More than 200 artists will present works in more than 100 exhibitions across 65 venues and all but one exhibition are free to view.

The ticketed exhibition, Camouflage by Liu Bolin, is at the Art Gallery of Ballarat and features a series of eye-catching 'invisible man' artworks that the Chinese photographer has become famous for around the world.

The 2019 BIFB is the first with the permanent National Centre for Photography in the former Union Bank building which is being used to host four exhibitions throughout the two-month event.

This year's installment of the BIFB will run twice as long as previous biennales in response to demand from photographers and visitors.

"When we commission these really significant artists to exhibit in Ballarat, and none of them have exhibited before in Australia, they want it to run. The more significant the artist the longer they expect to exhibit," said BIFB artistic director Fiona Sweet.

"Leading artists come to Ballarat representing their world in unconventional ways and in unpredictable circumstances," Ms Sweet wrote in the program.

Highlights include Fiona Foley's works Who Are These Strangers and Where Are They Going at the Mining Exchange, Bauhaus Foto at The Lost Ones Gallery, Israeli photographer Adi Nes' Soldiers and Waterworks, a collection of photographs from Central Highlands Water.

The Ballarat International Foto Biennale is also home to two major photographic prizes; the Alane Fineman New Photography Award which is exhibited in the Myer Ballarat Basement, and the $15,000 Martin Kantor Portrait Prize, the winners of which will be announced this weekend.

The BIFB runs from August 24 to October 20. Find the full program here.

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