The Triennial is ICP's signature exhibition: a global survey of the most exciting and challenging new work in photography and video. The only recurring U.S. exhibition specializing in international contemporary photography and video, the Third Triennial will mark the closing cycle of ICP's 2009 Year of Fashion, a series of projects that critically examine fashion and its relationship to art and other cultural and social phenomena. Through the lens of fashion—in its broadest conception—the Triennial will look at the proliferation of photo-and video-based work exploring the uses of style, image, and personal presentation.

The theme of fashion encompasses a diverse range of practices and ideas, including explorations of identity and affiliation; the production, distribution, and consumption of images and goods; contemporaneity; age; gender; and global industry. The themes of the Triennial express the exuberance, wit, and astute social observation taking place within contemporary image-making. These artists variously explore fashion—whether in everyday dress, haute couture, street fashion, or uniforms—as a celebration of individuality, personal identity, and self-expression, and as cultural, religious, social, and political statements.