By Tereza Bonaventurová
The longest colourful photogram in the world, climate anxiety set against a sunlit promenade, an archaeologist’s lunch break, a machine for yellow, or a collective exhibition of art collectives. This year’s Photo Fringe offered a series of photographic encounters that marked genuine firsts for me. Coming from the Czech art scene, where critical practice often takes a more formal tone, exploring this edition was a thoroughly refreshing shift in perspective.
Tucked away in what seems to be a former garage shared with an eco-shop on the outskirts of Brighton, Gallery 19a is well worth the uphill walk. Here, Ola Teper in the longest photogram I’ve ever seen masterfully blends photographic materiality with live performance and artistic research, dissolving the boundaries between body, light, memory, and photographic record.
Image: Ola Teper
Situated right on the seafront promenade, the OPEN ECO exhibition presents an experience as profound as it is surreal. Twenty projects exploring the climate crisis literally compete for attention alongside bizarre tourist attractions. The sheer breadth of approaches, from documentary and conceptual to more visual, proves that even without immediate answers, asking How can photography make change to a climate crisis? is a valuable effort in itself.
At The Regency Town House, the Formations exhibition offers a diverse array of approaches, from landscape photography and family archives to slow scanners, all the way to cyanotypes of found still lifes asking: where and how do archaeologists eat lunch? Together, the show explores technical and technological possibilities with humour and perspective, mapping various conceptual attitudes including the rehabilitation of historical processes.
In the Newhaven Open at Marine Workshop, I was delighted by the many local artists bringing an authentic voice to their immediate industrial coastal surroundings. Among them, María de la O Garrido’s Yellow Machine III stands out as a delightfully absurd, subversive device for generating yellow-infused photographs. It is a piece of imaginative machinery one longs to live with every day.
Finally, the Collectives Hub at Phoenix Art Space is one of the highlights of the festival. The concept of showcasing art groups is not only compelling, but it directly inspires collectives to create and form in the first place, proving that such an impact beyond gallery walls is invaluable.
Together, these exhibitions show that even complex, pressing subjects can be addressed with an authentic joy of creation and a sense of lightness. It is a perspective that leaves photography with an endless capacity to surprise us.
Tereza Bonaventurová is a Czech visual artist, photographer, curator, cultural journalist, and stand-up comedian. Currently curating at Fotografic Gallery in Prague with a focus on contemporary photography, her multidisciplinary practice bridges critical commentary on public and urban space with sharp social satire.