This March, while the world's coolest bands descend on Austin for South By Southwest, the world's coolest photographers converge 160 miles east, in Houston. Photography usually doesn't come to mind when you think of Texas' biggest city, but every two years, a little festival called the International Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art, or simply, Fotofest, takes over Houston's museums, galleries, studios, corporate spaces, retail spaces, restaurants, and pretty much every other space where a photograph can be displayed. This year the festival runs through April 20, and the focus is on China. Exhibitions like Photography from China 1934-2008, and Ethnography, Photojournalism, and Propaganda, 1934-1975, reveal the ways in which the medium has helped shape the nation over the past several decades, while highlighting the diverse styles that have emerged in its photography and photo-art.

Lucky you, when you book a room at the St. Regis Hotel, Houston, you can get a pair of tickets to the Museum of Fine Arts which plays a big role in this year's event. Works by Japanese photographer Miwa Yanagi, British photographer Bill Brandt, and American photohistorian Beaumont Newhall will all be displayed in three separate exhibitions. Not Chinese, but good photography nevertheless. Plus, the museum is hosting a free symposium on March 12 called The Evolution of Photography in 20th Century China; and a film program entitled New Cinema in China, featuring current movies by Chinese directors including Jia Zhang-ke's Still Life.