Paris Photo Los Angeles 2014
fluoro spoke with Julien Frydman, Paris Photo’s Los Angeles Director about how the event brings people closer to the artist’s vision.
Bringing together over 81 international galleries and booksellers, Paris Photo returns to Los Angeles in 2014 for its second American edition. The fair continues to reflect the importance of photography and film to the area. “Los Angeles is a cultural hub with a strong visual history in both photography and moving image. Hollywood, is a site where you can get lost between fiction and reality and thus the perfect setting to explore the multiple facets of the image,” said Frydman.
An element central to the fair is its emphasis on the books and the essential role they play in the growth of the photography medium. “Photobooks are historically an important part of photography. Key photographers think of photobooks before thinking of the photograph on the wall,” said Frydman. “It is a specific narrative form that has been reshaped over the last ten years from self-published works to collector’s items.” A selection of art book dealers will partake in the fair, alongside the renowned photography galleries.
One of the most celebrated art fairs in the world, Paris Photo recognises that photography places a part in the wider definition of art itself. Frydman highlights that photography is in constant dialogue with other forms of art. It is this knowledge that allows Paris Photo to experiment with how the viewer’s experience of the medium is changed when photography is viewed isolated from other mediums. “Focusing on photography – both moving and still – enables the viewer to embrace the diversity of the image, the fictional world and the real world,” says Frydman.
In 2014 Paris Photo Los Angeles’ program will expand the Sound and Vision events. These events offer visitors a chance to be immersed in conversation and film. Sound and Vision – The Conversations presents a selection of notable curators and contemporary artists for a discussion on the practice of image-making, while Sound and Vision – The Screenings offers visitors exposure to exceptional film and video work since the 1960s.
A new section, titled UNEDITED!, will reveal unseen photographic material, from the photo archives of the Los Angeles Police Department. The images date back from as early as 1925 and reveal an unseen side of the city.
Paris Photo Los Angeles takes place at Paramount Pictures Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles from Friday 25 – Sunday 27 April 2014.
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