Paul Graham
"Sightless"

PHASE 1
Times Square, New York, USA
13 – 19 May 2024

PHASE 2
Images Vevey Visual Arts Biennial, Vevey, CH
7 – 29 September 2024

The Images Vevey Visual Arts Biennial is thinking big as it reveals its 9th edition taking place from 7 to 29 September 2024 with a very fitting monumental, outdoor, custom-made installation created in collaboration with the photographer Paul Graham for Times Square in New York, one of the world’s most famous and vibrant neighbourhoods.

Images Vevey has gained worldwide recognition for its site-specific installation art and, collaborating closely with Switzerland Tourism and Montreux-Riviera Tourism, has reserved some of Times Square’s giant billboards for one week from 13 May 2024.

Showing photographer Paul Graham’s Sightless series in Times Square highlights one of Images Vevey’s distinctive hallmarks: the perfect match between artwork and its venue.

The Sightless series of portraits were taken twenty years ago in Times Square – 42nd Street. It presents people walking through the city with their eyes momentarily closed, seeming lost in thought, long before smartphones monopolised our undivided attention. Images Vevey has seized this opportunity to put these passers-by back in their original setting before showcasing them in Vevey’s public spaces during this September’s Biennial.

This idea is in sync with the subject chosen for the 2024 Images Vevey Visual Arts Biennial, as (dis)connected explores the unprecedented gap digital technologies have created between the past, present, and future. The rapid development of artificial intelligence is affecting everyone and all aspects of society, from ecology to geopolitics, the economy, arts, education, and leisure. Around fifty projects by artists from all over the world create links between nostalgia and inquisitiveness about an unpredictable future. The artists’ indoor and outdoor installations throughout Vevey focus on the sensations of connection and disconnection between tangible reality and digital fantasy.

Paul Graham (UK, 1956) is one of the most influential photographers of his generation. He has played an essential role in challenging the barriers between the worlds of documentary photography and fine art. Recipient of the prestigious Hasselblad Award 2012 for his career, Paul Graham has published 30 monographs and three survey books. He has also presented solo exhibitions at the most renowned international venues, such as the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Biennale Arte in Venice. Paul Graham was senior critic for the MFA in Photography at Yale for 16 years. He currently lives in the US and is represented by Pace Gallery and galleries in London and Berlin. He also chaired the Jury for the Grand Prix Images Vevey 2023/2024.