Intro 2023 Open Program
In 2023, Ballarat International Foto Biennale celebrates its 10th anniversary running 26 August to 22 October.
Registrations for the 2023 Open Program will open shortly.
The Open Program is an opportunity for emerging and new photographers to present an exhibition at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. Formerly known as the Fringe Program, it has been an integral part of the festival since inception in 2005. 2023 Open Program exhibitors will be featured in the festival program, promoted through our social media channels, and be in the running for a $2,000AUD First Prize and a $500AUD People’s Choice Award.
Come and see “The Real Thing”
Adjust your eyes and open your mind to what is real in a 24/7 contemporary world of shutter speed, live streaming, and digital algorithms.
The Real Thing surveys powerful portraits, surreal landscapes, optical illusion, and social document. It is a journey into perspective, power and play and how we build common stories in a noisy world of media. The 2023 festival program explores the role of the artist in shaping our reality, are they magicians of the lens, documenters, or imaginers of our present, past and future points of view. Is it truth as we see it or as we make it?
The Real Thing is a journey through images from studios to street photography, surreal landscapes to the influencers of social media. It looks at the nature of photography as real or trickery, document or fantasy, and questions how distance and intimacy can influence the way we connect stories to create our view of modern life.
The 2023 Festival will explore these ideas in the formal and informal spaces of Ballarat using gallery spaces, laneways, natural landscapes, city streets, businesses and historical buildings to showcase works.
The Real Thing is a chance to reflect on how we consume images, question what we see and how they stretch or contract our point of view in a diverse and changing world.
The 10th Ballarat International Foto Biennale runs 26 August to 22 October 2023.
