The annual Toronto photography festival, CONTACT, is starting up again this week with many openings this evening, Thursday April 29th, 2010.  The festival runs from May 1- May 31st.  Over 1000 artists are exhibiting work throughout 200 venues in Toronto.  A walk along Queen St W will showcase at least half of the photography exhibits.  Definitely worth checking out!

The theme this year is “Pervasive Influence : Exploring the social and political consequences of the medium of photography, in a world devoted to the image”.

“As technology evolves we witness the transformation of photography alongside the shifting social, political and cultural events of our times. In this era of instant information the image is stimulating unprecedented change in the way we communicate.

In 1964 Marshall McLuhan wrote of the photograph as “the brothel without walls”. He described photographs as “dreams that money can buy” which could be “hugged and thumbed more easily than public prostitutes.” If we consider his metaphor within today’s global culture rife with image saturation, is the illusion images create now preferable to reality? Has the authority of the photograph been enhanced over time? Does it command our choices and grow stronger as the technology evolves? Or is photography losing its power to communicate ideas? Is its ability to convey meaning now diluted by the widespread dissemination of images?”  Courtesy of the CONTACT website.

For more information and dates for lectures and openings, click on the CONTACT website.