Street Art Apart in Vevey

Sorry to be sadistic, but I'm going to share a glimpse of the Images Festival of Arts in Vevey, which ends Sunday, Oct. 5th, so probably too late for you this year. For three weeks the lovely town of Vevey has been an open-air art gallery, most of the art devoted to photography -- whatever that word even means anymore.

One minute you're strolling past interesting little boutiques and cafés by shimmering Lac Léman, the next minute you're staring at a photograph that covers the side of a building.

That's just for starters. This year there were 65 international artists -- not only photographers -- exhibiting in spaces outdoors and indoors around this cozy town. I saw all too little during two visits, but still ...

One of my favorite exhibits was Dutch artist Eric Kessels' "24 Hours in Photos," a pile of 350,000 prints of all the photos he found on Flickr in one day. These objects of fleeting worship were provocatively placed in a beautiful Catholic church, where anyone was invited to pick them up, rearrange them or take them.

I looked and looked for a print I'd like to take and finally found this one.

At various places around the festival you were encouraged to get interactive.

Vevey is also home to an excellent museum of the history of photography, which has the Swiss touch.

OK, so you missed the Images Festival this year. But some of Vevey's artworks are permanent fixtures.

And if you spend a few days in this charming town, you might become a permanent fixture yourself.

Meanwhile, if you want to know the artists of any of the works above, shoot me an email.