Paris Photo also puts the preservation of images on show
· BehindLines newsroom
Paris Photo is due to open at the Grand Palais in Paris from November 12 to 15. For its 29th edition, the fair announces galleries, publishers and several routes through both the history and current practice of photography. Within that programme, the municipal stand will approach images from another angle: their preservation.
What a print preserves
Paris city authorities (Ville de Paris) say their photographic heritage department will participate for the sixth consecutive year. This time, its theme concerns the damage photographs can suffer, alongside their ability to survive when they are properly preserved.
The announced examples will come from several municipal collections, including the Bibliothèque historique and the Fonds d’art contemporain. They are intended to bring early processes, notably daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, into conversation with contemporary images. The display therefore invites visitors to consider a photograph as a physical object, beyond the scene it depicts.
This question accompanies photography’s bicentenary. It offers a practical thread for a visit: look at an image, then ask what still makes it possible to see that image and pass it on.
Several ways into the programme
The organiser’s programme also includes discussions, book events and signing sessions. A selection from the Centre Pompidou is expected to bring together around a hundred works by nearly thirty artists. The Elles × Paris Photo route, curated by Aldeide Delgado, will highlight women creators and their place in this history.
These remain announced events; they are not an assessment of the forthcoming edition. For anyone planning a visit, the city specifies that admission is paid and recommends booking. Ticketing and practical information can be reached through the fair’s website.