_Paris Photo 2011
_The busiest week of the year on the photography calender in Paris. the 2011 edition of Paris photo which was
held at the Grand Palais from 10-13 November. In recent
years Paris Photo has established itself as the most important
photography art fair in Europe (maybe even in the world?) and this was a
turning point for the fair. For it’s 15th birthday, Paris Photo gave
itself a pretty big present in the form of a move from the
not-exactly-shabby Caroussel du Louvre, which did suffer from a lack of
space, air, seating and natural light, to the Grand Palais which has
all of those in spades. The relocation was deemed controversial by
some, as people were attached to the Caroussel du Louvre which had
housed Paris Photo since its inception. There was also some concern
that the size of the Grand Palais space would lead to a more
impersonal, bloated fair that would lose the strong identity that Paris
Photo had created for itself.
Now that the dust has settled, it is difficult to find many dissenters on the big move. The Grand Palais is pretty much unbeatable as a space for housing a fair, particularly given the amount of natural light that pours in through the several-storey-high glass roof (sunny days can be a bit problematic but if they can find a way to guarantee cloud cover, you will not find better light for looking at photographs). The fair has increased in size with 117 galleries, 27 more than in 2010, and 18 publishers, but the airier premises make it feel less crowded and, if you put your mind to it, it is possible to find enough space to spend time looking at photographs without jostling for space with other visitors. The gallery newcomers included MacGill, Gagosian, Fraenkel and Marian Goodman, which gave a heavyweight feel to proceedings. Gagosian, who apparently doesn’t really do art fairs, had a interesting quirk to his booth: a closet-sized “private viewing room”, presumably so that the unseemly practice of paying for art would not have to take place in public.
Now that the dust has settled, it is difficult to find many dissenters on the big move. The Grand Palais is pretty much unbeatable as a space for housing a fair, particularly given the amount of natural light that pours in through the several-storey-high glass roof (sunny days can be a bit problematic but if they can find a way to guarantee cloud cover, you will not find better light for looking at photographs). The fair has increased in size with 117 galleries, 27 more than in 2010, and 18 publishers, but the airier premises make it feel less crowded and, if you put your mind to it, it is possible to find enough space to spend time looking at photographs without jostling for space with other visitors. The gallery newcomers included MacGill, Gagosian, Fraenkel and Marian Goodman, which gave a heavyweight feel to proceedings. Gagosian, who apparently doesn’t really do art fairs, had a interesting quirk to his booth: a closet-sized “private viewing room”, presumably so that the unseemly practice of paying for art would not have to take place in public.
_One of the biggest improvements of been the fair was the space devoted
to photo-books, something that had been a point of contention in recent
years. Although there ws no increase in the number of participating
publishers and book dealers, theire booths were far bigger and this
seemed to be a particularly busy section of the fair. There was also a
great installation byMarkus Schaden of Ed Van der Elsken’s wonderful Love on the Left Bank.
The installation, a kind of exploded book, gave a great sense of the
process of putting a book together. And finally the Paris Photo book
prize was launched to reward “a reference photographic book that has
marked the past 15 years” (editor’s note: the English translation of the
Paris Photo website leaves a lot to be desired). Paul Graham’s A
Shimmer of Possibility was the deserved winner.
I got this information and the photo´s from the following website.
://www.eyecurious.com/this-is-not-a-review-paris-photo-2011/
://www.eyecurious.com/this-is-not-a-review-paris-photo-2011/