Format International Photography Festival (stylised as FORMAT) is a biennial photography festival held in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

, UK that. It was established in 2004 and takes place in March in various venues in Derby including

Quad QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrume ...

University of Derby The University of Derby, formerly known as Derby College, is a public university in the city of Derby, England. It traces its history back to the establishment of the Derby Diocesan Institution for the training of schoolmistresses in 1851. It ...

Derby Museum and Art Gallery Derby Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Derby, England. It was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The col ...

Derwent Valley Mills Derwent Valley Mills is a World Heritage Site along the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England, designated in December 2001. It is administered by the Derwent Valley Mills Partnership. The modern factory, or 'mill', fact ...

, Market Place and in nearby cities. Format comprises "a year-round programme of international commissions, open calls, residencies, conferences and collaborations". Though it exhibits some work by established photographers, it is predominantly a platform for emerging photography. In 2010 ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' called it "the UK's leading photography festival". Format24 will take place 16 March – 30 July 2024.

Organisation

Format was established in 2004 by Louise Clements and Mike Brown, and built on the legacy of the past Derby Photography Festivals. It is organised by QUAD in partnership with the University of Derby. It was Directed by Co-Founder Louise Clements also known as Louise Fedotov-Clements from 2004–2022; in 2017 it was directed by Monica Allende.

Episodes

2006 – Format06

The theme was "Transform" and it took place in September/October. Included work by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin.

2009 – Format09

The theme was "Photocinema". Included work by Aaron Schuman and

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...

2011 – Format11

The theme was "Right Here, Right Now: Exposures from the Public Realm"—

street photography Street photography is photography conducted for art or inquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within Public space, public places. It usually has the aim of capturing images at a decisive or poignant moment by caref ...

. Included work by Giacomo Brunelli,

Raymond Depardon Raymond Depardon (; born 6 July 1942) is a French photographer, photojournalist and documentary filmmaker. Early life Depardon was born in Villefranche-sur-Saône, France. Photographer Depardon is a mainly self-taught photographer, as he began ...

Bruce Gilden Bruce Gilden (born 1946) is an American street photographer. He is best known for his candid close-up photographs of people on the streets of New York City, using a flashgun. He has had various books of his work published, has received the Europea ...

Joel Meyerowitz Joel Meyerowitz (born March 6, 1938) is an American street, portrait and landscape photographer. He began photographing in color in 1962 and was an early advocate of the use of color during a time when there was significant resistance to the ide ...

Chris Steele-Perkins Christopher Horace Steele-Perkins (born 28 July 1947) is a British photographer and member of Magnum Photos, best known for his depictions of Africa, Afghanistan, England, Northern Ireland, and Japan. Life and career Steele-Perkins was born in R ...

, Raghu Rai, Alex Webb, Zhang Xiao, and 60 works by street photography collective In-Public including Nick Turpin. Speakers at the opening weekend included Bruce Gilden, Nate Larson, John Maloof on

Vivian Maier Vivian Dorothy Maier (February 1, 1926 – April 21, 2009) was an American Street photography, street photographer whose work was discovered and recognized after her death. She took more than 150,000 photographs during her lifetime, primarily of ...

, Chris Steele-Perkins, Mark Sealy, Amy Stein, Nick Turpin, Michael Wolf and Joel Meyerowitz.

2013 – Format13

The theme and subtitle was "Factory: Mass Production". The festival had two categories: "Focus", which was curated, and "Exposure", "comprising work selected from an open submission programme." Included work by Ken Grant, Erik Kessels, and Archive of Modern Conflict.

2014 – Format14

Included work by Zhang Xiao.

2015 – Format15

The theme was "evidence" and it was directed by Louise Clements. Included work by

Larry Sultan Larry Sultan (July 13, 1946 – December 13, 2009) was an American photographer from the San Fernando Valley in California. He taught at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1978 to 1988 and at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco 1 ...

and Mike Mandel (''Evidence'').

2016 – Format16

An off-year episode. The theme was called "reGeneration3" and it was curated by the Musée de l'Élysée (Lausanne, Switzerland). Included "work by some 50 students of 25 different nationalities and 40 art institutions".

2017 – Format17

The theme was "Habitat"—"landscape, environment, migration, digital worlds, ideas of home and displacement, conflict and regeneration". The headline exhibition explored the

Anthropocene ''Anthropocene'' is a term that has been used to refer to the period of time during which human impact on the environment, humanity has become a planetary force of change. It appears in scientific and social discourse, especially with respect to ...

. Included work by

David Moore David Moore or Dave Moore may refer to: Politics * David E. Moore (1798-1875), American politician in Virginia * David Moore (Australian politician) (1824–1898), politician in Sandridge, Victoria, Australia * David Moore (Manx politician), ...

(his play ''The Lisa and John Slideshow''), Lisa Barnard, Sohrab Hura, Ursula Biemann, John Maclean,

Tom Hunter Sir Thomas Blane Hunter (born 6 May 1961) is a Scottish businessman and philanthropist. Sports Division Hunter set up his first business after graduating from the University of Strathclyde as he was, in his own words, "unemployable". With a ...

and from the W. W. Winter studio in Derby. The Format Conference included a talk by

Martin Parr Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...

2018 – Format18

Included work by

Mark Neville Mark Neville (born 1966) is a British social documentary photographer. Life and work Neville studied Fine Arts at Reading University, Berkshire (B.A.), Goldsmiths' College in London (M.A.) and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, Netherlands, altho ...

(''Displaced Ukrainians'' and ''Battle Against Stigma'').

References

External links

*{{Official website, www.formatfestival.com Art biennials Art festivals in the United Kingdom British biennial events Photography festivals