TORONTO, ONTARIO.- CONTACT, North America’s largest photography event, launched in the courtyard at 461 King Street West. With the aim of creating a destination focus, the festival will unveil photography installations throughout the King West neighbourhood by national and international artists.

Preceding the Public Launch CONTACT hosts a sold-out, exclusive fundraising lunch at Brassaii Bistro with guest speaker, artist David Byrne from the Talking Heads. A focus on outdoor installations and exhibitions in the area address the theme of this year’s festival Questioning Truth in Photography: backlit photographs depicting provocative interiors of abandoned buildings by Dutch artists Walter Willems’ installed in the basement-level windows at 461 King St W; a selections of photographs from Morad Bouchakour’s series PARTY! in the Netherlands, examining the realm of social, public and street photography, displayed in the 461 courtyard and various construction hoarding sites downtown; billboards at Richmond and Spadina displaying large-scale images by Canadian photojournalists Lana Slezic, on women from Afghanistan, and Roger LeMoyne on victims lost at war;
hauntingly beautiful images by Robert Polidori documenting the destruction of Chernobyl at Nicholas Metivier Gallery
banners highlighting CONTACT exhibitions will replace traditional advertising on the façade of buildings
an exhibition by senior photographers Geoffrey James and Volker Seding at Crush, whose contrasting projects explore Toronto's natural and architectural heritage.

With the assistance of Hewlett-Packard Canada, CONTACT will launch the Canadian premiere of the exhibition Aftermath: Images from Ground Zero by photographer Joel Meyerowitz in a raw, turn-of-the-century building at the Hewlett-Packard Gallery, 441 King Street West. These images have traveled to more than 60 countries and viewed by over four million people.

Local photographers will be given an opportunity to print images of their work on the spot, using the same HP technology as Joel Meyerowitz used to print his exhibition.

The CONTACT magazine will be distributed with a colour-coded map of exhibitions throughout the city. The magazine, which is more like a catalogue of the 160+ exhibitions, features essays with striking reproductions, exhibition highlights and detailed information on public installations, lectures, film screenings. CONTACT magazine & brochure is available at all festival venues.