Format International Photography Festival (stylised as FORMAT) is a biennial photography festival held in Derby, UK that. It was established in 2004 and takes place in March[1] in various venues in Derby including Quad, University of Derby, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derwent Valley Mills, Market Place and in nearby cities.

Format comprises "a year-round programme of international commissions, open calls, residencies, conferences and collaborations".[2] Though it exhibits some work by established photographers, it is predominantly a platform for emerging photography.[3] In 2010 The Guardian called it "the UK's leading photography festival".[1]

Format24 will take place 16 March – 30 July 2024.[4]

Organisation

Format was established in 2004 by Louise Clements and Mike Brown, and built on the legacy of the past Derby Photography Festivals.[5] It is organised by QUAD in partnership with the University of Derby. It was Directed by Co-Founder Louise Clements also known as Louise Fedotov-Clements from 2004–2022; in 2017 it was directed by Monica Allende.[6]

Episodes

2006 – Format06

The theme was "Transform" and it took place in September/October.[5]

Included work by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin.[5]

2009 – Format09

The theme was "Photocinema".

Included work by Aaron Schuman[7][8] and Wim Wenders.[9]

2011 – Format11

The theme was "Right Here, Right Now: Exposures from the Public Realm"—street photography.[10][11][12]

Included work by Giacomo Brunelli,[11] Raymond Depardon,[11] Bruce Gilden,[11][12][13] Joel Meyerowitz,[11][14] Chris Steele-Perkins,[11] Raghu Rai,[11] Alex Webb,[11][15] Zhang Xiao,[16] and 60 works by street photography collective In-Public including Nick Turpin.[12]

Speakers at the opening weekend included Bruce Gilden, Nate Larson, John Maloof on Vivian Maier, Chris Steele-Perkins, Mark Sealy, Amy Stein, Nick Turpin, Michael Wolf[15] and Joel Meyerowitz.[11]

2013 – Format13

The theme and subtitle was "Factory: Mass Production".[17][18] The festival had two categories: "Focus", which was curated, and "Exposure", "comprising work selected from an open submission programme."[17]

Included work by Ken Grant,[17][19][20] Erik Kessels,[17][18] and Archive of Modern Conflict.[18][21]

2014 – Format14

Included work by Zhang Xiao.[22]

2015 – Format15

The theme was "evidence" and it was directed by Louise Clements.[23][24][25]

Included work by Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel (Evidence).[26]

2016 – Format16

An off-year episode.[27] The theme was called "reGeneration3" and it was curated by the Musée de l'Élysée (Lausanne, Switzerland).

Included "work by some 50 students of 25 different nationalities and 40 art institutions".[27]

2017 – Format17

The theme was "Habitat"[28]—"landscape, environment, migration, digital worlds, ideas of home and displacement, conflict and regeneration".[2] The headline exhibition explored the Anthropocene.[3]

Included work by David Moore (his play The Lisa and John Slideshow),[29] Lisa Barnard,[2][3] Sohrab Hura,[2][3] Ursula Biemann,[3] John Maclean,[2] Tom Hunter[2] and from the W. W. Winter studio in Derby.[30][31][32]

The Format Conference included a talk by Martin Parr.[29]

2018 – Format18

Included work by Mark Neville (Displaced Ukrainians and Battle Against Stigma).[33]

See also

References

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