Passionate about photography - the dedicated collective behind Circulation(s)
Portrait of Clara Chalou and Marie Guillemin - Photo: Claire Pathé.
Please introduce yourself, what is your role within Circulation(s)?
Clara Chalou and Marie Guillemin are two of ten curators from the Fetart collective, which organizes the Circulation(s) festival. We are specialists in emerging contemporary photography and we explore the new European scene in search of artists with different perspectives and approaches. Each year, we select about thirty of them to introduce at the festival. Our role is both to promote their photography and to help them find the best way to exhibit it, in a collective space, by designing a cohesive concept through which they can interact with the public.
What makes the Circulations festival special in the photography scene?
Circulation(s) is the only French festival dedicated to European photography, and we have been focusing on emerging talent for 12 years now. Our unique vision is to introduce new names that have been shown in France very little or not at all to professionals and to the broader public. We are cultivating an unconventional and contemporary artistic vision, and each year we seek to innovate and question.
Photo: Sona Mnatsakanyan/Circulation(s) - image of woman sitting in front of a graffiti.
Women form a majority of the festival's organization. Was this a conscious choice? If so, why? What role do women play in your organization?
As mentioned earlier, our artistic committee consists of 10 curators, accompanied by a permanent team of three employees and about 30 volunteers, with women forming a significant majority in each group. This happened naturally, it wasn't intentional, but is has certainly proved to be a real strength and has allowed us to create a unique artistic identity. This is reflected in particular in our selection of artists, which has been gender-balanced since the very first edition without having to enforce criteria.
Photography has long been a male-dominated discipline. How do you see things today?
According to the French Ministry of Culture, in 2019, places in higher education comprised 61% women, while they represented just four out of ten people employed in cultural professions and made up only 32% of people exhibited at festivals. Photography is no exception. There are some good initiatives in favor of greater visibility for women photographers and a new generation of female curators, but there is still a long way to go to achieve real equality.
Photo: Sona Mnatsakanyan/Circulation(s) - man sitting on the bathroom floor.
What advice would you give to young photographers who would like to be featured in Circulations?
The only requirement to be featured are to be European or to live in Europe, and to be emerging, or at the beginning of your career and having very little or no exposure in France, regardless of age. We never impose a theme, because the idea is to bear witness to the desires and concerns of the photographers, to feel the heartbeat of our societies. During the selection process, we just follow our artistic vision and promote a diversity of form and content, of varied photographic records that represent contemporary artistic ideals. We like to bring together engaged and intimate projects, realistic and synthetic approaches, and sometimes a nice mix of the two.
Clara Chalou, curator of the exhibition, and a WhiteWall expert will discuss the process of holding an exhibition during the professional weekend that will take place on 04/09/2022. Register to participate. All related information can be found in the Circulation(s) program.