Discover the FUTURES artists nominated in 2024
Every year, FUTURES members nominate a group of artists to join the platform. Coming from different parts of Europe and with a diverse background, these talents will be part of a long-term programme with many opportunities to develop their projects and career.
By bringing together a wealth of resources and curatorial expertise, each talent selected by the members gains access to an unprecedented network of professionals, markets and audiences. Being selected within Futures is a proof of quality of the artists and increases their commercial opportunities.
“In the Alzou Valley once flowed a unique queer community devoted to the river deity. They were fluid beings; the valley and the river breathed with them - a world where queerness, nature, and faith intertwined. But the harmony broke, the waters darkened, and the people of Alzou drifted into exile, leaving only whispers in the river’s song.”
Join us for Ugo Woatzi’s Open Studio, our newest residents at the FUTURES Hub, and celebrate the end of the year together!
Ugo Woatzi will present their project l’eau brille aussi la nuit as part of the FUTURES & MPB Residency.
Ugo Woatzi’s practice emerges as an intimate and poetic gesture, weaving the political with the imaginary. Moving through constellations of mediums, speculative fragments, queer theories, collective and personal memories, their work imagines new possibilities for belonging and transformation—both for our bodies and for the worlds we inhabit.
Event Details:
- 16:00-17:30 – Portfolio sessions
- 17:30 - Open studio starts
- 18:30 – Q&A
- Studio Open Until: 20:00
- Location: FUTURES Photography Hub, Isaac Titsinghkade 6A, B, 1018 CA Amsterdam
👉 Please RSVP by 9 December 2025 to confirm your attendance.
About the portfolio sessions
As part of the Open Studio, Ugo Woatzi, guest teacher at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, will organize four sessions of portfolio discussion, where the participants will have the opportunity to discuss a variety of topics, such as the development of their practice, what it means to take part in a residency program, how to structure a portfolio. Each session is an open conversation on the different aspects of the creative process, without being focused exclusively on the review of the portfolio.
The sessions will take place between 16:00 and 17:30 at the FUTURES Hub and it will be possible to sign up through the form below. There are four spots available, assigned on a first-come, first-served signup basis.
⚡️ Sign up here for the Portfolio Sessions
About Ugo Woatzi
Ugo Woatzi’s practice emerges as an intimate and poetic gesture, weaving the political with the imaginary. Moving through constellations of mediums, speculative fragments, queer theories, collective and personal memories, their work imagines new possibilities for belonging and transformation—both for our bodies and for the worlds we inhabit.
In 2024, Woatzi was a participant at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, followed by a residency at WIELS, Centre for Contemporary Art in Brussels, in 2025. Woatzi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and completed studies at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg, as well as an MA in Visual Arts at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. Since 2023, they have also been a guest teacher at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.
The opening is part of FUTURES X MPB residency, supported by MPB, the largest global platform to buy, sell and trade used photo and video gear.
Supported by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst (AFK).
Photo Credits: Johan Poezevara
FUTURES & Magnum Photos invite you to join us for our next online Artist Spotlight with Vika Eksta.
Eksta’s practice is rooted in the exploration of self-portraits as a method of researching specific themes and creating works that resonate with a wider community.
In this presentation, she will focus on her recent project The Encounter, an attempt to reconstruct the physical and emotional experience of childbirth through photographic self-portraits and video materials captured during the process. She will also address the challenges of exhibiting such intimate work and the ways it has been received by the public.
To provide context for this approach, Eksta will start her talk by reflecting on her earlier self-portrait projects, particularly Dievs Daba Darbs (God Nature Toil). The project examines rural depopulation, using an abandoned house and what it contains as props to tell the wider story. This project was published as a photobook in 2018.
About Vika Eksta:
Vika Eksta (1987) is an artist and educator based in Riga, Latvia.Her work primarily focuses on autobiographical narrative and existential subjects, as well as research of Eastern European life and reflections of historical trauma. Vika works with photography, analogue photo printing, video, performance for the camera and archival research.Her approach embodies the desire of 19th-century Romantic painters to capture what they observe by constructing an entirely new reality - one saturated with emotion, association, and imagery.Since 2014, she has participated in exhibitions in Latvia and abroad, including at the Latvian National Museum of Art, kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Tallin Art Hall, Vilnius National gallery, ALMA gallery, ISSP Gallery, Kaunas Photography Gallery etc. Her work is held in the collections of Latvian National Museum of Art, Latvian Museum of photography, SEB bank, VV foundation and private collections. Vika is the winner of the ADC Young Guns, FK Portfolio and Riga Photography Biennial awards for young Baltic photographers and is part of Futures photography network since 2022. Vika is represented by ALMA gallery.
About FUTURES x Magnum Artist Spotlight:
Every other month, we invite a photographer from the FUTURES platform to join us for an engaging online conversation about their artistic journey. Thanks to the online format, these talks are accessible to audiences around the world, offering a rare opportunity to hear directly from emerging artists about their work, motivations, and creative processes.
This series also aims to inspire the next generation of photographers by connecting them with practitioners who are still in the early stages of their careers—offering valuable insights and inspiration for others navigating similar paths.
Free – Registration required by following this link
© Vika Eksta
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