Media Release - 28th January 2013
Erik Kessels: Album Beauty exhibition in QUAD Gallery 8th March - 26th May 2013
part of FORMAT International Photography Festival 2013
The next exhibition at QUAD in Derby will be part of the FORMAT International Photography
Festival. Album Beauty is the title of an exhibition of found photographs curated by Erik Kessels,
which is an ode to the vanishing era of the photo album. Once commonplace in every home, the
photo-album has been replaced by the digital age where images are now jpegs and live online
and in hard drives. These visual narratives are testament to the once universal appeal to
document and display the mundane. Often a repository for family history, they usually represent a
manufactured family as edited for display. The albums speak of birth, death, beauty, sexuality,
pride, happiness, youth, competition, exploration, complicity and friendship. Album Beauty is
curated by Erik Kessels in collaboration with Foam Amsterdam.
Untitled © Album Beauty
Erik Kessels is a collector of vernacular photography and has spent many Saturdays at outdoor
markets and junk stores collecting ‘anonymous’ photo albums. Kessels has published several
books on vernacular photography and is also an editor of the alternative photography magazine
Useful Photography. Kessels has curated many exhibitions, including the New York Photo
Festival in 2010, and ‘From Here On At’, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles
in 2011. Kessels is co-founder and creative director of KesselsKramer, an independent
international communications agency located in Amsterdam and London.
Erik Kessels: Album Beauty will be on display in QUAD Gallery from Friday 8th March until
Sunday 26th May 2013, as part of FORMAT International Photography Festival.
Media Release - 28th January 2013
FORMAT International Photography Festival will take place in Derby UK between 8th March and
7th April 2013. The biennale festival celebrates the wealth of contemporary practice in
international photography and is now one of the UK’s leading non-profit international
contemporary festivals of photography and related media and the theme for this year’s festival is
‘FACTORY’. FORMAT13 promises to be the biggest and most ambitious yet, it will be not only a
celebration of Derby, the birth place of mass production, but will also explore how the factory
continues to be relevant in the 21st century digital age through a programme of exhibitions,
events, workshops, mass participation and much more.
Founded in 2004, FORMAT International Photography Festival presents the best of emerging
international talent, showcasing it alongside the masters of photography and has established
itself as a world class biennale and must-see event in the photographic calendar. FORMAT is
directed by Louise Clements, organised and hosted by QUAD and the University of Derby. For
more information on FORMAT International Photography Festival, please see the website
http://formatfestival.com
ENDS
Notes to Editors
High Res Images available
QUAD is Derby’s centre for art and film, on the Market Place in Derby city centre. QUAD is a
gallery, cinema, café bar and workshop that anyone can use. QUAD is a partnership between
Derby City Council, Arts Council England, EM Media, European Union, East Midlands
Development Agency, Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership, Derby City Partnership and
Derby Cityscape. See www.derbyquad.co.uk for more information. http://twitter.com/derbyquad
For further information on this event, or any other issue relating to QUAD, please contact
Kathy Frain on 01332 285422 (mobile 07791441941) or email kathyf@derbyquad.co.uk
FORMAT International Photography Festival will take place in Derby UK between 8th March and
7th April 2013. The biennale festival celebrates the wealth of contemporary practice in
international photography and is now one of the UK’s leading non-profit international
contemporary festivals of photography and related media and the theme for this year’s festival is
‘FACTORY’. FORMAT13 promises to be the biggest and most ambitious yet, it will be not only a
celebration of Derby, the birth place of mass production, but will also explore how the factory
continues to be relevant in the 21st century digital age through a programme of exhibitions,
events, workshops, mass participation and much more. For more information on FORMAT
International Photography Festival, please see the website http://formatfestival.com