoughts
about the festival and I want them to be grounded in experience, rather
that bias. But in advance of next week’s blog, and in relation to my thoughts
about Fest X, I have invented a new word. And that word is “Jerkular”. Figure
it out, or tune in next week for the answer.

Another take on Fest X: XXXX
Scot Sothern at LPM: XXXX
Weather Report at SPAO: XXXX
Enriched Bread Artists: XXXX
Danny Hussey: XXXX
TEASE: XXXX
Festival X: XXXX

LIST (2)

Ottawa Style magazine did a thing they titled: “Bright Lights”, the premise being
a list of local creative folks who add to the cultural scene in Ottawa. Okay.

Complete list here: XXXX

There is much talk in the FotoWorld™ these days about the state and future
of fotografy:

The Golden Age,
The End Of An Era,
Everyone Is A Fotografer,
Instagram,
The Social Media,
Billions Upon Billions Of Fotografs Served Every Day (McFotos™),
and so on.

It seems that applying old criteria to this new FotoAge™ is somehow just
stupid. People want to know where its headed, not where its been. Fuck
the past, it’s boring, we want the future. As if history is immaterial, nothing
to be learned there.

Of course no one knows what will happen. The days go by, each seemingly
like the one before and then WHAM! something happens. But, too, in between
those seismic events each day is just different enough from the one before
that evolution occurs. We progress. This is an accelerating culture but our
technology is evolving faster that our souls.

Now, I’m no Darwinian Theorist but I do know that for every successful
permutation there were scores (maybe even hundreds or thousands) of
failures. . . .evolutionary wrong turns that seemed like a good idea at
the time.

We are so stuck in the present, or looking forward, that we have lost
perspective. We keep barking up trees, going down paths, sure that
this one is the one, the way to the promised land.

There is no promised land.

LIVE THROUGH THIS

I’ve mostly been blogging about LTT over on the STRAYLIGHT blog, and on
the Fb page for STRAYLIGHT.

But I thought I might bring you up to speed here about LIVE THROUGH THIS,
the book.

Here and below: rejected poster designs for LIVE THROUGH THIS

The book is now at the designers, we’ve picked (or, maybe, re-picked) the
paper we will use and are struggling with the cover. Trying to get the thing
available for Christmas. And what a Christmas book it will be. . . .the heart-
warming story of a man and a junkie. Perfect for kids of all ages.

I’d also like to remind all you droolers who were following that trip Steph
and I took, and those who weren’t, that we need your support. The book
is a measly 38 bux, its 80 pages, 9×9 inches with a removable insert that
tells Steph’s story in her own voice. And all the pre-ordered books will
come with an original print tipped in. A collectors item, if you ask me.

So go to STRAYLIGHT and support this project, buy the book.

Finally, if you are interested in the in’s and out’s, the ways and means of
getting a foto project off the computer and onto the press, I’ve been writing
about it on the STRAYLIGHT blog and Fb page. Check ‘em out.

Buy the book: XXXX
Like the page: XXXX

FESTIVAL X

That’d be the Ottawa Foto Fest, okay?

The big opening shindig is this Thursday, at St Brigid’s Centre for the Arts.

I’ll leave it to you to do your own research, seeing as what tickles your fancy may
just leave me cold. I will say, however, that, if tradition holds, the biggest event
and knock-down-drag-out party will be at Patrick Gordon’s. That’s happening
Friday night, the 21st.

The show there is called TEASE and has something to do with showing and not
showing; a thing that fotografs excel at. The fotos in TEASE were selected from
alumni and teachers from SPAO. Here’s a wall in my studio showing the work
prints and finals of my contribution:

Fest X deets: XXXX

ANGELENOS in the gallery

ANGELENOS opened Friday nite and I’m pleased to say there was a monster
turnout of folks who came to look, talk, drink and so on. It was kinda fun
to tell some of the stories, recount a few craaazy episodes we had in L.A.
while shooting this.

It’s funny that none of that gonzo craziness comes thru in the fotos. The
same could be said for the USER pix, as well as LIVE THROUGH THIS. . . I
was surrounded by drama in all these projects, yet the fotos are, somehow,
quiet.

I wonder why that is, wonder about my disinterest in showing the drama and
the dynamic that is the genesis of the fotos I do take.

I think, in the end, it boils down to not being interested in doing documentary,
photojournalism-type fotografy. I’m mostly just interested in going out and
having conversations, the fotos are really only souvenirs of that interaction. It
just so happens that the folks I’m interested in knowing often inhabit a chaotic
milieu, one a bit on the edge. The world is a messy place but I only want to allude
to that, not show it.

One thing I think I know, though, is that the environments I choose to work in,
even if they are not actually shown in the fotos, have a profound effect on how
they (those fotos) look and feel.

Fotografy is an art of subtraction. You start with the whole wide world and make
choices. These are my choices.