PARIS, FRANCE.- This November, the Musée du Quai Branly will inaugurate Photoquai, the first biennial dedicated to the presentation of contemporary photography from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. Representing the geographic regions included in the collections of the Musée du Quai Branly, the photography festival features more than 30 city-wide exhibitions inside museums and cultural centers, in outdoor plazas, under bridges and along the banks of the Seine River. While focusing primarily on contemporary artists, Photoquai will also highlight photographers who have played key roles in the history of global photography, including early 20th -century American master, Walker Evans. Works on view include still and moving digital images in various media formats from works on paper and silver gelatin prints to projections and films. Photoquai will take place throughout the course of a month, with a variety of public events and exhibitions, discussion forums and student workshops.

The theme of Photoquai, “The world watching the world”, is designed to address questions surrounding how to personify the “Other”, or cultures not traditionally included in the Western canon of art & art history. The biennial will provide a variety of perspectives that Western photographers have used to perceive the rest of world. Featuring primarily non-Western photographers, the festival will also focus on revealing new talent and high-quality photography that has never been seen before in the major capitals of the Western world.

Photoquai runs October 30 through November 25, helping to make November in Paris is a time like no other for photography lovers. Photoquai is timed to take place during odd years – alternating years with Mois de la Photo, the biannual citywide photography festival scheduled for even years, and to coincide with Paris Photo (Nov. 15 -18), one of the world's leading photography fairs. In addition, the Pompidou Center will present an exhibition of recent photography acquisition highlights beginning November 7, 2007.

Photoquai will take place in various locations throughout Paris, including 11 indoor exhibition spaces and many outdoor venues. The Seine will be lined with exhibitions, providing a visual promenade for visitors on both the Right and Left banks of the river. Walkers, cyclists, motorists and boat passengers will view images projected onto bridges and hung in containers as they make their way from the Left Bank's Musée du quai Branly in the 7 th arrondissement, across the river to the Right Bank's Jeu de Paume and the Pavillon des Sessions (in the Louvre) on the Rue de Rivoli, and then eastward to the Maison Européene de la Photographie in the Marais (4 th arrondissement).

Outdoor exhibitions will take place along the upper walkways of the Seine and in the gardens of the Musée du quai Branly. Photographs and videos will be showcased in 41 containers along the Left bank of the Seine, providing free outdoor access to over 700 images by 70 photographers. The outdoor exhibition component of Photoquai will be organized around three sub-themes – Metamorphosis, Fiction, and Confrontation – all falling under the overarching theme of “The world watching the world”. Highlights include work by photographers Gerardo Montiel Klint ( Mexico ), Jamshid Bayrami ( Iran ), Mark Adams ( New Zealand ), Tiina Katrina Itkonen (Inuit of Alaska ), Mokhorev ( Russia ), and T.J. Lemon ( South Africa ).

Exhibitions and video projections will take place in 11 museums, cultural centers, embassies and galleries throughout the city. Events open to the public will be at the Australian Embassy, Musée national de la Marine, Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, Musée du quai Branly, Chinese Cultural Center (Centre Culturel de Chine à Paris), the Brazilian Embassy, Institut Polonais, Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Musée du Louvre (Pavillon des Sessions), Maison Européenne de la Photographie and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Highlights include: Exhibition at Musée du Quai Branly of 19th century Daguerréotype portraits by three French photographers: Charles Guillain (1808-1875), Louis-Auguste Bisson (1814–1876) and E. Thiesson (active in the 1840s) who captured men, women and children in West Africa, the Canary Islands, India and China.

Exhibition of the Walker Evans African art portfolio in the Musée du Louvre's Pavillon des Sessions (galleries devoted to the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas) showcasing 477 images taken by Evans to document the monumental African art exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1935. Many of the objects from the original exhibition will be displayed alongside Walker 's photographs.
Solo show for New Zealand photographer Anne Noble at Musée du Quai Branly
IV.) Related Programming

Photoquai Forum - Two 3-day symposia that will include presentations, screenings, debates, and public discussions. One session will pair a group of photography editors and art directors with non-Western organizations for dialogue and exchange. A second session will address the use of image and photography by NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations).

Photoquai Studio - Visual arts students from around the world will participate in virtual, real-time workshops. Presented live via the internet, this “digital image factory” will allow students to exchange and share computer graphics and images.