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Much as in previous years, one of the two parts of the Main Program will be a presentation of photography from a selected country – the Special Guest of the festival. In 2009 this will be the Czech Republic – a country where many artists who have found their permanent place as classics of world photography have lived and worked. The history of Czech photography has already seen a wealth of literature and large exhibitions aiming to show the development of the photographic medium in the country. This is why – unlike the presentation of Polish photography in 2008 – this year’s program will focus on selected figures, artists who have already gained international recognition, and on an attempt to diagnose the current Czech photography scene. A phenomenon that will receive more attention this year than it has to date is how photography functions in the sphere of contemporary art. The Special Guest exhibit will thus be made up of three individual exhibitions, two collective exhibitions, one event bordering on exhibition and happening, and a rich educational program: documentary film screenings, meetings with curators and artists, presentations of photography books and much more.

The main subject of the thematic part of the main program of this year’s Photomonth in Krakow will be The Archive. The organizers’ ambition is to deconstruct this notion, and to try to examine the way archives function in culture, social life, history and collective memory. The whole thing has been divided into seven parts – one collective presentation and six individual exhibitions.

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