Opening ceremony:
Teatr Polski, Friday, 13 October, 7 pm
Press conference:
Galeria Bielska BWA,  Friday, 13 October, 1 pm

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This October, Bielsko-Biała will once again play host to an assemblage of world-famous photographers. The 7th FotoArt Festival provides a unique opportunity to sample a rich variety of themes and aesthetic values to be found in world photography. The photographs represent a whole gamut of techniques and forms of expression, such as portrait, documentary, reportage, landscape or experiment. We have invited 15 photographic artists who will present their solo exhibitions. Each of them will be shown for the first time in Poland. The photographers will also organize the famous Meet-the-Photographers Marathon and hold a series of photo workshops.

The exhibitions will be held in eight art galleries and museums in Bielsko-Biała. They are: Galeria Bielska BWA, the ‘Old Factory' Historical Museum, the Regional Cultural Centre, the B&B Photography Gallery, Książnica Beskidzka (the Municipal Library), the Wictoria Kubisz Polish Artists' Union Gallery, The ‘Sfera' Shopping Centre.

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Galeria Bielska BWA will host two main exhibitions. The first one will feature the work of the Austrian photographer Andreas Franke, who has immortalized his passion for diving in a series of composite photographs. These are surreal computer-generated collages of underwater photographs of sunken shipwrecks and studio photographs showing people in scenes from everyday life. The artist gained considerable popularity thanks to his project The Sinking World, which was first shown on board the USS Vandenberg - a powerful military ship sunk in 2009. The first underwater exhibition was visited by about 10,000 divers.

 

The second exhibition will be devoted to photographs by Otto Snoek from the Netherlands, a prominent street photographer who is particularly interested in the rapidly changing multicultural Europe, with a growing sense of national identity and history, which in many countries goes hand in hand with a growing right-wing nationalism. The artist photographs people during various festivals, marches and national holidays.  

 

 

 

The first FotoArt Festival was held in 2005. It was founded by a couple of photographers Inez and Andrzej Baturo - curators, owners of the B&B Photo Gallery in Bielsko-Biała, and creators of the Photography Centre Foundation.

Starting from this year, FotoArt Festival will be named after Andrzej Baturo, co-founder and director general of the enterprise. The Festival is organized by the Municipality of Bielsko-Biała and the Photography Centre Foundation. Inez Baturo is the Program and Organizational Director. The honorary patron of the Festival is the Marshal of the Province of Silesia; The artistic patronage is held by the ZAiKS and ZPAF (Polish Society of Authors and Composers / Association of Polish Photographic Artists).

The exhibitions run from 13 to 26 October 2017.

Program of the 7th Andrzej Baturo FotoArt Festival

Press conference
Friday, 13 October 2017, 1 pm
Galeria Bielska BWA, ul. 3 Maja 11

The program includes the presentation of the festival schedule and a meeting with the authors of the main exhibitions.

Important! There will also be earlier press conferences Stara Galeria ZPAF in plac Zamkowy 8 in Warsaw (12 September, 1 pm) and at the Silesian Museum at ul. Dobrowolskiego 1 in Katowice (19 September, 1 pm).

Festival launch:
Friday, 13 October 2017, 7 pm
Teatr Polski, ul. 1 Maja 1

Meet-the-Photographers Marathon:
14-15 October 2017 (Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 8 pm)
in the auditorium of the University of Administration, ul. Modrzewskiego 12

 

More information, prices of individual and season ticket at the Festival website >>