The Sixth Lianzhou International Photo Festival came to an end at the end of December in Lianzhou, a southern city in Guangdong Province in China. Held since 2005, the festival was launched by the local government to promote the city as a cultural destination. For 2010, it sprawled over the three venues in Lianzhou — the Shoe Factory, the Granaries, and the Candy Factory — and embraced photos by more than 100 artists, including Jean Baudrillard, Patrick Zachmann, Liu Heung Shing, Zhu Xianmin, and Zhang Dali, as well as many previously unknown Chinese photographers. The deliberately provocative theme was "Is the World Real?"

ARTINFO China sat down with the festival's director Fei Dawei in Beijing, and talked with him about the experience of organizing his first photography exhibition, Chinese photo blogs, and whether or not he does, indeed, believe that the world is real.

ARTINFO: Many visitors who came to the Lianzhou International Photo Festival were refreshed by what they saw. This was not just because they saw new photographers. More importantly, they were struck by the philosophy behind the exhibition.

Fei Dawei: I was extremely hesitant upon receiving the invitation from Duan Yutin [the exhibition's general curator] to be the chief curator last year. I have no experience with photography, and with the limited time I had before the show I was not sure if I could successfully put together one of the most prestigious photography exhibitions in China. Ms. Duan convinced me that she had invited people from outside the photography world to curate the exhibition before. And since I've been curating contemporary art, she thought that would bring some contemporary perspective to the exhibition.

Another thing that convinced me to accept the invitation was the desire to branch out from the contemporary art world. I felt that I had been in one field for too long, and trying out something completely new could help me broaden my horizon. I was hoping that my "crossover" could bring something new to the photography world. However, trying something new is always a daunting task. I knew that first I needed to break from what I already knew. Then I could venture out on my own path with a critical mind after I had learned how other people did things.

I can't really create a new trend in photography by myself. All I can do is uncover works filled with new energy, even though the authors and works might be new and unknown to the public. These artists don't create works just for exhibition and market, they do it to fulfill their independent spiritual needs. So they are neither afraid of the critics, nor do they care about what's in fashion. This, to me, is where good works originate.

AI: This is your first time curating a photography exhibition. Coming from a contemporary art background, you must have done a lot of research on photography before the exhibition. What's your approach?

FD: From the very beginning, I knew the way I didn't want to approach it. I wouldn't follow a list of the big names in photography. I made up my mind to do a comprehensive investigation of my own. Originally, I focused all my energy on looking at thousands of works from different photographers. I supplemented this strenuous research with readings on photography theory in order to get some kind of theoretical foundation. I read Susan Sontag's "On Photography" and books by Roland Barthes and Jean Baudrillard. And I compared the works by famous photographers with the new ones I discovered, trying to find some kind of connection.

This first period of research certainly helped me a lot, but my thinking changed drastically when I shifted my focus to the blogosphere. The abundance of photo blogs drastically accelerated my research process. Following the links, I found a group of young photographers with a wide range of enlightening works. They usually didn't belong to the "photography world." To a lot of people, they are amateurs. But to me they are the hidden gems.AI: As chief curator, you came up with a thought-provoking theme for this exhibition: "Is the world real?" People interpreted this theme in different ways, for example, "how does art interact with the world?" What does it try to express, and how?

FD: I first read this title in a French science journal. I was quite shocked when I first read it. The idea that the world might not be what we perceive it to be really intrigued me. Photography does not equal reality. Like any other form of art, it creates an imaginary representation of the world. Photography is not an illustrated guidebook to reality. It's almost a stand-alone language system that relates to reality in particular ways. It doesn't serve as a judgment of reality. It's more of a poetic translation.

AI: You refer to these young photographers as bringing "new air" to photography and you promote them, while some other curators are still cautious about unknown photographers. Why is that?

FD: We want new stuff, there's no doubt about that. But in order to do that, we must be willing to give those young people who have not been "polluted" by the system a chance. They breathe new air from an unlimited world, a fresh and lively attitude towards life. They are not limited by a certain style; they are still searching for one. And I'm happy that the works we exhibited possess this quality.