About FORMAT
FORMAT International Photography Festival was established in 2004.
Today it is one of the UK’s leading international contemporary festivals of photography and related media. FORMAT organises a year round programme of international commissions, open calls, residencies, conferences and collaborations in the UK and Internationally. The 2013 festival welcomed over 100,000 visitors from all over the world.
The biennale and off year programmes celebrate the wealth of contemporary photographic practice. We love photography and all its expanded fields. Our programmes feature everything from major conceptual works, participative projects, documentary and all that falls between categorisations, from the mobile phone to the archive. We are concerned with what is happening right here, right now in the scene and beyond, whilst sharing and contributing to it.
FORMAT is the place to engage with an incredible range of new work together alongside some of the best-known practitioners in the world. FORMAT is focused on developing opportunities for audiences to see, debate, develop, contribute and participate in the best of what photography is and can be, with comprehensive professional practice programmes and a yearly International Photography Portfolio Review.
Since its inception each major festival adopts a core theme around which it is curated together with the core structure featuring, but not limited to:
FOCUS: Exhibitions, Commissions, Mass Participation
EXPOSURE: International Open Call
FLASH: Events, Talks, Performance
DEVELOPMENT: Master Classes, Portfolio Reviews, Talks
The biennale edition incorporates over 30 of Derby’s most beautiful buildings and key landmarks including: QUAD, University of Derby, Derby Museum & Art Gallery, Derwent Valley World Heritage Sites, Market Place and satellite venues in nearby cities.
FORMAT is directed by Louise Clements, organised by QUAD and the University of Derby. Supported by Arts Council England, Derby City Council and multiple partners from the UK and international origins.
