Fence 2014 by Jan Fields
The fifth edition of The Fence has returned. Brooklyn’s best public photo project is seeking submissions now through March 7, 2016, and I am honored to be on this year’s jury. Produced by United Photo Industries (UPI), the pioneering Brooklyn-based producer of public photography installations and events, The Fence has expanded to include five major cities across the United States, expecting to draw three million visitors in New York, Atlanta, Houston, Santa Fe, and Boston. Forty photographers will be chosen by the jury to participate, and the Jury’s Choice winner will receive a cash prize of $5,000 to support their work, a Leica T camera package, and a solo exhibition at Photoville 2016. Oo la la! Sam Barzilay of UPI sat down to chat about The Fence, offering his insights into UPI’s dynamic mission to introduce photography to the public on a major scale.
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So excited to see The Fence is now in its 5th edition. Please speak about the inspiration for The Fence. Where did the idea come from and how did it manifest?
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Sam Barzilay: The idea for The Fence was born while walking through Brooklyn Bridge Park back in the winter of 2011. At that time, the park was in its early stages of development with Piers 1 and 6 open to the public while the rest of the areas that we now get to enjoy where still under construction. What connected the two finished sections was a long “greenway” that offered for a safe and pleasant route for pedestrian and biking traffic between DUMBO and Atlantic Avenue—and lots of construction fences all along that same route. The combination of a large and “captive” audience (the greenway acting as a long and scenic corridor) and the presence of so many fence surfaces made us see the huge potential of presenting powerful photographic narratives in a large format public setting, rather than more traditional advertising displays one would find outdoors. Brooklyn Bridge Park was immediately receptive to our idea of bringing photography to the Park, and after a brilliant meeting with Lauren Wendle at PDN Magazine, a new partnership was born, we dove right into it and never looked back!
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It’s now grown into a fivecity phenomenon, with partnerships around the country! I’m truly amazed by the success, Can you speak about why you decided to expand The Fence beyond its original Brooklyn location?
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Since its inception, The Fence has been singularly focused on cultivating new and wider audiences for photography everywhere – a goal that can only be achieved through long term partnerships with forward thinking cultural organizations. Brooklyn Bridge Park has been a staunch supporter of the project since Day 1, and it has proven a fantastic launching pad to propel the project’s geographical reach and expand our audience further every year.
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I love your approach to public art, and incorporating photography into the mix. What are the biggest challenges of producing The Fence?
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The biggest challenges we face in producing The Fence are twofold. Ensuring that we can secure the best possible location for each exhibition combining the right mix of organic foot traffic and accessibility and adapting to the everchanging landscape inherent in working with sites that are by definition under construction and therefore in constant flux (as The Fence primarily relies on appropriating constructionfence surfaces).
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What do you find to be the most satisfying aspect of producing The Fence?
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Perhaps the most satisfying of The Fence has been the reaction of the public when a new Fence exhibit goes up. The Fence has been a labor of love for all of us since its inception 5 years ago, and we are always part of the install team in each city when a new exhibition is unveiled. At every city we’ve travelled, people of all ages and all walks of life go out of their way to tell us about how much they enjoy seeing the work time and time again, and share their thoughts and comments about each year’s exhibit.
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Knowing that we’ve made an impact in people’s daily lives and perhaps helped introduce even one more person to the love of photography what more could we ask for? And of course we also love hearing from the photographers about new job opportunities coming their way, selling prints, and seeing a marked increase in the audiences for their work, as a direct result of being featured on The Fence.
Fence 2015. Courtesy of United Photo