Diffusion 2019 - Sound+Vision

Between 2013 and 2021 I was Festival Director for five biennial editions of Diffusion: Wales International Festival of Photography in Cardiff. For each edition, I curated a month long programme of exhibitions, performances, screenings, events and discussions in both physical and virtual spaces and places.

Diffusion 2019’s theme of Sound+Vision explored the relationship between sound - music in particular - and photography and lens-based media. The festival showcased the latest applications of VR, full-dome immersive experiences, expanded photography and other technologies, building on links between Welsh creatives and artists and media producers working internationally in Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East.

From a curatorial perspective, I have always been interested in how sound changes a viewer’s perception and reading of images, and how artists are breaking down the boundaries between traditional analogue processes and new areas of transdisciplinary art and hybrid media. Diffusion 2019: Sound+Vision explored that territory in a playful and celebratory way. It provided a space for artists to collaborate, experiment and create new work. Above all, I wanted audiences to engage all their senses to imagine a future when boundaries between artforms dissolve, and through the prism of new artistic endeavour the world can be experienced differently.