Cutting-edge Video Art Given Dedicated Platform at PHOTOFAIRS | San Francisco
- Connected exhibition to showcase the breadth of talent at the helm of video art
- Sixteen San Francisco and international artists curated by Justin Hoover
- February 23-25, 2018 at Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason, San Francisco
- First Look opening night to benefit the photography program of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- For all inquiries and images email [email protected]
- www.photofairs.org / @Photo_Fairs
San Francisco, November 16, 2017: Connected, a new annual exhibition dedicated to contemporary video and new media art, will launch at the second edition of PHOTOFAIRS | San Francisco next February, 2018.
This vital new platform has been introduced by the Directors of PHOTOFAIRS to satisfy the increased demand by collectors for this expanding genre of photography.
The 2018 edition of Connected will highlight local San Francisco and international female video and new media artists exploring the issues of power, equity and representation. The artists, each selected by curator Justin Hoover, explore how lens-based media is providing new avenues for artistic expression.
PHOTOFAIRS | San Francisco is the West Coast’s only art fair dedicated to the medium of photography. The highly curated, boutique fair offers collectors and curators access to artists and galleries never seen before in the Bay Area.
The Fair will run February 23-25, 2018 at the Fort Mason Center, San Francisco. First Look, an opening night to benefit the photography program of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, will be held on Thursday, February 22, 2018.
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The inaugural Connected exhibition is titled The Channel of Democracy: Womanhood, Power & Freedom in Video Art. Curated by Justin Hoover of Collective Active Studio, 16 female and queer artists will be presented who each challenge social issues in visually powerful and political ways.
Featured video artworks will be screened in a purpose-built darkened space, unlike the traditional art fair environment. The 90-minute loop will include stop-motion animation, performances made for cinema, three-dimensional computer-generated music videos and more conventional cinematic art films.
Highlights will include:
- Built to Burst by American artist Kate Gilmore; a video in which the artist climbs through a custom-made set, breaking ceramic vessels of paint and altering the scene.
- Palestinian-Lebanese-American artist Zeina Barakeh presents her new stop-motion animation, Slam Bang Blue, which addresses the mechanisms of war and the polarization of contemporary politics.
- Iranian-American artist Shiva Ahmadi (Haines Gallery, San Francisco) presents Ascend, an animation exploring the horrors and violence of oppression through the metamorphosis of communities in turmoil though
- The premier of British artist Sophie Clements’ newest work, How We Fall (2017). The piece observes a single moment of change from multitudinous camera angles – falling and exploding cement – as a metaphor for how cities, governments and humans all eventually fall.
The group exhibition will be completed by Monet Clark, Zen Cohen, Fernanda D'Agostino, Lydia Greer, Allison Leigh Holt, Laura Kim, Kadet Kuhne, Violeta Luna, Klea McKenna, Liz Miller, Tiffany Trenda and Merav Tzur
Curator Justin Hoover says: "Today, with an expanded range of available technology and a wider definition of what is art, artists are finding more avenues for their voices to ring out. We are excited to be able to present a curated group of strong, local, San Francisco-based and internationally-based female and queer artists who defy the norms and seek to express a new sense of self, culture and community through video and media art."
All works in the exhibition will be available to collectors, and on-site advice is available on the best ways to collect, display and maintain these new artworks.
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The 2017 edition of PHOTOFAIRS | San Francisco brought together 34 leading galleries and attracted 11,000 collectors and curators. The full 2018 gallery list and public program will be announced later this year.
Galleries already confirmed include: Almanaque (Mexico City), Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery (New York), CAMERA WORK (Berlin), Christine Park Gallery (London, New York), De Soto Gallery (Los Angeles), East Wing (Doha), Edwynn Houk Gallery (New York & Zurich), EUQINOMprojects (San Francisco), Galerie Stephan Witschi (Zurich), Gallery 1/1 (Seattle), In The Gallery (Copenhagen), KLV Art Projects (Vienna), PACE Gallery (New York, Palo Alto, London, Paris, Seoul and Beijing), Rademakers Gallery (Amsterdam), Robert Klein Gallery (Boston), Robert Mann Gallery (New York), Tang Feng Gallery (Taipei), The Ravestijn Gallery (Amsterdam) and Upfor (Portland).
