Outline
Introduction
by Bob Hewitt, Chairman FotoFreo Inc
FotoFreo 2008: The City of Fremantle Festival of Photography is over and the planning for FotoFreo 2010 has already commenced.
FotoFreo 2008 was similar in scope but on a bigger scale to the 2006 event. FotoFreo 2008 consisted of a series of curated photographic exhibitions and events arranged and funded by FotoFreo Inc (the organiser), curated exhibitions arranged by other arts agencies in collaboration with FotoFreo Inc and funded by those agencies, as well as a fringe exhibition programme organised by FotoFreo Inc but funded by the individual exhibitors.
The exhibitions curated by FotoFreo took place in dedicated venues (including the Fremantle Arts Centre, the Western Australian Maritime Museum on Victoria Quay, the Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery, Kulcha Club, the Fremantle Prison, the Cullity Gallery at UWA and the Perth Centre for Photography). The events consisted of 2 evenings of audio visual projections, a conference (2 half day sessions), a seminar (2 half day sessions), 8 informal lectures and presentations, 2 book launches, 6 workshops, 9 floor talks and a film screening (about one of the exhibiting photographers). Venues for the conference, seminar, lectures, workshops and films included the Notre Dame University of Australia, Kulcha Club, the Film and Television Institute Fremantle Art Centre and the Western Australian Maritime Museum.
Participating photographers who exhibited and came to Fremantle for FotoFreo 2008 included Edward Burtynsky (Canada), Jodie Bieber (South Africa), Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin (UK), Paolo Pellegrin (Italy), Christophe Bourguedieu (France), Dow Wasiksiri (Thailand), Chen Nong (China), Mindaugas Kavaliauskas (Lithuania), Hayden Fowler (NZ) and Denis Darzacq (France).
In addition, a group show from the USA, Contact/S: 30 The art of Photojournalism, and curated by the internationally renown Robert Pledge was shown together with the Walkley Awards.
Western Australian photographers included Megan Lewis, Connie Petrillo and Robert Frith. Other Australian photographers who exhibited and came to the festival included Marian Drew (Qld), Christopher Koller (Vic), Stephen Dupont (NSW), Gilbert Bel Bachir (Syd) and Poli Papapetrou (Vic).
Photographers exhibited by FotoFreo but who did not come to Fremantle were Shi Guorui (China), Zhu Hao (China), Wang Gang (China) and Agnès Dherbeys (Thailand).
Also, major exhibitions not organised or funded by FotoFreo Inc that took place at the same time and in conjunction with the festival included Roger Ballen (Sth Africa) at the AGWA, Brook Andrews (Vic) at the John Curtin Gallery, Darren Siwes (SA) at the Turner Galleries together with the group shows, Focus: Photography & War 1945-2006, at the Central TAFE Gallery and Landlines (Max Pam, Kevin Ballentine, Norm Leslie and Brad Rimmer) at New Editions Bookshop.
Most of the events that involved visiting photographers and speakers took place during the first 10 days of the month long festival period.
The fringe exhibition programme was entirely organised by FotoFreo Inc volunteers. In total there were 59 exhibitions in 49 Venues and involving 71 Photographers, not including large group shows such as the camera clubs, amateur photo competition entrants or the underwater photography society exhibitions.
Speakers who presented at either the conference or the seminar included: Helen Ennis (ACT), Daniel Palmer (Vic), Anne Marsh (Vic), Marian Drew (Qld), Robert Pledge (USA), Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin (UK), Jodi Bieber (South Africa), Shaune Lakin (ACT), Michael Desmond (ACT), Wen Huang (China), Michael Bower (Syd), Lisa Botas (Singapore), Jennifer Ricketts (Ireland) and Jack Picone (Thailand).
In terms of the big picture, the board of FotoFreo continues to position the festival as a cultural link between Europe and Asia. Western Australia is geographically and culturally well placed to do this.
FotoFreo Inc is an incorporated non profit association established as a community based organisation for the purpose of organising and running the FotoFreo Festival of Photography in the port city of Fremantle, Western Australia. It is run entirely by volunteers.
The port city of Fremantle is a popular destination for visitors to Western Australia. It is a very interesting and visual place, with a bustling port, a substantial fishing industry, surrounded by beaches and with a city centre (the West End) containing an outstanding collection of Federation and other historic buildings. Fremantle is also renowned for its coffee houses, small restaurants, numerous museums as well as significant historical landmarks such as the Round House and the Fremantle Prison.
But, from the point of view of an arts festival, there is substantial exhibition infrastructure and the town is compact, making it easy to get around on foot or on the free public transport.
We are now considering exhibitors and the programme for FotoFreo 2010.
Photographic festivals are now important cultural events in many countries, particularly in Europe and North America.
It is the intention and the hope of the board of FotoFreo Inc that the FotoFreo festival will continue to grow as a significant photographic and cultural event both nationally and internationally.
In 1996, a group of photographers and other interested people tried to establish FotoFreo Mark 1. This group put together the outline of an event very much along the lines of FotoFreo 2006. But this first attempt was a much more ambitious project and probably, with hind sight, ahead of its time.
Subsequently, the inaugural FotoFreo festival took place in late March, 2002. This festival was more of a pilot and did not include any dedicated exhibition venues. It was considered a qualified success despite the many problems encountered. It ran at a loss that was covered by some of the organisers all of whom were volunteers. However, the consensus was that to grow the festival it could only be done as a biennale.
FotoFreo 2004 was three times bigger than the inaugural festival and included a number of dedicated exhibition venues and a fringe festival. All agreed that this event was an unqualified success. One of our sponsors, Fremantle Ports, won an award from the State Government for "The most innovative partnership" with a cultural organisation or event. The event broke even.
FotoFreo 2006 was more than twice the size of the 2004 festival and was again entirely organised and run by volunteers. For the first time during this festival there was a full range of the activities envisaged for the event besides the exhibitions and audiovisual projections - a conference, a seminar, lectures, floor talks, films and workshops.
While very similar in scope and structure to the previous festivals, FotoFreo 2008 proved to be a significantly bigger and better attended event than any previous festival.
The current board members of FotoFreo Inc include Graham Miller, David Dare Parker, Felicity Johnston, Jude Savage and Bob Hewitt (chair).
080101
