Last week, the Getxophoto festival opened in the streets of Getxo, which is situated on the coast of the Basque Country and lies very close to the city of Bilbao. Getxophoto is committed to the exploration of formats, materials and non-conventional exhibition spaces. This, together with an interesting artistic programming and the direct involvement of local agents, is one of its main hallmarks. Although the exhibitions are also scheduled in formal show rooms, most of them are interventions in public spaces, because what makes this festival different is, above all, its radical defense of public space as a place for encounter, recreation and reflection.
In this year’s edition, entitled “Transitions”, the festival ventures onto new terrain, looking at new narratives and technologies, in the shape of works executed using virtual reality, interactive installations or audiovisuals. And thus, under the aegis of the new artistic director, Bilbao-born Monica Allende, who this year directed the Format International Photography Festival 2017 in Derby (England). “Globalization has certainly benefited large segments of humanity, but there are signs of growing inequality, and as some groups increasingly monopolize the benefits of globalization, billions are left behind,” she says. “The effects of this dissatisfaction are becoming apparent through the increased polarization of political discourse, the rise of populism, of demands for greater national protectionism, and of anti-immigrant sentiments, which have dominated mainstream policies and debates in the majority of recent elections in the Western World and their outcomes, particularly those of the Brexit vote in the UK and of the US elections. Transitions as a process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another, aims to be the beginning of many conversations within a broader social participatory conversation, as we are all protagonists of the unfolding story from which we can no longer exclude ourselves.”
Today, in a special edition of The Eye of Photography, we are happy to present a selection of works exhibited at Getxophoto.
Getxophoto
August 30 to October 1, 2017
In the streets of Getxo
Spain
