The Annenberg Foundation, one of America’s largest family foundations, is financing a community space dedicated to digital images and print photography. The 10,000-square-foot Annenberg Space for Photography will open in spring 2009 in Los Angeles. In addition to traditional-format work, a state-of-the-art digital presentation system will display digital photographs in large and high-resolution format.
The goal is to celebrate photography as an art form and present imagery focused on the human condition. “Our Foundation will continue its multi-million dollar grant support of the existing arts and civic life. We see the creation of the Annenberg Space for Photography as a service to the community where visitors can see the world through a different lens and leave feeling motivated to make positive change,” said Wallis Annenberg, the foundation’s vice president and trustee.
The space will feature work by photographers of all levels of expertise, including the often unseen photographic collections held by museums, galleries and media organizations. The yet-untitled opening exhibit will feature fine art, architectural, documentary and fashion photography, photojournalism and celebrity portraiture by eight LA-based photographers: John Baldessari, Catherine Opie, Greg Gorman, Douglas Kirkland, Tim Street-Porter, Julius Shulman, Lauren Greenfield and Carolyn Cole. Anne Wilkes Tucker, photography curators from the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, will serve as a special advisor for this inaugural exhibit.