The Scotiabank CONTACT photography festival is the world’s largest annual photography festival, boasting exhibitions by more than 1,000 talented local, national and international artists at more than 200 venues throughout Toronto for the entire month of May. And, since May is just around the corner, we thought we’d share our excitement by presenting to you some events happening this weekend — just a taste of what this amazing festival will have to offer.
This Friday, April 27, sees the Festival’s launch at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art from 7pm – 10pm. The launch will give you a peak at two of CONTACT’s primary exhibits will let you feast your eyes on photography from the likes of Philippe Chancel, Cheryl Dunn, Barry Frydlender, Baudouin Mouanda, Jon Rafman, Bill Sullivan, Michael Wolf, Harry Callahan, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Gilden, Leon Levinstein, Helen Levitt, Lisette Model and Weegee all under the same roof.
And, if you can’t make it out to the launch, these two amazing exhibits will run throughout the month of May:
Exhibit: Street View
Dates: April 28 – June 3
Location: National Gallery of Canada at the MOCCA (952 Queen St W., Toronto)
Exhibit Hours: Tuesday through Sunday | 11am – 6pm
Exhibit: Public: Collective Identity | Occupied Spaces
Dates: April 28 – June 3
Location: National Gallery of Canada at the MOCCA (952 Queen St W., Toronto)
Exhibit Hours: Tuesday through Sunday | 11am – 6pm
As if that weren’t enough – you’ll also be able to see the first appearance of Max Dean’s Foto Bug. His specially-configured Volkswagen Beetle will appear at various locations throughout the city over the course of the month-long festival to showcase photo albums and pass them on to willing new owners.
Max’s Project, Album, will be running throughout CONTACT in partnership with the AGO. Find out where (and when) he’ll be and check it out for yourself!
Other openings on launch night include:
If you happen to find yourself with a day to yourself tomorrow (Friday, April 27), there are plenty of CONTACT events to choose from. And with over 1,000 exhibits over the month of May, you’d think that scheduling your time might prove to be a bit stressful. Luckily there’s an app for that! But if you don’t have an iPhone or Blackberry (or you’d just prefer a hard copy of the schedule!) drop by Vistek’s Toronto or Mississauga locations and grab your free copy of the CONTACT guidebook. They disappear fast, though, so get your copy while you still can!
Oh, and while you’re there, you can check out our two in-store exhibits starting May 1 and running through to the end of the month in Toronto and Mississauga.