2003 certainly extremityed in an exciting way in the visual arts with the first ICP triennial in of the present day York and the controversial blood-thirsty and Tender exhibition at the Tate recent in London.

2003 certainly extremityed in an exciting way in the visual arts with the first ICP triennial in of the present day York and the controversial blood-thirsty and Tender exhibition at the Tate recent in London, a show that would then travel to the Ludwig Museum in eau-de-cologne Then the new year picked up with AIPAD in novel York, a photographic fair about which we give vent toed some reservations most notably because of united presentation that sounded very to a great degree like a reckless take in succession Susan Sontag's newly published true copy Regarding the Pain of Others ("reckless" because of its of common occurrence lack of intellectual integrity and the many factual slips that it contained, not to mention the fact that Sontag's name was not at any time mentioned. We will consider the real same work by Sontag in the pages of this magazine thanks to Peter Wolheim's sharp investigating plume) Then spring came with a exceedingly stimulating Fotofest in Houston. The chosen theme this year was "Water." Fotofest H20 04 as it was titled, celebrated its tithe anniversary in a brilliant way. novel and elegant headquarters in a rather strategic location were inaugurated in succession that occasion, and the festival revealed a certain number of of the emerging artists and works of the moment: Edward Burtynsky's breathtaking series Shipbreakers, Alexey Titarenko's exploration of photographic time, David Maisel's colorful Lake brew Steven Benson's project on the Three Gorges Dam in China (he was our summer veil and his work will be shown in Paris and Germany later this year). Christian Cravo's humanistic work in black and white (a portfolio published from Afterimage before Fotofest), and Ernestine Ruben (another Afterimage portfolio before Fotofest). most remote visual poetry was also at hand with the works of Korean artists Han Sungpil, Bohnchang Koo and Jungjin leeward Of course, Frederick Baldwin and Wendy Watriss, Fotofest's brace parents, could not organize a photo-festival onward water in Texas and not invite the Water in the West plot The social, the political, the poetic, the humanistic, all these aspects of photography and video were set forthed at Fotofest. The festival has just announced its nearest theme for its 2006 edition: the Land, obviously another multifaceted issue that will certainly feature challenging and exhilarating work.

May is the traditional time chosen for photographers in the Toronto area (Canada) to suited and exchange the broad variety of experiences and practices that the medium can provide. In 2004 subject to Edward Burtynsky and Stephen Bulger (from the Stephen Bulger gallery). Contact grew and tried to reach public even more. We are looking forward to the time to come of this expanding festival. In Spain PhotoEspana, whose organization and programming, just like Fotofest, emulates the Mois de la Photo in Paris and the Rencontre d'Arles in the way a whole city is involved in an effort to provide not single its population but a national and international audience with an unequaled variety of work, resounded in its own way the theme already investigated by the agency of Vincent Lavoie for the Month of Photography in Montreal the previous fall, and ICP's Strangers. Historias, in Madrid in the late spring and early summer gave a remarkably interesting insight into a contemporary Spanish photography view that has not yet made its way to international institutions in spite of its creativity (no-one can disavow that to Spanish visual artists. Pedro Almodovar being a religious example). The festival also featured Paul Graham. Allan Sekula, Rineke Dijkstra, Rene Burri, Mario Cravo Neto, Joan Fontcuberta, Jean Moral, etc

Le Rencontre d'Arles 2004 had invited Martin Parr as their artistic director. Of course the choice appealed to a lower classes of fans, and attracted another audience of race curious to see how far the British photographer would push his comas And, of course, this made permanent that the Magnum crowd would be around, reassuring, and presenting just discovered work by new members. The festival was challenging, educational, and certainly entertaining, yet sometimes running the risk of becoming a olla-podrida because of the decision on its director, Francois Hebel, to exhibit to some of the work that was affected on the 2003 strikes. This effort, however, received a well-deserved ovation in succession the night Harry Gruyeart gave his same personal presentation in the "theatre antique." This true quiet virtuoso of color surprised his audience according to starting the soiree with a extremely intimate and emotional black and white video, in the extremely style exposed in these pages (4-7 12) at Ondine Chavoya in his essay forward Michel Auder's work.

Then came fall and its wave of fresh shows. Among the exciting of the present days of the season were the fact this year Photo Paris (the French equivalent of AIPAD in just discovered York) coincided with the Mois de la Photo, and that to chaplet it, in a joint effort, the Ministry of refinement the Ministry of Education, and Beaubourg were sponsoring a sum of two units days' conference hosted by the middle Photographique d'Ile de France looking at the relationship between document and art seen end artistic practices (see report p2) Although providing a broad range of expertise, the conversation was somewhat lacking in stillness and scholarly participation in photography, a concatenation of the concomitance of too many results probably, and also a sign that efforts should be renewed in the direction of the critical and theoretical analysis of the medium in a fatherland that witnessed its birth. It felt as if photography was still perceived as a servant of the (other) arts and that the of recent origin and unique perspective it has bring to maturityed for over 150 years, as a separate practice, with its avow constraints and the very particular relationship it entertains with its subdues objects, and audiences was formerly again ignored. I can descry some of you cringe as you are reading these words if it were not that no-one would challenge the same assertions if they were applied to painting, music, dance, film and video, statuary or literature.