Photography Festival: Contact 2008!

Registration is now open for Contact 2008, Toronto's Photography Festival, which will celebrate its 12th year for all of May 2008. The theme will Registration will be open until December 21, 2007, with the early registration period (and registration for non-profit organizations) ending on December 3, 2007. Participants may arrange their own exhibitions in the greater Toronto Area, which must take place during the month of May 2008. Exhibitions may be hosted in both traditional venues and other spaces in community centers, restaurants, personal studios, and stores. A venue is required to exhibit: spaces will not be provided. The festival also accepts volunteers in staying true to its ongoing non-profit status.

Contact 2008 is, in fact, North America's largest annual photography event. Over 500 artists will come from all over the world to exhibit in 200 venues. The festival has become a cultural destination in Toronto, attracting a collective audience that has grown to nearly 1,000,000 people. An even greater level of interest and participation is expected in 2008. By allowing anyone to participate with exhibitions, the Contact Festival has increased their turnout numbers dramatically with a simple variation on the tried-and-true photography festival format. Anyone who signs up will make it into the Festival Magazine, submissions for which are due January 14, 2008.

The theme, "Between Memory and History," will be carried throughout the festival's selection of public installations, lectures, films, and events. Exhibitions may be on any subject, taken in any medium, but a connection to the theme is encouraged. Inclusion in the Festival Magazine and other press materials are part and parcel of registration, which is now available at an early rate of $450.50.

You can view a list of past festival exhibitors here.

Click here to register.

Image: Kitka-River 2004, from the series "Museum of Nature," ©Ilkka Halso