Scott McFarland, Corner of the Courageous, Repatriation Ceremony for Sergeant Martin Goudreault, Grenville St.,
Toronto, Ontario, June 9th, 2010, 2012. Courtesy of Monte Clark Gallery.


Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
Public
May 2012
www.scotiabankcontactphoto.com

Stimulated by the renewed global interest in street photography, CONTACT 2012 explores the theme Public. Drawing attention to social and political issues that are framed by photographic images, the works presented challenge the distinctions between our private lives and the public sphere. CONTACT 2012 highlights how photography shapes collective experience and makes things public.

Now in its 16th year, CONTACT continues to expand programming through exhibitions of groundbreaking photography. The festival includes six Primary Exhibitions, 11 Public Installations and 32 Featured Exhibitions, with more than 1,000 artists exhibiting their work at 134 Open Exhibitions across the city.

Join us at our launch party to kick-off the festival on Friday April 27, 7pm at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA).

CONTACT 2012 PUBLIC INSTALLATIONS
Site-specific interventions with photography in the urban landscape, throughout Toronto and across Canada.

Sabine Bitter / Helmut Weber
Super Students #1
This large-scale work is sourced from an archival photograph of a student protest at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University in 1967. Created in response to student demonstrations against university cuts in Vienna and Vancouver, the work today takes on added resonance within the context of a new global culture of street protest.
Presented in partnership with The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. Supported by Ernst & Young LLP.
The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, South Façade, April 25 – June 18

Max Dean
Album
Dean will appear at various locations throughout the city in his specially configured 1966 Volkswagen Beetle—the Foto Bug—to showcase more than 500 family photo albums from a collection he amassed over ten years. At each venue, Dean will pass the albums on to willing new owners.
Presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Toronto District School Board.
Art Gallery of Ontario & various CONTACT Events, May 5 – September 9

Jim Goldberg
Open See
Goldberg's ongoing project focuses on displaced peoples from the regions of Eastern Europe, Africa and India—the refugees, immigrants, and trafficked individuals—who hope to make a better life for themselves in Western Europe. Not wanting to speak on behalf of the people he photographs, Goldberg invites his subjects to participate in the making of his work.
Supported by Pattison Outdoor Advertising.
Billboards on Spadina Ave & Front St W, NE Corner, April 30 – June 3

Melanie Manchot
The Continuous Still
For this commission, Manchot worked with the Distillery's rich and varied photographic archive to create a new series of images, each one displayed alongside the historic photograph it refers to. Taking its title from an image in the archive, The Continuous Still presents portraits of the Distillery's working population.
Presented in partnership with The Distillery Historic District and the Goethe Institute.
Distillery Historic District, April 25 – May 31

Scott McFarland
Part of the series Repatriation, this large-scale photographic mural considers notions of nationalism, public duty, community, the media, heroism, and sacrifice as pictorial subjects. McFarland creates a portrait of a repatriation ceremony for a fallen Canadian soldier, returning home to Canada after being killed while on active duty in Afghanistan.
Presented in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art. Supported by Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc.
Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, courtyard, April 25 – June 25

Bill Sullivan
More Turns (The Subway Turnstile Pictures) and Stop Down (The Elevator Pictures)
Drawn from a series of more than 30,000 pictures, the extensive nature of Sullivan's project and his adherence to a rigorous set of parameters results in an authentic portrait of the public at large. The artist made the images according to a method he calls "situational photography"—whereby a set of circumstances determine when to take the picture.
Presented in partnership with Toronto Pearson International Airport. Supported by BMW Canada.
Toronto Pearson International Airport, Terminal 1, April 25–September 3

Derek Besant
Public Spaces/Private Thoughts
In Besant's eight black and white portraits, the faces are blurred for anonymity and a short statement revealing a personal thought is superimposed on top. Drawn from fleeting themes found in the news media, the texts point to the secrets, wishes, resentments and fears we all experience at different times in our lives.
Supported by Pattison Outdoor Advertising.
TTC Subway Station Posters, April 30–June 3

Alyssa Bistonath, Ruth Kaplan, Aaron Vincent Elkaim, Brent Lewin, Debra Friedman, and Robert Poulton
We're in this Together
This two-part project opens up a dialogue about Toronto. Selected images displayed as TTC platform posters connect to the concept of community. The LCD screens showcase photos submitted by the public in response to an open call asking Torontonians to consider what We're in this Together means to them.
Co-produced by Pattison/Onestop and Art for Commuters.
TTC LCD Screens & Subway Station Posters, May 1–31.

Tim Hetherington
Sleeping Soldiers
In remembrance of the British/American photojournalist and filmmaker Tim Hetherington, who was killed in April 2011 while on assignment in the besieged city of Misrata, Libya, the festival presents Sleeping Soldiers. Hetherington's portraits of sleeping American soldiers in Afghanistan evoke the idea of tactical vulnerability. By implication, the project starts a conversation about Canada's role in foreign military conflicts—and how such engagements affect those who participate on our behalf.
Supported by Pattison Outdoor Advertising and Nikon Canada.
Billboards on Lansdowne Ave at Dundas St W & College St W and across Canada in Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Dartmouth, and Montreal. April 30–June 3



Tim Hetherington, Alcantara, 2007 – 2008. © Tim Hetherington / Magnum Photos

Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
80 Spadina Avenue, Suite 310
Toronto, Ontario M5V 2J4
T 416 539 9595
F 416 539 0829
info@scotiabankcontactphoto.com
www.scotiabankcontactphoto.com
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

CONTACT, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1997 and granted charitable status in 2011, is generously supported by Scotiabank, BMW Group Canada, Nikon Canada, Torys LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc., Pattison Outdoor Advertising, Vistek, Kronenbourg, Cutty Sark, Transcontinental PLM, 3M Canada, Genstar, Beyond Digital Imaging, Toronto Image Works, Superframe, The Drake Hotel, The Gladstone Hotel, Santa Carolina, Blurb, Toronto Star, The Grid, Fashion Television and BlogTO.

CONTACT gratefully acknowledges the support of Celebrate Ontario, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, the Hal Jackman Foundation, Goethe-Institut, Consulate General of France and its many partners.

CONTACT fosters and celebrates the art and profession of photography with an annual festival in May and year-round programming in the gallery.