What impresses most about Brighton Photo Fringe is the speed with which it has grown from a local festival into a major event that welcomes more than 250 artists. Since its beginning, the festival has counted on the interaction of the works on display. The innovative program pushes the boundaries of contemporary curation, engaging the participants and the visitors in a new dialogue. It is a challenge taken up by the 112 exhibitions, accompanied by various conferences and events coordinated by Claire Lloyd, the festival director, with the help of Harry Hardie and Afshin Dehkordi. Hardie, an independent agitator on the London photography scene, is the creator of the platform Here, a space for initiatives and discussions about visual culture. Other troublemakers at the Fringe are Clare Strand and Gordon MacDonald, who are reforming after ten years of pursuing solo projects. The results question the limits of the medium by studying where it overlaps with other disciplines. The entire program is packed with innovative approaches, confirming London’s place – and its fringe – as the capital of a certain kind of photographic revival.
Laurence Cornet
Brighton Photo Fringe
October 6 – November 18, 2012
