The Boutographies festival opened last weekend in Montpellier, France. This 15th edition was chaired by the Swiss photographer Christian Lutz. The program features the work of young European photographers selected by the jury, an exhibition devoted to the guest of honor, the Prix Echange FotoLeggendo-Boutographies with Spanish photographer Alvaro Deprit, and a series of projections, seminars and portfolio reviews.
We spoke with Christian Marcotta, who has been the artistic director of Boutographies since 2007.
L’Oeil de la Photographie : Boutographies is now entering its 15th year. How has it changed since its inception in 2001?
Christian Maccotta : Boutographies started out as a neighborhood event in connection with a Montpellier photography shop that has since closed. After a few years of hanging pictures outside and in local restaurants, parks and shops, we were driven to be more professional by the participating photographers and our former director, Arnaud Laroche. In a few years we managed to put something together that attracts the best of young European photography, brings together the Montpellier photo community, and draws a large audience. The team is small but very committed and able to sway local decision-makers, who let us use the Pavillon Populaire in 2008. The festival was already more than a series of exhibitions back then. All our partners were working to integrate the event into the city through meetings with professionals, projections and side events. An off-site festival took over, and today it includes all the local galleries interested in photography, about a dozen. In 2010, the city funded a Jury Prize worth 2,500 euros, which, in addition to the festival’s reputation and the exceptional quality of the exhibition conditions, resulted in more and more submissions; in just a few years, we went from 100 submissions to over 800 from all over Europe. There were more choices, the jury became more prestigious and diverse, and we were able to put together a program that made no concessions. We partnered with local art and photography schools and festivals, like the FotoLeggendo in Rome and the Voies Off in Arles. Now we enter the third phase with this year’s move to La Panacée, Montpellier’s wonderful contemporary culture center.
LODLP : Boutographies is devoted to young European photography. Can you tell us about the selection process for the exhibitions and projection ?
CM : On a practical level, we only accept submissions through our open call, with two exceptions: the winner of the Prix Echange with Fotoleggendo, and sometimes there’s a guest of honor, like Christian Lutz this year. The jury meets in December and selects ten to twelve photographers to exhibit, another twenty or thirty are chosen for projections. […] As for the selection criteria, there are several, but what we’re looking for is an eclecticism in the photographers’ approach and subjects. Something that captures the Zeitgeist. Photography is special that way: it resonates with its own time and ages with it, maintaining that ineffable aura of a given era. […] For example, this year—and this is entirely coincidental—several series address the question of belief, both its presence and its absence. Belief is a central concern of our time, and almost always with the photographic image.
LODLP : Three countries in particular are showcased in this year’s program: Switzerland, Germany and, of course, France. Was this a deliberate choice ?
CM : Not at all. It’s merely a reflection of trends in photography today. It so happens that, in the past few years, the jury has been impressed by what they have seen from Germany and Switzerland. Schools like the Bielefeld University of the Arts, and Ostkreuzschule in Berlin, as well as the ECAL in Lausanne and the ESAA in Vevey, Switzerland, have found ways not only to unleash their students’ creative potential, but also to find ways to promote their work at a time when photographs are of high quality and unprecedented quantity.
LODLP : A new feature this year is your guest of honor, Christian Lutz. Can you tell us about this choice ?
CM : I’ve been interested in Christian Lutz’s work since 2009 when his series OutWest was exhibited at Boutographies. After seeing In Jesus’ Name at the Musée de L’Elysée in Lausanne in 2013, with the radical decision to censor the offending photographs with the text of the complaints, all from the same evangelical church, I was convinced that the work had chosen the right place to question the power of the photograph and its relationship to belief, ethics, politics and its use. We asked Lutz to exhibit the three parts of his Trilogy of Power, Protokoll, Tropical Gift and In Jesus’ Name and he agreed. Hence the Swiss invasion of Montpellier this April.
PROGRAMME EXHIBITIONS :
• André Lützen (Germany) – Zhili Byli
• Birte Kaufmann (Germany) – The Travellers
• Cyril Costilhes (France) – Grand Circle Diego
• Emanuele Brutti (Italy) – Just Another Boxer
• Heiko Tiemann (Germany) – Infliction
• Laurence Rasti (Switzerland) – Il n’y a pas d’homosexuels en Iran
• Mario Brand (Germany) – Storyteller
• Michel Le Belhomme (France) – Les deux labyrinthes
• Olivier Lovey (Switzerland) – Puissance Foudre
• Romain Mader et Nadja Kilchhofer (Switzerland) – Aliona
PROGRAM JURY’S PROJECTION :
• Louis de Belle (Italy) – Failed Diorama
• Nigel Bennet (UK) – Hakuro, an Itoshima Almanac
• Laurent Cipriani (France) – Along the road
• Giovanni Cocco (Italy) – Monia
• Boris Eldagsen (Germany) – how to disappear completely / THE POEMS
• Cathleen Falckenhayn (Germany) – 3ZKB
• Bérangère Fromont (France) – Cosmos
• Julia Fullerton-Batten (UK) – Unadorned
• Françoise Galeron (France) – Le chant de l’ogre
• Florian Bong-Kil Grosse (Germany) – Hanguk
• Corinna Kern (Germany) – George’s Bath
• Stefano Marchionini (Italy) – Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
• Sandra Mehl (France) – PS Je t’écris de la Plage des mouettes
• Melissa Moore (UK) – Land ends abracadabra
• Leslie Moquin (France) – Shanghai cosmetic
• Constance Proux (France) – Akkar
• Alnis Stakle (Lettonie) – Heavy waters
• Dana Stoelzgen (Germany) – Mon deguisement
• Manuel de Teresa (Spain) – La Maison de Madame Manuel
• Jeanne Tullen (Switzerland) – WOMB
• Laetitia Vancon (France) – My home my prison
• Tomáš Werner (Slovakia) – A Handbook For Dog Walkers
• Yana Wernicke (Germany) – Irrlicht
• Raimond Wouda (Netherland) – Scenes, Sceneries and Scenarios
* The jury was composed by Christian Lutz (Photographer), Emeric Glayse (Development Manager for the Carmignac Gestion Photojournalism Award), André Frère (Publisher), Yohanne Lamoulère (Photograph – Collective Transit), Delphine Burtin (Photographer) and Christian Maccotta (Artistic director of Boutographies).
FESTIVAL
Les Boutographies 2015
4 – 26 April, 2015
La Panacée
14 Rue de l’École de Pharmacie
34000 Montpellier
France
Wednesday – Saturday 12pm – 8pmSunday 10am – 6pm
See complete program here
http://www.boutographies.com
