Rapid changes in the environment, industry, technology, wars, migration and climate are accelerating at such unprecedented rates that the human impact on the Earth has pushed us into a new cultural geological epoch or era known as the Anthropocene. With tangible impacts of these changes being recorded in the atmosphere, lands, plants, oceans, humanity and wildlife, we are interested in the effect, solutions and conditions of this state that we are in, on micro and macro levels worldwide.

We will explore HABITAT, which looks broadly at landscape, environment, mobility, migrations, digital worlds, ideas of home and displacement, conflict and regeneration and all the spaces that we live in including work that considers our short or long term impact on the world locally and internationally.

FORMAT International Photography Festival was established in 2004 and is the UK’s leading international contemporary festival of photography and related media. FORMAT organises a year round programme of international commissions, open calls, residencies, conferences and collaborations in the UK and Internationally.

The 2015 festival welcomed over 100,000 visitors from all over the world. The biennale and off year programmes celebrate the wealth of contemporary photographic practice. We love photography and all its expanded fields, our programmes feature everything from major conceptual works, participatory projects, documentary and all that falls between categorisations, from the mobile phone to the archive. We are concerned with what is happening right here, right now in the scene and beyond, whilst sharing and contributing to it. FORMAT is the place to engage with an incredible range of new work together alongside some of the best-known practitioners in the world. FORMAT is focused on developing opportunities for audiences to see, debate, develop, contribute and participate in the best of what photography is and can be, with comprehensive professional practice programmes and a yearly International Photography Portfolio Review.

The biennale edition incorporates over 30 of Derby’s most beautiful buildings and key landmarks including: QUAD, University of Derby, Derby Museum & Art Gallery, Deda, Derwent Valley World Heritage Sites, Market Place and satellite venues in nearby cities.

FORMAT is Directed by Louise Clements, organised by QUAD and the University of Derby. Supported by Arts Council England, Derby City Council and multiple partners from the UK and around the world.

Image: Freya Najade