Photoville brings a little music and street art to Brooklyn

PHOTOVILLE, NYC’S LARGEST ANNUAL PHOTOGRAPHIC EVENT, OPENS 2015 EDITION WITH A NIGHT OF MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHY AND STREET ART CURATED BY JANETTE BECKMAN

Festival Will Take Place September 10-20 in and around 65+ Shipping Containers in Brooklyn Bridge Park and Opening Night Programming Curated by Beckman Includes:

• Down & Dirty, a Projected Group Show Spanning Four Decades of Music Photography
  
• The Mash Up, for Which Cey Adams and Andrea von Bujdoss (aka Queen Andrea) Will  Paint on 12-Foot-Tall Photographs by Beckman of LL Cool J and Chuck D

From September 10 through 20, United Photo Industries (UPI) will present Photoville 2015, a pop-up photography village populated by 65+ shipping containers repurposed into galleries onBrooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5 Uplands. The festival, which in the four years since its founding in 2012 has become NYC’s largest annual photographic event, is a celebration of community—both the community of photographers and the larger community of people who come together to experience photography, eat, drink and dwell at the groundbreaking free public event. For the festival’s opening night, September 10, UPI has given the programmatic reins to the iconic photographer Janette Beckman, who has curated two events showcasing the work of her community of music photographers and street artists. The events will take place in theSmorgasburg Beer Garden at Photoville, culminating the first day that Photoville’s dozens of exhibitions will be open to the public.

Photoville will open at 4pm on September 10. The opening night program begins at 7pm with a slideshow of artists featured on The Fence, UPI’s 1,250 foot-long, outdoor photo installation along the greenway in Brooklyn Bridge Park, which opened in June and remains on view until Photoville ends on September 20. Following The Fence slide show, UPI presents Beckman’s Down & Dirty, a multimedia projection show she has curated, featuring iconic and lesser-known images by some of the most prominent figures in music photography, including Mick Rock, Roberta Bayley, Adrian Boot, Danny Clinch, Bob Gruen, Mel D Cole, Michael Putland and Jonathan Mannion. Following the opening night slideshow, Down & Dirty will remain on view as an exhibition, in its own shipping container, throughout Photoville.

The evening will also include The Mash Up, for which Beckman has invited artists Cey Adamsand Andrea von Bujdoss (aka Queen Andrea) to graffiti larger-than-life prints of her signature portraits of Chuck D and LL Cool J, installed on the side of two double-stacked shipping containers. Members of press are welcome to see Adams and von Bujdoss creating The Mash Up on September 7 & 8.

About the Opening Night Artists

Janette Beckman began her career at the dawn of punk rock working for The Face and Melody Maker. She shot bands from The Clash to Boy George as well as three Police album covers. Her portraits celebrating this music and style are collecting in Made in the UK: The Music of Attitude, 1977-1982 (PowerHouse Books 2005). Moving to New York in 1982, she was drawn to the underground hip-hop scene. Her photographs of pioneers such as Run DMC, Slick Rick, Salt n’ Pepa, Grandmaster Flash, Big Daddy Kane and the 1980s style are collected in The Breaks, Stylin and Profilin, 1982-1990 (PowerHouse Books 2007). Several of them are featured in Down & Dirty.

Janette’s photographs have been in exhibited in galleries around the world and are currently on display at the Museum of the City of New York in theHip Hop Revolution exhibition until the end of September.

Janette lives and works in NYC and is the New York editor for the British style and culture magazine Jocks & Nerds.

Cey Adams is a New York City native who emerged from the downtown graffiti movement to exhibit alongside fellow artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. He appeared in the historic 1982 PBS documentary Style Wars which tracks subway graffiti in New York. As the Creative Director of hip hop mogul Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Recordings, he co-founded the Drawing Board, the label’s in- house visual design firm, where he created visual identities, album covers, logos, and advertising campaigns for Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., Maroon 5
and Jay-Z. He exhibits, lectures and teaches art workshops at institutions including MoMA, Walker Art Center, MoCA Los Angeles, Pratt Institute, Stamford University, Howard University, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, High Museum, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Mount Royal University
and The University of Winnipeg in Canada. He recently co-authored DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop, published by Harper-Collins; and designed Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label, published by Rizzoli. Cey’s work explores the relationship between transformation and discovery. His practice involves dismantling various imagery and paper elements to build multiple layers of color, texture, shadow, and light. Cey draws inspiration from 60’s pop art, sign painting, comic books, and popular culture. His work focuses on themes including pop culture, race and gender relations, cultural and community issues.

Andrea von Bujdoss is a New York City-based graphic designer, illustrator and graffiti artist. A native New Yorker raised in the vibrant Soho neighborhood of Manhattan, Andrea has been deeply inspired by the urban landscape from an early age. As a teenager, she befriended some of the most prolific old school graffiti writers and actively taught herself the complicated artform of graffiti. This early love of letters eventually developed into a comprehensive expertise and versatility in many typographic styles.

Andrea earned her BFA in Graphic Design from Parsons School of Design and began a successful career, working for worldwide brands and design studios who appreciate both the urban creative flavor of her work and her versatile and passionate knowledge of typography, branding and visual communication.

Andrea has spent 15 years perfecting her typography and design skillset. With over 10 years of personal client and agency experience on widely varied brands and campaigns in branding, editorial, advertising, entertainment and fashion, Andrea continues to passionately build her knowledge and expertise.

For more information, visit www.photovillenyc.org.

About Photoville 2015

For these two weeks, UPI founders Sam Barzilay, Laura Roumanos and Dave Shelley and their team transform the 74,000 sf. space along on the East River into an immersive photography village populated by 65+ shipping containers repurposed into galleries. In addition to exhibitions in and on the containers, Photoville offers nighttime projection programs curated by Getty Images, The New York Times Lens Blog, PBS’ POV series andNational Geographic; panel discussions and artist lectures; PhotoShelter professional development seminars; hands-on workshops; tents with vendors, publishers and gear demonstrators; and a beer garden with a range of food vendors by Smorgasburg. Photoville is open to the public—all ages, dogs included—free of charge, making it unlike any other photo festival in the world.

In the few years since its inception in 2012, Photoville has become the largest annual photographic event in New York City, and one of the most attended photographic events nationwide. Last year Photoville drew over 71,000 visitors, industry professionals and general public alike—an unparalleled opportunity for photographers to have their work seen. No other museum, gallery or festival exposes work by such a wide range of artists and photojournalists to so many people in so little time, for free.

Photoville 2015 Hours

Thursday September 10 / 4pm – 10pm
Friday September 11 / 4pm – 10pm
Saturday September 12 / 12pm – 10pm
Sunday September 13 / 12pm – 8pm
Thursday September 17 / 10am – 2pm (Education Day, not open to the public)
Friday September 18 / 4pm – 10pm
Saturday September 19 / 12pm – 10pm
Sunday September 20 / 12pm – 8pm

Photoville 2015 Programming Highlights

This year’s programming includes:

• Over 60 exhibitions, including Eugene Richards’ Red Ball of a Sun Slipping Down, shot on the impoverished Arkansas Delta region; Ann Kenneally’s Upstate Girls, which views the American narrative as told through the experience of girls in North Troy, NY; Radcliffe Roye’sWhen Living is a Protest, on everyday struggles for racial equality; Jeff Sheng’s Fearless, on LGBT student athletes; Daniel Berehulak’s Pulitzer Prize winning Scenes From The Ebola Crisis, comprising photos shot in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea; Debi Cornwall’s Gitmo at Home, Gitmo at Play, Gitmo on Sale on the absurdities of everyday life at the Guantanamo Bay prison complex; and a collection of images from Getty Images’ 20-year history.
• Outdoor installations including five large exhibitions by National Geographic, featuring the work of Robert Clark, Lynn Johnson, Peter Muller, Stephanie Sinclair and selections from the National Geographic Instagram community; Matt Black’s Geography of Poverty, featuring images of some of America’s poorest towns; Devin Allen’s recent work, which offers an intimate look at life in Baltimore during and after the protests that followed the death of Freddie Gray, curated by Olivier Laurent of TIME LightBox.
• Nightly outdoor projection shows, such as Pictures That Provoke, featuring some of Getty Images’ most powerful photos; An Evening with The New York Times Lens Blog, exploring issues critical to the future of photography; An Evening with National Geographic, a showing of photos and videos from the 127-year history of the magazine; and a PBS POV sneak preview of Don’t Tell Anyone (No Le Digas a Nadie), chronicling a 24-year old immigrant activist as she pushes for change in U.S. immigration policy.
• New interactive programs including walking tours led by photography leaders Bill Hunt, Jamie Wellford and Julie Grahame; a Print Swap for photographers to show, share and exchange their work; and a drop-in activity space for kids and families.
• The Fence, a jury-curated installation spanning 1,250 feet of Brooklyn Bridge Park and showcasing the work of more than 40 photographers from around the world.
• Tents that will house vendors, photo book publishers and camera gear demonstrations, as well as information booths for art schools, local entities and foundations.
• EmergiCubes: In an effort to find new ways to feature more photographers and stories, United Photo Industries has invited four respected photo professionals—curator Elizabeth Avedon, curator & editor Stella Kramer, photographer & curator Jamel Shabazz and photographer & educator Jerry Vezzuso—to nominate several photographers to feature their work outside on shipping pallets. Those selected include Alícia Ruis, Sara Hylton, Tiffany Smith, Kathryn Mussallem, May Lin Le Goff, Zun Lee, Nigel Morris, Mark Abramson and Black Box (Chris Gregory, Natalie Keyssar, Jake Naughton, Alejandro Torres Viera).
• Photography panels and lectures including the return of PhotoShelter Luminance for one full day of professional development panels and networking. Photo practitioners, curators, editors and industry leaders will discuss practical topics for the working photographer.
• Workshops covering street photography, capturing motion, kids and family portraits and product photography.
• The Photographer’s Playdate: What Color is Your Aura? a one-day event hosted by theAperture Foundation and conceived as a fun fair/midway event that is both playful and educational.
• A food and beer garden run by Smorgasburg, featuring local, popular Brooklyn food vendors as well as a summer beer garden featuringBrooklyn Brewery.

Exhibitions Presented in (and Outside of) 65+ Shipping Containers Will Include:

• Jeff Sheng‘s Fearless, for which he photographed over 200 LGBT student athletes between 2003 and 2015
• Debi Cornwall’s Gitmo at Home, Gitmo at Play, Gitmo on Sale, which looks at the grim absurdity of daily life at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay with images of residential and leisure spaces of prisoners and military personnel as well as of Guantánamo Bay gift shop souvenirs
• Daniel Berehulak’s Scenes From The Ebola Crisis, which covers his four-month, Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Ebola crisis in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea presented by The New York Times
• 20th Anniversary of Getty Images, a Getty-curated unique selection of creative, news, sports, entertainment and archive imagery illustrating their photographic heritage. The show will include award-winning images shot over the past two decades, along with a selection from the Hulton Archive’s unsurpassed historical collection, which extends from the birth of photography to the present day
• Down & Dirty, curated by music photographer Janette Beckman, celebrating some of the best music photography from the last four decades
• Brenda Ann Kenneally’s Upstate Girls: Unraveling Collar City, an examination of post-industrial America through photographs, film and collected ephemera of family of young people as they come of age on one block in North Troy, NY
• Eugene Richards’Red Ball of a Sun Slipping Down, an examination of life in the impoverished Arkansas Delta forty years ago and today. The exhibition interweaves old black-and-white photographs with recent color photographs and a short story.
• Radcliffe Roye’s When Living Is a Protest, documenting the everyday reality of those living in the struggle for racial equality, with images collected in South Carolina, Memphis and Mississippi as well as places of tumultuous protests, including Ferguson and New York City
• An exhibition from Instagram, whichreturns to Photoville with photographs from the International Instagram Community as well as their collaboration with Getty Images and the Getty Images Instagram Grant. Getty Images will announce and exhibit the work of the inaugural recipients of this new grant at Photoville.
• Misha Friedman’s The Iron Closet, presented by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, documenting how Russian LGBT youth live in a country that vilifies homosexuality
• Addis Foto Festival’s Photography In Ethiopia, which gives emerging photographers in Ethiopia an opportunity to showcase their work. The show features photography from Aida Muluneh, Aron Simeneh, Belete Aklilu, Belete Tekle, Dawit Tibebu, Desta Getu, Girma Berta, Hilina Abebe, Mekbib Tadesse, Netsanet Fekadu and Yafet Daniel.
• Stephanie Sinclair’s Too Young to Wed, an exhibition of photographs documenting the millions of young girls who are forced into marriage with an adult man in countries all over the world
• SALT NYC’s showcase of the award-winning photography portfolios of students showing a raw, unfiltered look of their world

Outdoor installations include:

• Five large exhibitions presented by National Geographic: Robert Clark’s Taxidermy; Lynn Johnson’s Weed, chronicling the billion-dollar cannabis industry; Peter Muller’s Ebola, a collection of images from the remote forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the apex of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone; Stephanie Sinclair’s Living Goddesses, a rare look into the world of kumaris, prepubescent Newari girls who are worshipped as deities in the Kathmandu Valley; and selections from the magazine’s Instagram
• Matt Black’s The Geography of Poverty, an exhibition of images collected during a three-month, thirty-state trip on which Black photographed some of America’s poorest places
• Devin Allen’s recent workoffering an intimate look at life in Baltimore during, and after, the protests that followed the death of Freddie Gray. Olivier Laurent of TIME LightBox curates

Photoville’s Nighttime Series of events in the beer garden, showcase traditional documentary storytelling and author readings as well as eclectic performances, includes:

• Thursday, September 10: Opening Night 
  Photoville 2015 opens with the world premier of Down & Dirty, curated by iconic music photographer Janette Beckman. The show celebrates music photography spanning four decades, with the work of acclaimed photographers such as Roberta Bayley, Adrian Boot, Danny Clinch, Bob Gruen, Mel D Cole, Michael Putland and Jonathan Mannion. This opening night event will also include a multimedia slideshow of work featured on The Fence this year.
• Friday, September 11: Pictures That Provoke: Getty Images Celebrates Photographic Legacy
  Getty Images Co-Founder and Chairman Jonathan Klein and special guests will tell the stories behind some of the world’s most amazing pictures and discuss what makes them so powerful. This session will bring to life the images featured in Getty’s Legacy Collection exhibition at Photoville.
• Saturday, September 12: An Evening with The New York Times Lens Blog
  A night of projections featuring photographers from around the world. Lens, the photography blog of The New York Times, presents some of the finest and most interesting visual reporting. It is a showcase for photographers from around the world and explores issues critical to the future of photography.
• Friday, September 18: PBS’ POV (Point of View)
  In a community where silence is seen as necessary for survival, 24-year-old immigrant activist Angy Rivera joins a generation of dreamers ready to push for change in the only home she’s ever known: the United States.  Join POV, Angy, filmmakers and film subjects for a sneak preview of Don’t Tell Anyone (No Le Digas a Nadie), a selection of shorts and an inside look at PBS’s POV documentary series.
• Saturday, September 19: An Evening with National Geographic
  Celebrate photography and storytelling with National Geographic on September 19th at the Photoville Beer Garden. The evening will begin with photos and videos from the past 127 years—up to the most recent stories from National Geographic and their digital platforms including News, Your Shot, and Proof.  Hear from National Geographic photographers Stephanie Sinclair, Katie Orlinsky, Robert Clark and David Guttenfelder. Director of Photography Sarah Leen serves as Master of Ceremonies.

Photoville’s education initiative will be conducting free workshops and tours to NYC public middle and high school students. Photographers and curators participating in Photoville will be volunteering their time and insights to work with these lucky students.

Special events will include PhotoShelter’s Photographer Peer Review Happy Hour, on Friday, September 11, from 6:30pm to 7:30pm; and Daylight Books Fall 2015 Pre-Launch Signing, on Sunday, September 20, from 5pm to 7pm.

The New York Times Scavenger Hunt will offer a photo hunt hosted by the @nytimes Instagram team, on Saturday, September 12. They will post a series of clues that will lead participants through Photoville and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The New Pavilion Tent will host over 16 panels and workshops featuring the most innovative work and pressing issues in photography today. Highlights include a teaser screening of Fight Love with Hate, by MediaStorm, and a Q&A with the director; an Instafeed Review featuring some of the most popular Instagram photographers working today; and a RISC battlefield medical response workshop for journalists working in dangerous and remote areas.

Credits and Acknowledgements

Photoville 2015 has partnered with several Brooklyn cultural events including Brooklyn Book Festival as an official Book End event on September 20, 2015.

Photoville is produced by United Photo Industries and presented in partnership with Brooklyn Bridge Park, Photo District News (PDN), Two Trees Management, the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York, Smorgasburg, and the East River Ferry, the official transportation sponsor of Photoville.

Photoville was made possible with the additional support of Duggal Visual Solutions, Getty Images, Instagram, Brooklyn Brewery, and the DUMBO Business Improvement District.

Education programming for local schools is produced by United Photo Industries and made possible by NYC SALT, ICP Community Programs, and Red Hook Community Justice Center.

Education and daytime programing are produced by United Photo Industries’ Jasmin Chang, Krystal Grow, and Jen Samuels. It is made possible by United Photo Industries, PhotoShelter, Aperture Foundation, and ICP Community Programs.

Nighttime programming is made possible by United Photo Industries, Getty Images, The New York Times, PBS’s POV (Point of View) and National Geographic.

About United Photo Industries

United Photo Industries brings the photographic community together by presenting photography installations and events in unique locations off-the beaten path where the focus lies in content and is accessible to people from all walks of life.

Sam Barzilay, Dave Shelley and Laura Roumanos launched United Photo Industries in 2011. In their new ground-floor gallery space at 16 Main Street (until recently the site of Galapagos Art Space) in DUMBO, they work with the ambition and energy of an idealist start-up to identify, harness, and conjure unexpected exhibition opportunities, champion new directions in photography and cultivate ties within an ever-expanding, globe-trotting community of photographers.

Over the past four years, United Photo Industries has rapidly solidified its position in the public art landscape by consistently showcasing thought provoking, challenging, and exceptional photography from across the globe.

Proudly devoted to cultivating strategic partnerships, creative collaborations, and community spirit, United Photo Industries has presented dozens of public art installations in partnership with a number of agencies and organizations, including the NYC Department of Transportation, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the NY Department of Parks, NY Waterways and the East River Ferry, the DUMBO BID, and numerous arts festivals both domestic and international.

The marquee event UPI produces each year is Photoville, New York City’s premier free photo destination. A modular venue built from re-purposed shipping containers, Photoville creates physical platform for photographers of all stripes to come together and interact—and for audiences to experience their work. Photoville each year exhibits hundreds of artists, with dozens of exhibitions, talks & workshops, and nighttime events in an outdoor beer garden.

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