The FotoFocus Center, a new 14,700 square-foot gallery and arts center in Over-the-Rhine with a focus on photography, opens tonight after being in the works for more than half a decade.
“I’ve been saying we needed our own building since 2014… during the pandemic, we finally started talking about it,” said Kevin Moore, artistic director and curator of FotoFocus. “This building will allow us to do literally anything we want. We can program any shows we want. It’s like a blank piece of paper.”
Local architect Jose Garcia partnered with the nonprofit arts organization to design a building that felt modern but still fits in with the Italianate and Greek Revival architecture scattered around the neighborhood.
The result is a gargantuan, angular structure with prominent corbel brick, wood paneling, high ceilings and factory windows; Moore pointed to Findlay Market as a particular point of inspiration during construction. In addition, the “icing on the cake” is the building’s subtle references to photography; the exterior resembles a grayscale photo, gradually shifting from black to white, and the large stairwell and corresponding windows in the main lobby area were specifically crafted to resemble a camera’s viewfinder.
But a gallery is only is as strong as its exhibitions, no matter how interesting the building looks, and Moore is raring to go. FotoFocus was already producing a biennial festival and several smaller shows; now, they’ll have programming in the Center year-round.
“I’m really looking forward to the variety. There have been so many shows and guest curators on my to-do list for a long time,” he said. “We’re looking ahead to exhibitions about the history of photojournalism, or fashion photos, or mixed media. The beautiful space and tall ceilings invite large-scale photography. Each show will surprise visitors and have them say, ‘oh, I hadn’t thought of photography in this way before.'”
Their first exhibition, though, is one giant group exhibition across both floors. Titled “Big Tent,” it features 55 artists from across Cincinnati, the U.S., and the world. The exhibition directly references “In This Place (An American Lyric)” by former poet laureate Amanda Gorman, and each wall corresponds to a stanza of the poem. (Moore recommends scanning a QR code on the wall to listen to the audio guide, which includes the poem, while viewing the exhibit; having viewed the exhibition today, it adds a lot to the experience.)
“‘Big tent’ is a phrase that references a political coalition with very diverse members, and so we wanted the first show to be welcoming. We wanted it to represent a broad range of artists and perspectives,” Moore said. “It centers around the conversation regarding our American democracy, and it is the 250th anniversary of the country, so it is not intended necessarily overtly as an American anniversary show, but it does mark the moment, I think, in an important way, politically.”
While the exhibition isn’t inherently intended to be a political statement, it’s hard not to see photos from all across United States history of shootings, protests, famines, and more without conjuring up thoughts about the state of the country—which Moore is aware of, as “all art is political.”
“These days, it’s hard to avoid a political interpretation for almost anything that’s put out in the world, creatively… And photography, with its relationship to depicting reality, is often speaking very literally about things that are going on in society,” he said. “Art is about presenting perspectives on the world, and is a welcoming and open-ended form of communication that gets people to think about things differently. I just hope that somebody will have some kind of moving experience or insight from being here.”
Moore praised Cincinnati’s art scene while comparing it to that of bigger cities like Los Angeles or New York City.
“Cincinnati is kind of unique. It’s always had a very strong arts culture, with art academies and art students going to Europe in the 19th century, and all of this history,” he said. “It’s a place that’s small enough that the people who work in different institutions can actually know each other and collaborate. In a place like New York, everyone’s just in their own little bubble with the MoMA, or the Whitney, or whatever. It’s one thing I love about Cincinnati. I hope our building will add to that conversation.”
