Sarah Pickering Talk @ Aperture Foundation 3/31/10

Photo- Sarah Pickering

See you next Wednesday...do not miss this one!

APERTURE GALLERY PRESENTS:
SUSAN BRIGHT AND SARAH PICKERING IN CONVERSATION

ON OCCASION OF RELEASE OF EXPLOSIONS, FIRES, AND PUBLIC ORDER
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 6:30 P.M.

Join independent writer, lecturer, and curator Susan Bright, and photographer Sarah Pickering in conversation on the occasion of the publication of Pickering's first monograph: Explosions, Fires and Public Order (Aperture, April 2010). A book signing will follow the conversation.

Bright will talk with Pickering about her four series gathered in this book which collectively present a visually arresting glimpse into the secret world of civil defense. Public Order explores the Metropolitan Police Public Order Training Centre, a simulated urban environment near London where officers rehearse responses to imagined scenarios of civic unrest. In Explosions, Pickering documents the use of controlled explosions by the British military to add realistic stress to training exercises. Fire Series and Incident were produced while Pickering was an artist in residence at the UK Fire Training College. She photographed blazes set inside meticulously constructed home interiors as well as charred remnants of fake urban settings after the scenario fires had been put out.

Sarah Pickering (born in Durham City, England, 1972) finished her MA in photography at the Royal College of Art in London in 2005. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Photographers' Gallery Graduate Award and a Jerwood Award. Pickering has exhibited
internationally and in the UK where her work was part of How We Are: Photographing Britain, at Tate Britain. She lives in London.

Susan Bright is well known internationally for her contributions to the photographic world as commentator, exhibition curator, and author. She has taught extensively and convened major conferences and seminars on many aspects of art and photography internationally. Previous posts include Assistant Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, London, Curator at the Association of Photographers, London, and Acting Director for the MA photography course (Historic and Contemporary) at Sotheby’s Institute, London. Although raised in the United Kingdom, Bright was born in Western Australia. While based in London, Bright curated the 2007 exhibition Face of Fashion for The National Portrait Gallery. Later that same year, she was co-curator of the landmark exhibition How We Are: Photographing Britain at Tate Britain. As an author, Bright is best known for Art Photography Now (Aperture). She currently lives in New York

WHEN AND WHERE:

Wednesday, March 31, 6:30 pm

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
(between 10th and 11th Avenue)
New York, NY
(212) 505-5555
www.aperture.org

Subway: C, E to 23rd Street and 8th Avenue or 1 to 28th Street and 7th Avenue

FREE

Media contact: Andrea Smith, Aperture Foundation, asmith@aperture.org, 212-946-7111