Arlington Arts Center presented Michael Borek’s exhibition Effective Immediately as a part of its Spring Solos 2012 series. The exhibition was open April 4 – June 10, 2012 and the gallery talk was held on May 19. Arlington Arts Center is located at 3550 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201, phone 703.248.6800. Smaller version of this exhibition presented in the fall 2011 by the Multiple Exposures Gallery was picked by Louis Jacobson from the Washington City Paper for his list of the best 10 photographic exhibitions in the Washington, DC, area in 2011. Many pictures from the Scranton Lace portfolio were also selected for juried shows, including by Elisabeth Sussman, Whitney Museum of American Art; Philip Brookman, Corcoran Gallery of Art; Milena Kalinovska, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; and Amanda Maddox, J.Paul Getty Museum. The exhibited photographs were taken in an abandoned lace factory in Scranton, PA. The title of the show comes from an announcement made in May 2002, by the vice president of Scranton Lace Co. He called all employees together in the middle of their shift to break the news that – effective immediately – the factory was closing. Effectively immediately, the employees lost their jobs and livelihoods, and the gradual decay began.
Maryland State Arts Council has selected Michael Borek to receive a 2012 individual Artist Award in Visual Arts: Photography.
Michael Borek was awarded second prize in the International Awards Competition in the fine art category of FotoWeek DC 2011. FotoWeek 2011 published Borek’s profile on its blog.
Michael Borek was recently interviewed by the Washington City Paper. He talked to Louis Jacobson from the ArtsDesk about his life in general and in photography in particular, including his latest Scranton Lace project. This project was also the subject of an article about his photography written by Josh McAuliffe for the Scranton Times.
Michael Borek was interviewed by the Lauren Henkin during Photolucida 2011. You can listen to this interview at Photo Radio.
Multiple Exposures Gallery published an interview with Michael Borek in its blog. He talks about his creative process and how he edits his work before he submits it to competitions.
Michael Borek was be one of the presenters during the Capitol Pecha Kucha Night. The event was held on November 8, at FotoWeek DC Central (1800 L St., NW), and Borek talked about his photographs from the Scranton Lace factory.
On Saturday, November 5, an opening reception was held for an exhibition of works by Michael Borek, Stephen Carroll, and Victoria Porter at the Glen Echo Photoworks Gallery. The title of Michael Borek’s exhibition is Effective Immediately (Later On), and he was showing photographs from the Scranton Lace project that have not previously been exhibited. The exhibition was held at the Photoworks Gallery @ Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Boulevard, and it was open November 5 – December 5, 2011. This exhibition presented three winners of 2010 Photoworks’ first-ever Photo Slam at DC’s Busboys & Poets.
On Saturday, October 8, 2011, opening reception was held for Michael Borek’s solo exhibition entitled Effective Immediately. The exhibition was held at the Multiple Exposures Gallery at Torpedo Factory Art Center, Studio 312, 105 N. Union Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, phone: 703.683.2205, The exhibition was open October 4 – November 7, 2011. In this solo exhibition, Michael Borek showed over 20 of his new photographs shot in an abandoned lace factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania.