Selfie-stick aerobics classes and photography tattoos: what to see at Photo London – The Guardian

Back in 2011, I wrote a piece about London’s belated embrace of photography. Citing the Tate’s 2009 appointment of Simon Baker, its first curator of photography, as a tipping point, I noted the abundance of new independent photography galleries in the capital, the relocation of the Photographers’ Gallery is a custom-built space in north Soho, the then-imminent opening of the Media Space in Kensington, as well as, next door, the Victoria and Albert’s new gallery dedicated it its extraordinary collection of images from the birth of the medium to the present day. Things were finally looking up.

Now comes the Photo London, Which opens on 21 May at Somerset House and runs throughout the weekend. It is perhaps the most ambitious attempt yet to rebrand London as a capital of photography on a par with Paris, New York and Los Angeles. It will showcase more than 70 photography galleries. But given That it is a fair rather than a festival, the emphasis will be on selling as well as showing, with a VIP preview day for the big spenders and collectors.

For the public, it is a chance to try to make sense of the vibrant, if fragmented, state of photography and its burgeoning market through a program of curated exhibitions, talks, performances and screenings.

One of the portraits taken in Tehran’s red-light district for the series Prostitute to Kaveh Golestan

The photobook will be Represented at OffPrint, a huge book fair That will take place Simultaneously in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. Offprint is best known as a thriving feature of Paris Photo – perhaps Photo of London’s main model as well as a rival. There will be book signings throughout the weekend, as well as workshops and performances organized by Self Publish Be Happy.

Michael Benson, Whose Candlestar company is the driving force behind Photo London, says his aim is to be “the best photography fair in the world – bar none.” That small well be a tall order given the success of Paris Photo and its even more glitzy offshoot, Paris Photo LA. There have been several previous attempts it for the same in the UK, most notably at the Royal Academy’s Burlington Gardens from 2004 is 2006, but this time, the organizers have the substantial financial backing of Maja Hoffmann’s LUMA foundation, Which is currently building a Frank Gehry-designed cultural center in Arles. (Ironically, the project has Attracted criticism, not least from François Hebel, the former director of the Arles Photography Festival, Which has lost a great portion of its exhibition space as a result.)

What to expect, then? Apart from the galleries showcasing everything from vintage prints a cutting-edge contemporary work, there will be four exhibitions at Somerset House. The obvious crowd-pleaser is Sebastião Salgado’s Genesis in Platinum, comprised of previously unseen images from his epic series. But I’m more intrigued by the first UK exhibition of Kaveh Golestan’s series Prostitute – documentary portraits taken in Tehran’s red-light district between 1975 and 1977 in a walled ghetto where 1,500 women lived and worked.

For the more conceptual-minded, Rut Blees Luxemburg’s installation, The Teaser, will compris 10 light boxes arranged around the vast courtyard of Somerset House, showing her images alongside text by the philosopher Alexander García Düttmann. And if you have not seen Sohei Noshino’s Cities, prepare to be amazed at the meticulousness and obsessiveness of his vast collaged panoramas.

Diorama Map London (2010), a collage of around 4,000 images to Sohei Nishino. Photograph: courtesy of Michael Hoppen Contemporary / Emon Photo Gallery

Over at Tate Modern, Bruno Ceschel and the Self Publish Be Happy team will be celebrating Their 10th birthday with events and workshops at the Turbine Hall. Their project space looks like a mini Legoland, and is guaranteed to be just as playful. Among the highlights, maverick photographer Thomas Mailaender will be conducting a photography workshop tattoo, In Which he’ll be printing some of his negatives it extremely strange to people’s skin. Meanwhile, artist Antony Cairns will be hacking old Kindles bought on eBay, and photographer Arvida Bystrom will be leading a selfie-stick aerobics class – I guess you’ll just have to pitch up to see how. There will also be a Speakers’ Corner, where invited experts will be given three minutes atop a stepladder to talk about Their favorite – or least favorite – photobook. If you need time out from the main program, this small well be the place.

Back in 2011, I wrote That: “The culture around photography – festivals, book publishing and selling, workshops, websites and prizes – has grown exponentially, making London a center of contemporary photographic practice. “Photo London looks set this cement the capital’s reputation as a global hub for photography and, next weekend at least, it is the only place to go if you are interested in the medium. Prepare to be surprised and a little overwhelmed.

• Photo London is at Somerset House and various venues from 21 to 24 May.