Diffusion 2015’s chosen theme is Looking for America, a cross-disciplinary investigation of the status and meaning of the ‘American Dream’ in relation to experience in Wales, contemporary America and the rest of the world.
Taking place in venues across Cardiff and beyond, the festival sees a month long programme of exhibitions, interventions, screenings, performances, events and celebrations in both physical and virtual spaces and places. The festival will use both traditional and new media to create a strong visual presence across existing venues and found spaces.
Festival highlights include And Now It’s Dark, an exhibition of American night photography featuring three important contemporary American photographers – Jeff Brouws, Todd Hido and Will Steacy. Serge Clément’s Dépaysé offers a psycho-geographical tour of his native Montreal drawing on various bodies of work spanning forty years. The powerful exhibition As It was Give(n) to Me by Kentucky born artist Stacy Kranitz’s invites comparisons between the economic struggles of mining communities in Wales and in central Appalachia. Welsh photographer Jack Latham‘s A Pink Flamingo takes us on a journey along the Oregon Trail – a route that has become part of American history and embedded itself in the dreams of those looking for something better on the horizon of somewhere else.
Clémentine Schneidermann’s I called her Lisa Marie poignantly celebrates Elvis mythologies and obsessions as found in Porthcawl and Memphis. In High School and Right photographer Jona Frank captures the hopes, fears and aspirations of young Americans from different class and cultural backgrounds. The husband and wife artistic team of Hillerbrand+Magsamen incorporate humour, performance, video and everyday objects from their personal family life into a contemporary art conversation about family dynamics, suburban life and American consumer excess.
The festival will also explore links between Wales and the Caribbean. The work arising from artist Julian Germain’s commission for the Hidden Presence project will be premiered at Diffusion 2015.
The Caravan Gallery will present their national touring Pride of Place Project, which includes their mobile exhibition venue, at the festival in order to look for America in Cardiff.
Having built a wide base of partnerships in Wales and internationally, Diffusion is about bringing new international art to Wales whilst showcasing Welsh talent.
For its inaugural festival in 2013, Diffusion focused on the state of photography and lens-based media in a digital age, and its role in documenting people’s lives and experiences and in articulating local, national and international identities.
Diffusion 2013 attracted 56,500 visitors from Wales and beyond and offered a rich programme of exhibitions, events and participatory creative activities in virtual and real spaces.
Between 1 and 31 May 2013 Diffusion presented:
20 exhibitions across 15 venues within the city, from the National Museum Cardiff to Chapter Arts, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to St. David’s Hall. Diffusion also transformed the Tramshed, a recently vacated 19th Century industrial building, bringing it into cultural use for the very first time.
5 satellite exhibitions at 3 venues in Swansea, Caerphilly and Aberystwyth
A one-day symposium at the National Museum attended by 200 speakers and delegates from international galleries, museums and the commercial art world, including a keynote address by world-renowned artist Richard Wentworth.
A two-day Independent Publishing Weekend at Chapter attended by 635 exhibitors and visitors including a photo book fair, symposium, workshops, book launches and events.
Presentation of photographic and lens-based work by 120 artists and publishers from Wales, Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United States, Colombia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Latvia, and the Czech Republic.
An online Diffusion Experience in which artist interviews, slideshows, reviews, videos and other content were uploaded to the festival website throughout the month offering live documentation of events, an immersive experience for viewers around the world and a comprehensive archive of Diffusion 2013.
New participatory artworks in public spaces including Ffotohive, Camper Obscura, Cardiff Pop-Up Portrait Studio and Cardiff Encounters and the Cardiff PhotoMarathon.
A family friendly programme of participatory activities including exhibition tours, artist walks and talks, four Platform debates, iPhoneography, Gif Gathering, Book Binding, Cardiff Chronicles and Embroidered Portraits workshops, and Tea and Cake Tuesdays.