HOUSTON, TX.- FotoFest announced the programs for the United States’ largest citywide celebration of photography, the FotoFest 2010 Biennial. Focusing for the first time on the theme of Contemporary U.S. Photography, the Biennial highlights four exhibitions on Contemporary U.S. Photography by invited curators from different regions of the country. These principal exhibitions feature the work of 45 U.S. artists, and are accompanied by a fifth, non-thematic exhibition, Discoveries of the Meeting Place, spotlighting ten artists who presented work in the previous Biennial’s portfolio review. FotoFest’s exhibitions are joined by more than 80 independently organized photographic exhibitions citywide; forums on contemporary curating; the world’s largest portfolio review for artists; an International Fine Print Auction; programs for art collectors; Workshops on online multimedia and social media technologies; films; and public Evenings with the Artists.

The FotoFest 2010 Biennial, the Thirteenth International Month of Photography and Photo-related Art, begins March 12 and continues through April 25, 2010 with programming for the public occurring every week.

FotoFest 2010 Biennial Grand Opening
The FotoFest 2010 Biennial Grand Opening is a free public celebration Friday, March 12, 2010 at FotoFest headquarters and gallery – the site of Whatever was Splendid, one of the four principal exhibitions on Contemporary U.S. Photography at the FotoFest 2010 Biennial. Guests at the Grand Opening will include the FotoFest 2010 Biennial curators: Natasha Egan, Aaron Schuman, Edward Robinson and Gilbert Vicario; many of the 45 exhibiting artists; refreshments and music. A number of other spaces across the city also open March 12, among them the Houston Center for Photography, DiverseWorks Artspace, and Lawndale Arts Center. Opening Receptions for the other three principal FotoFest Biennial exhibitions occur over the course of the following weeks and will be attended by featured artists and curators.

March 12 is also the first day of the Meeting Place the biennial’s well known portfolio review for artists which brings together 500 artists from across the globe and more than 150 curators, editors, publishers, gallerists, collectors and photo agencies. The 16-day Meeting Place is the world’s largest portfolio review, and over its 26-year history, it has been a launching pad for the careers of hundreds of photographers.

FotoFest Curatorial Dialogues
Examining the role of the art curator is an important part of FotoFest 2010 Biennial programming. The professionals commissioned to conceive the principal exhibitions for the 2010 Biennial are part of a new generation of curators redefining the role of museums and art spaces in terms of their relationship to art audiences, the general public, and other social institutions. FotoFest presents four of the Biennial curators in a series of free Curatorial Dialogues about their roles as interlocutors between art makers and the public, how they see the future of art in institutions, what influences their curatorial choices, who they see as their audiences, and how they and their institutions are using online platforms.

In addition to the four Curatorial Dialogues, FotoFest is sponsoring a Symposium on Contemporary Curatorial Practice with Anne Wilkes Tucker, Charlotte Cotton, Gilbert Vicario and Daniel Joseph Martinez at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 28, 2010.

• Sunday, March 14, 2010 - Aaron Schuman, curator of the Whatever was Splendid exhibition at Vine Street Studios, with Madeline Yale, Adjunct Curator, Houston Center for Photography

• Friday, March 19, 2010 - Edward Robinson, curator of the Assembly: EightEmerging Photographers from Southern California exhibition at Williams Tower, with Anne Wilkes Tucker, Curator of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

• Friday, March 26, 2010 - Natasha Egan, curator of the Road to Nowhere? exhibition at Winter Street Studios, with Clint Willour, Curator, Galveston Arts Center

• Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - Gilbert Vicario, curator of the Medianation exhibition at various locations, with Fernando Castro, Independent Curator and Collector

The Curatorial Dialogues are scheduled to connect with the four Evenings with the Artists Open Portfolio Nights.

FotoFest Evenings with the Artists
FotoFest’s Evenings with the Artists Open Portfolio Nights connect the public with the hundreds of artists, curators, and other art professionals visiting Houston for the acclaimed Meeting Place Portfolio Review. The Evenings with the Artists Open Portfolio Nights invite the public to see the work of artists in a festive atmospherethat fosters discussion, exchange and sales.

FotoFest Fine Print Auction
Prints from eighty contemporary international and U.S. artists are featured in the FotoFest Fine Print Auction, Tuesday March 23, 2010 at the Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown. Conducted by Denise Bethel, Sotheby’s Senior Vice President and Director of Photographs Department, the auction provides a rare opportunity to encounter and acquire high quality contemporary fine art photography from five continents. The Preview Exhibition is March 3-20, 2010 at Gremillion & Co. Fine Art Inc. and is free and open to the public. There are two additional days of previews at the Auction site, Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown, March 21-22, 2010.

Revenues from print sales at the auction benefit artist programs and the FotoFest Portfolio Reviews. Proceeds from Auction ticket and table sponsorship benefits FotoFest’s Literacy Through Photography (LTP), year-round classroombased education program in Houston-area public schools. Images, artist biographies and information about the works will be posted on the FotoFest 2010 website at www.fotofest.org/biennial2010/auction. Absentee bid forms are available.

FotoFest 2010 Biennial Workshops
FotoFest is sponsoring two Workshops on online multimedia, social media and web based technologies. The workshops, at the Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown, bring media and art marketing experts, artists, curators and editors together to share their expertise and experience in art, the internet, social media networks, and multimedia platforms.

On Tuesday, March 16, 2010, art and online marketing guru Mary Virginia Swanson and artist Katrina d’Autremont lead BEYOND PRINT: Creative Communication in the Digital Age. The workshop focuses on the use of new interactive, online marketing tools, and technologies such as e-mail, blogs, and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and how their use is changing the way artists and arts professionals present their work to the world. Presenters include museum curators, gallery owners, photo editors, publishers, and founders of online art websites.

On Sunday, March 21, 2010, Brian Storm, the Emmy-award winning founder of the pioneering multimedia production studio MediaStorm (www.mediastorm.com), leads MEDIASTORM: Building Multimedia Platforms. This workshop provides an overview to multimedia storytelling and shows how top photographers are redefining their work to incorporate audio, animation, and video for distribution across new marketing and art platforms, including broadcast, internet, and mobile media. From concept to production, Mr. Storm will show how to create effective multimedia platforms for both narrative and conceptual art work, unveiling a new project with a well-known contemporary art photographer, presenting a moving and multi-layered format that gives new dimension and new life to the artist’s work. The one-day workshop is designed for creative artists, photojournalists, media professionals, arts administrators, students, teachers, and anyone interested in the multimedia world.

FotoFest Workshops connect with the Meeting Place Portfolio Reviews at the Doubletree Hotel Downtown Houston. Registration for the Workshops is $75, ($50 for Meeting Place Registrants and students).