The fifth edition of the Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF) 2016 is in full swing and runs until November 16.
The non-profit biennial festival aims to provide a platform for Southeast Asian artists to showcase their works alongside their international counterparts. The festival includes exhibitions, workshops and outreach programmes to promote photography across Singapore.
In October, SIPF officially launched its Open Call Showcase, one of the festival highlights. As an attempt to creating a greater interest in photography, SIPF – as in previous years – makes use of public spaces. This year, some of the Open Call Showcase installations have been placed at six MRT stations along Singapore’s Downtown Line, namely Beauty World, Botanic Gardens, Bugis, Little India, Newton and Rochor stations. As Singaporeans – as well as visitors to the city – use the MRT on a daily basis, they will have the opportunity to experience photography firsthand. Featuring the works of 40 photographers from 18 countries, the SIPF Open Call Showcase also gives an opportunity to lesser known photographers to showcase their works to a vast audience – probably reaching more people than they ever could with an exhibition at a gallery.
“In Singapore, where challenge for space remains, we are looking beyond gallery walls and into public spaces in realising our vision in creating new experiences for people from all walks of life to appreciate photography as an art form,” said Gwen Lee, Artistic Director and co-founder of SIPF.
Another not-to-be-missed event at this year’s festival is “Daido Moriyama: Prints and Books from 1960s – 1980s”. The exhibition, currently showing at independent art space DECK, gives insights into post-war Japan – during a time of social unrest, protest and rapid growth. These intense, yet poetic moments were captured by Daido Moriyama, often referred to as the “father of street photography” and one of Japan’s most renowned contemporary photographers.
The exhibition features wallpaper installations, original prints, photo books and also includes never-before-seen works from the series “Hunter”, taken in 1972.
www.sipf.sg
