The Fotofestival Lenzburg 2022 will once again bring the world of photography to Lenzburg and Aarau for an entire month and expand its horizons with new exhibition venues, international partnerships and world-famous authors.
The past three years have presented us with enormous challenges and clearly demonstrated how our resources are distributed. Some of us have been deprived of our livelihood, others have been on the verge of losing it, and some have realized how privileged they are. However, we all have one thing in common - we are thankful that the situation has recovered, and we are no longer so limited. We have the opportunity to meet with people again, to be out and explore the world - perhaps more consciously and using our resources more sparingly and considerately.

As already in 2021, the photo festival will explore the theme of resources and develop an artistic approach that seeks to capture moments of world events. The twelve exhibitions and the planned events of the 5th Fotofestival Lenzburg have been chosen in such a way that a constructive dialogue can develop between the exhibitions themselves, but also between image producers and users, i.e. bringing together contemporary positions of Swiss and international authors with their audience on the topic of resources.
For the 2022 edition, the focus is on the relationship between humans and nature, and their interplay in relation to our health, quality of life and sustainability, as well as the major climatic and societal changes we are currently experiencing.
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A fundamental goal of the festival is that the project is not only dedicated to the topic, but also acts in the spirit of a responsible and sustainable way of using resources. In the development of all exhibitions, emphasis is placed on the use of recyclable and environmentally friendly materials. From production to presentation, all of the exhibitions are reusable and created resource friendly. In this edition, works and installation materials already produced will be reused or repurposed. The use of plastic materials is kept to a minimum. Festival bags are currently being made from the flags and lanyards of past editions and other textiles for production trials. Special attention is also paid to the usage of local resources in the development of the events, give precedence to local food and beverage producers and using public and electric transport (thanks to the collaboration with Swiss E- Car and SBB).

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Exhibitions
At the venue Stapferhaus in Lenzburg, we are showing for the first time the work SINOMOCENE (2014 - ongoing) by Zurich-based Italian artist Davide Monteleone. The long- term work explores China's immense efforts to reshape the global movement of goods, services and capital through an infrastructure initiative called Belt and Road, or better known as the New Silk Road, shifting the geopolitical balance towards the East. There is some disconnect between the economic and geopolitical processes at work here and the way they manifest themselves in the world. While large infrastructure projects such as river dams, container ports, and rail networks can certainly be seen from Earth orbit, other changes find little to no visual expression in the landscape, such as the generation, dissemination, and collection of data, knowledge, patents, information, and especially capital, as well as the long- term impacts on the environment, resources and climate. The publication of the same name will be released and presented at the photo festival.

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NEW ARTIFICALITY

An excerpt of the long-term project NEW ARTIFICALITY (2015 - ongoing) by Catherine Leutenegger (Geneva) will be on view at Lenzburg Castle. Since beginning her research work on the emergence of 3D printing, Catherine Leutenegger has been able to observe and document the rapid development of this technology and its wide range of potential applications, which could fundamentally change a number of industries, from construction to medical technology. It is not yet clear whether these innovations in digital technologies will be able to provide sustainable and much-needed solutions to the current challenges facing humanity and our planet.

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Ingar Krauss The Solitaries

The current, not yet completed work “The Solitaries” is dedicated to the so-called “old white men” who live alone and often very isolated in the sparsely populated northeast of Germany, which is mainly characterized by natural and agricultural landscape. It is definitely not the romanticized world of the new “country life”, but the harsh reality of a part of society that has fallen out of time and been pushed out of visibility.
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Henri Blommers

Dutch artist Henri Blommers was invited to be our guest as the first FFL Artist in Residence, in cooperation with Müllerhaus Lenzburg. During three weeks in December 2021, he spent much of his time in the forests and meadows in and around Lenzburg, photographing the local flora, and taking various samples. Of particular interest to him are those intersections in nature where these become managed natural resources and where native plant species and their diversity are often endangered. In addition to his own intensive research, he also sought advice and help from the locals. His analog photographic creative process is physically, photochemically, and conceptually shaped by the observations he makes in the field, as well as from a deep sense of urgency for our environment.

Antonio Pérez THE SEA MOVES, THE SEA MOVES

In “The sea moves, the sea moves” Antonio Pérez confronts us with people who are feeling the direct consequences of climate change, as their homes have fallen victim to coastal erosion caused by rising sea levels. His images show scenes of destruction while also bringing us close to those affected through portraits. They underscore how absolute the conditions are that require resettlement and a fresh start.

Ngadi Smart Wata Na Life

In “Wata Na Life,” Ngadi Smart addresses the global water crisis, examining in particular the connection between climate change and water in her country of origin, Sierra Leone. She layers various realities of the subject in individual images, creating a collage of effect that seems truer than purely documentary depictions. In her work, water truly becomes an element and a resource, not just a subject.

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In cooperation with SONY and the World Photography Organization, the Fotofestival Lenzburg presents a curated selection of 50 images of the best positions of the Sony World Photography Awards on the theme of resources in public spaces.

Under the heading “re:sources”, the FFL for 21/22 is designed as a double edition. This year’s edition will take place from August 27 – October 2, 2022.

https://www.fotofestivallenzburg.ch/en/

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