Holy F-Stop! Contact previews are back!

Toronto's Contact bills itself as the world's largest photography festival. And with over 200 exhibitions throughout the city, as well as courses, lectures and TV programming, it just might be right. Though the fest doesn't officially kick off until this coming Friday, May 1, some shows are already open: Alison Rossiter's photo-geek look at old photo papers opens today at Stephen Bulger, while the Blackwood Gallery's group show Awashawave opened earlier in April. Some of my pencil-in-the-calendar picks are published in today's National Post. Here's an excerpt:

One highlight of the [feature] show is the Toronto premiere of a new work by internationally renowned Vancouver artist Stan Douglas. Massive prints mixing supermodels and the Middle East by iconic New Yorker Martha Rosler are sure to attract attention, too, as will American artist Trevor Paglen's covert photographs of spy satellites and CIA jets.

Out on the streets, there's also a lot to see via Contact's 24/7 public installations program. Mumbai-based art star Shilpa Gupta will put some smart, historically inspired photos on shipping containers at Harbourfront, while Toronto-born, New Yorker-published photog Louie Palu will install photos of Afghanistan graffiti in the bathrooms and back walls of Queen West's grotty Bovine Sex Club.

Image of Stan Douglas' Abbott & Cordova, 2008, which will be on view at the fest, from canadianart.ca