The Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival invites photographic artists to be a part of CONTACT, either as an Open Exhibition or a Featured Exhibition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Together we reflect on the last 20 years of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival and the innumerable encounters with images it has activated throughout the city, suspending movement and provoking imagination. Exploring paths that connect people and photographs, we have led the approach to intersections where meaningful experiences take place. The extraordinary scope of photography and its all-encompassing influence is illuminated by CONTACT, as we present a broad spectrum of work by acclaimed and emerging lens-based artists, documentary photographers, and photojournalists from Canada and around the world. Pursuing innovation and site-specific projects, we also look back at the foundations of the medium.
….From enduring practices to new forms of expression, the Festival showcases a diverse range of photo-based works by Canadian and international artists.
CONTACT is the largest photography event in the world, and a premiere cultural experience in Canada, with over 1500 artists in 200 exhibitions and happenings throughout the month in the Greater Toronto Area. Founded in 1997, CONTACT is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to celebrating and fostering the art and profession of photography.
Types of CONTACT Exhibition:
- Open Exhibitions are non-juried and therefore open to all interested participants.
- Featured Exhibitions are subject to a submission process. Featured Exhibitions are highlighted more prominently in the magazine and website, and are eligible for The Gattuso Prize, a $5,000 award that acknowledges an outstanding exhibition in the Festival.
- Registration for the 2017 Festival opens on October 3, 2016.
….CONTACT’s community initiatives foster a wide range of interest in photography and enable meaningful exchanges between the people who make and present art, and those that view it. Selected through a call for submissions, Featured Exhibitions of lens-based works by artists from Canada and around the world are presented at established galleries across the city.The foundation of CONTACT was based on an open call to participate, enabling emerging artists and photographers to show their work concurrent with exhibitions of works by leading professionals. Today the Open Exhibitions continue to encourage neighbourhood involvement at local galleries, community centres, educational and international institutions, cafes, retail stores, and many alternative locations.
Submissions are not sought for CONTACT’s curated programming, including Primary Exhibitions, Public Installations and Special Events.
The Festival’s curated programming—Primary Exhibitions and Public Installations—explores diverse subjects, motivated by artistic innovation and critical discourse locally, nationally and internationally. Collaborating with major museums and galleries, CONTACT presents outstanding photographic imagery that reflects issues relevant to our times and the history of the medium. In high profile sites, installations of images transform everyday activity in public space into unique encounters with works of art that resonate with their environment.
Exhibition Venues:
- Before registering, all artists/exhibition organizers must find a venue in which to hold the exhibition.
- Open Exhibitions can be held in any type of venue, from conventional gallery spaces to unconventional venues such as community centres, cafés, or retail shops.
- For Featured Exhibitions, preference is given to exhibitions held in professional gallery spaces.
- There are opportunities for artists seeking venues to exhibit with one of the neighbourhood Business Improvement Area (BIA) groups that partner with the Festival each year. The BIAs send out calls for submissions in autumn, and match up artists with venues.
If you are an artist seeking exhibition space, or if you have a venue and would like to participate in the Festival, please email info [at] scotiabankcontactphoto [dot] com.
Although CONTACT cannot make any guarantees, we are occasionally able to appropriately match artists and venues wishing to participate.
For more info, please visit http://scotiabankcontactphoto.com/about#participate .
