If you’re looking for inspiration in the form of images, then I suggest you head over to the Parc de Bagatelle for Circulation(s): Festival of Young European Photographers, where the works of 40 or more up-and-coming, extremely talented young photographers are on exhibit in the park’s two spaces, the Galerie Coté Seine and the Trianon.
Circulation(s) has a knack for discovering the the best young photographic talents, with an aim to introduce them to the world of professional and contemporary photography. A jury of professionals are tasked with selecting participating artists via the world wide web. A call for online submissions gives every budding European photographer a coveted chance to exhibit their works next to those of professional photographers… definitely not a bad way to jumpstart one’s career!
As with most photography exhibits, Circulation(s) successfully manages to evoke all kinds of emotions as you stare at the series of photographs and lightboxes.
In a fitting collection of sombre and dark images, Carlos Ayesta and Guillaume Bession pay tribute to the second anniversary of the Fukushima disaster. Haunting photos of abandoned shops, darkened streets and ghost towns illustrate the 1,000 square meters of no man’s land around the nuclear power station.
Bulgarian-born and France-based Vladimir Varsilev reflects on man and animality in “Animals”, a series of stunning black-and-white photos questioning our influence and place in this planet.
To satisfy his curiosity on the depots and storage rooms of museums, Klaus Pichler started taking photos of the Museum of Natural History in Vienna through the cellar window. Thankfully, the management of the Museum were good sports and allowed him to take pictures, giving us the delightful “Skeletons in the closet”, a whimsical collection of animals and creatures detached from their surroundings.
Looking at Swiss artist Virginie Rebetez‘s works, they seem to be nothing but folded clothes, until you read that they are actually the clothes worn by people when they died. She was able to access these unclaimed items with the collaboration of a funeral center, giving us a morbid yet fascinating look at death and what we leave behind.
These are just a few examples on exhibit. See more from the participating artists here.
This year’s festival makes me think of the sheer number of deserving photographers and artists out there, working hard, waiting to be discovered, waiting for their big break. Circulation(s) is, without a doubt, an important event in the world of photography that manages to pluck out sheer talent from relative anonymity and inspire us with fresh and guileless works of art.
Circulation(s): Festival of Young European Photographers Parc de Bagatelle, Route de Sèvres, 75016 Galerie Coté Seine and the Trianon Feb 22 – March 31, 2013 Open everyday from 11am – 6:30pm Free EntranceFor information on how to get there, click here.
