Special edition of Fotofestiwal calls for a one of a kind Portfolio Review. After the successful virtual debut last year, Fotofestiwal Lodz is coming back to the live formula in 2021. If you would like to participate and introduce your work to our reviewers, submit until the 26th of May.
What is PHOTO-MATCH?
PHOTO MATCH’s model breathes new life into the traditional formula of portfolio reviews through placing a special emphasis on the series of open networking events, public presentations and an equal status granted to the reviewers as well as all artists. The event is powered by Futures.
DAY ONE: PRESENTATIONS + MATCHING 11th of June 11:00AM – 3:30PM CET
It’s a day dedicated for everyone attending to introduce themselves, their work and practice through short presentations. Based on these introductions you will then choose 2 curators you would like to meet with, additionally you will also be chosen by 2 other curators who’d like to see your work. Which means each participant will have 4 meetings the next day.
DAY TWO: MEETINGS 12th of June 11:00AM – 4:00PM CET
The real deal! All participants attend private meetings held accordingly with the timetable generated based on your choices. Every photographer and reviewer attends four meetings at the most, two of which they’ve arranged themselves. PHOTO MATCH will conclude with an open session, an informal gathering of all participants who can finally enjoy some conversation with someone previously unavailable, with no strings attached.
REVIEWERS
The list of reviewers posted below includes magazine editors, book publishers, photography festivals’ directors, museum curators, gallery owners, independent art consultants:
Maciej Bujko, BWA Wrocław
Virgilio Ferreira, Ci.CLO Bienal
Angel Luis Goznalez, PhotoIreland
Grzegorz Kosmala, BLOW UP PRESS
Andrei Liankevich, Minsk Photomonth
Pablo Berástegui Lozano, Salut au Monde!
Olga Łacna, Fort Fotografii
Jeanne Mercier, Independent Curator
Manuela Matos Monteiro + João José Coito Lafuente, Mira Forum Porto
Giuseppe Oliverio, Photographic Museum of Humanity
Marie Papazoglou, Independent Curator
Jevgeni Roppel, Editor at Ostlook
Łukasz Rusznica + Łukasz Adamski, TIFF Festival
Istvan Virágvölgyi, Capa Center
Tomek Gutkowski, Kraków Photomonth
Emmanuelle Halkin + Clair Chalou, Circulacion
Nina Kassianou, Independent Curator
Marina Paulenka, Futures
Chiara Ruberti, Photolux Festival
Katarzyna Sagatowska, Galeria Jednostka
Nuno Salgado, Parallel Platform
Sergio Valenzuela, Independent Curator
The Fotofestiwal Lodz is celebrating its jubilee this year from 10 to 27 June in Lodz, Poland. In this edition, the program includes over 40 exhibitions throughout the city and presentations of 150 artists and their projects. Futures is one of the main partners of the event and supports the Photo-Match portfolio review program (https://www.futures-photography.com/events/photo-match-portfolio-review-2021).
The program of the 20th edition of Fotofestiwal is prepared jointly by Łódź curators, activists, creators, universities and students. Together, we will create a story about the city whose fascinating history combines the creative pursuit of avant-garde artists with the popular working-class culture.
The program will include exhibitions referring to the history of the city, meetings of local galleries and artists, and, most importantly, presentations of the most interesting achievements of artists associated with Łódź, whose accomplishments have become a permanent element of the canon of Polish art. A particularly large block of exhibitions will also be devoted to the contemporary world photography. We will show several international projects and platforms aimed at promoting and presenting the rising stars of contemporary photography. When it comes to numbers, Fotofestiwal 2021 includes over 40 exhibitions around Łódź, two festival centres, and presentations of the works by over 150 visual artists.
The main part of the Fotofestiwal program is being developed under the supervision of Prof. Józef Robakowski and is dedicated to the art scene in Łódź. Exhibitions will be shown in Art_Inkubator at 3 Tymienieckiego Street, as well as in galleries and informal spaces throughout the city. In the second festival centre, OFF Piotrkowska, among others, exhibitions prepared jointly by three universities in Łódź will be shown: the Lodz Film School, the Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Lodz. The exhibition of photographs from the collection of Muzeum Sztuki (Museum of Art) in Łódź, organized jointly by the Festival and the Museum, will be another special event. This unique collection of photographs, gathered over the years by Urszula Czartoryska, will be presented at ms2 at 19 Ogrodowa Street. As every year, there will also be international projects. The Festival program will include, among others, a collective exhibition of the works created by the Open Call finalists, presentations of European photo platforms: Parallel and Futures, and exhibitions by photographers who have been invited to artistic residencies.
The Łódź art scene is based primarily on grassroots, often anarchist and anti-system initiatives. It is the result of collective energy, and it is thanks to such energy that the jubilee edition of Fotofestiwal is being created.
MAIN EXHIBITIONS:
1) Collective exhibitions curated by Prof. Józef Robakowski at Fabryka Sztuki
(over 40 artists, including Małgorzata Potocka, Aleksandra Ska, Karolina Breguła, Karolina Wojtas, Grzegorz Przyborek, Ryszard Waśko, Andrzej Różycki, Piotr Zbierski)
2) The first ever exhibition of the photography collection of the Muzeum Sztuki/Museum of Art in Łódź
(approx. 200 works, including Andy Warhol, Natalia LL, Karol Hiller, Zofia Rydet, Zbigniew Libera Jerzy Lewczyński, Roman Opałka, Stefan and Franciszka Themerson)
3) Exhibition of photographs by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz “Witkacy”
(“Multiple portrait”, Signum Gallery, reference to the exhibition from the Museum of Art in 1979)
4) Stories from the city of Łódź – historical and contemporary exhibitions about Łódź
(documentary exhibitions by Maciej Rawluk, Ula Tarasiewicz, Artur Urbański, as well as coloured photos from the 1920s and 1930s by Wiktor Jekimenka from the Veolia archive)
5) Academic space; exhibitions prepared by three universities in Łódź
(University of Łódź, Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, Film School in Łódź)
6) Exhibitions from the STREFA MIASTO project
(ca. 30 exhibitions in museums, galleries and temporary spaces, including by Bogdan Konopka, Agnieszka Kurant, Sebastian Collet, Iacopo Pasqui, Bartłomiej Talaga)
7) Exhibitions from the international Open Call
Including by Federico Estol (Uruguay), Colin Delfosse (Belgium) Sima Choubdarzadeh (Iran) Rafael Heygster & Helena Manhartsberger (Germany), Robin Hinsch (Germany), Irmina Walczak (Polska)
8) Exhibitions from the European photography platform PARALLEL
(exhibitions presented by 30 young artists from around the world summarizing the annual cycle of one of the largest European projects supporting creators; the Parallel Platform brings together 19 institutions from all over Europe, such as galleries, festivals, and photo magazines)
The Copenhagen Photo Festival recently joined Futures as one of our members. For their festival’s fourth edition, they created a new programme focusing on Nordic artists, the Futures Nordic Talents.
The festival is now showcasing the five artists they selected for Futures this year in an exhibition at Refshaleøen in Copenhagen, from June 3 to 13. The show is an integral part of the festival’s programme and presents the work of Io Sivertsen (Norway), Nanna Navntoft (Denmark), Essi Maaria Orpana (Finland), Lars Dyrendom (Swedem) and Hrafn Jónsson (Krummi) (Iceland).
EXHIBITION PARK
Refshaleøen 173, 1432 Copenhagen
FESTIVAL OPENING HOURS
Opening Day June 3: 17:00-22:00
June 4-6: 10:00-20:00
June 7-9: 12:00-20:00
June 10-13: 10:00-20:00
TICKETS
Festival wristband: 150dkk for adults, 100 dkk for students
and free for kids below 18 years old.
Once again, five of our Futures artists have been nominated for the ING Talent Award. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 2 June. It is our great pleasure to invite you to the 2021 Online ING Talent Award Ceremony. This is the eighth time that the ING Talent Award will be presented. This year the award ceremony takes place in Kunsthal Rotterdam and will be streamed online.
The Online Ceremony starts at 5 pm CET and will take about 20 minutes. The winners will be announced by Steven van Rijswijk, CEO of ING Group.
ING Art Management and Kunsthal Rotterdam have selected five exceptional finalists from a longlist of talented photographers from all over Europe: Etienne Courtois (1969, Belgium), Camilla Ferrari (1992, Italy), Alina Frieske (1994, Germany), Esther Hovers (1991, the Netherlands) and Ire Lenes (1981, Spain).
Under the guidance of the renowned American photographer Alec Soth, each finalist has created a work of art for the ING Collection on this year’s theme of Resilience: a personal story. Their work will be shown at Kunsthal Rotterdam from 27 May to 19 September 2021.
To attend the ceremony, please register online here.
Meanwhile, vote on your favorite artist here.
Once again, some of our Futures artists have been nominated for the ING Talent Award. They have joined an intensive three-month coaching programme and have been creating new works for the ING Collection. Under the guidance of the famous American photographer Alec Soth, they have been working with the theme ‘Resilience, a personal story’, a subject relevant to these challenging times in which an extra dose of resilience is required from us all. The result of this work can be seen in an exhibition at Kunsthal Rotterdam from 27 May until 19 September.
This is the eighth edition of the ING Talent Award. This year’s finalists are Alina Frieske (1994, Germany), Camilla Ferrari (1992, Italy), Esther Hovers (1991, the Netherlands), Etienne Courtois (1969, Belgium), and Ire Lenes (1981, Spain). The winner will be announce on Wednesday 2 June in an Award Ceremony at Kunsthal Rotterdam, but can be also followed online (RSVP here).
WINNERS 2013 - 2019
The works of the winners of the Jury Award of the past years will also be presented in the exhibition at Kunsthal: 2013 - Ola Lanko (1985, Ukraine), 2014 - Anne Geene (1983, the Netherlands), 2015 - Sophie Jung (1982, Luxembourg), 2016 - Thomas Albdorf (1983, Austria), 2017 - Andrea Grützner (1984, Germany), 2018 - Jaakko Kahilaniemi (1989, Finland) en 2019 - Karolina Wojtas (1996, Poland).
ING Talent Award: Resilience, A Personal Story
May 27, 2021 – Sept. 19, 2021
Kunsthal Rotterdam:
Museumpark - Westzeedijk 341
3015 AA Rotterdam
Stay tuned! We will be launching our new publication with an online event on March 18th.
Do our current definitions of photography still hold up, or are we overdue for a questioning of the medium?
Tune in on Thursday, March 18th for the publication launch of RESET: Questioning the Image, the Market, and the Role of Representation by Futures Photography. The event will be premiered at 6PM (GMT) on our social media and BJP's website. The evening will be spent in conversation with Goldsmith's professor of new media Joanna Zylinska, artists and editor of RESET Salvatore Vitale, and Futures artist Ana Zibelnik.
Taking Zylinska's contributing essay 'Does Photography Have a Future (Does Anything Else)?' as our starting point, the discussion will posit this question while touching upon our machine mediated reality of nonhuman photography, the evolving relationship between photography and extinction and what redefining the medium reveals about modern society and the artist's role in it.
This event is graciously hosted by The British Journal of Photography and introduced by Zoe Harrison.
About the publication:
RESET: Questioning the Image, the Market, and the Role of Representation pushes past the dimensions of a yearly round-up or catalogue – to engage in debate on our splintered representations of reality and their revealing architectures of influence.
The exponential rise of nonhuman photography; our ambivalent relationship with memes, emojis and digital communication at large; and how the forces of representation continue to shape our racial condition are just some of the topics explored by a host of cross-disciplinary contributors. Including Mariama Attah, Joanna Zylinska, Geert Lovink, Sandrine Colard, Olav Velthuis, Lewis Bush, Rafal Milach, Ola Lanko, Salvatore Vitale and more.
The structure of RESET – in a play on the world turned upside-down – is developed in two parts that must be flipped to read. One side delves into how photography plays into our collective situation and the implications that can be traced in its social future; housing essays, visual interventions and discussions that took place during Futures Digital Festival 2020. While the reverse proudly features the work of 57 image-based artists and collectives, annually nominated by Futures’ network of institutions across Europe for their exceptional practice and urgent stories they tell.
About the speakers:
Joanna Zylinska is Professor of New Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. The author of numerous books – including AI Art: Machine Visions and Warped Dreams (Open Humanities Press, 2020) and Nonhuman Photography (MIT Press, 2017), she combines her philosophical writings with image-based art practice, experimental publishing projects and curatorial work. She is currently working on a new book provisionally titled Does Photography Have a Future?
Salvatore Vitale (b. 1986, Palermo, Italy) is a Swiss-based visual artist, editor and educator. In his layered artistic practice and research, Vitale’s work focuses on the functioning of modern societies and power structures, visual politics and technological development, whilst making use of different media and multiple levels of visual narratives. His work has been awarded internationally, and has been exhibited widely in museums and photo festivals. Vitale is a lecturer at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU). He is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of YET Magazine and the current guest curator of Futures Photography.
Ana Zibelnik (b. 1995, Ljubljana) is a photographer currently based in the Netherlands. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2018 and recently completed her MA degree in film and photographic theory at Leiden University. Through long term projects she explores the topics of death, immortality as well as the relationship between photography and extinction. She is part of PARALLEL - European Photo Based Platform, Haute Photographie Talents, British Journal of Photography Ones To Watch 2020 and was selected as the GUP New Talent of the year.
Are you in Belgium? Don't miss out the exhibition 'Primordial Earth: Inhabiting the Landscape' by the artist Léonard Pongo, who joined our platform in 2019. You can visit the show until March 21st at BOZAR in Brussels.
By exploring the diversity of landscapes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Léonard Pongo offers an allegorical imagery of the country. Imbued with a sense of magical beauty and mystical power, the landscape seen through his eyes becomes a setting to rebuild the self, and the earth becomes the source of an awareness from which tradition, philosophy and conceptions of the universe emerge. For Léonard Pongo, exploring the environment, as well as sensory experience, are pathways to an emerging vision of the world – it is by becoming one with the landscape that it becomes possible to engage with life.
Drawing inspiration from Congolese traditions and Kasaian cultures, Primordial Earth: Inhabiting the Landscape presents the landscape as a character with its own will and power, like an open book that tells the story of humanity and the planet, with Congo at its centre.
More information: https://www.bozar.be/en/activities/171089-leonard-pongo-primordial-earth
The Studio Visit programme is an online activity organized by Futures and curated by Marina Paulenka (Co-Founder of Organ Vida and former Artistic Director of Unseen). On Fridays, she presents a virtual online tour of our talents' studios, talking about their inspirations, creative process, and ongoing projects. This activity is mainly exclusive to VIPs and guests.
Unlike previous tours, the studio visit on October 23rd and on the 30th will be open to the public from 4PM CET via Zoom and Facebook live-stream:
On October 23, Paulenka visits the artists Shia Conlon, Giovanna Petrocchi, Masha Svyatogor, Jon Gorospe.
On October 30, you're invited to meet Charlotte Schmitz, Karolina Wojtas and Ulla Deventer.
Register online here: https://forms.gle/jPZRdVdMGH5DdWbx9
During The Assembly, our Futures members organize a series of talks with art professionals in topics related to the main theme RESET. The assemblies take place online every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 4pm. They are organized via Zoom and streamed on our social media channels.
Below, you can find more details about them:
ASSEMBLY #1 - Launch of the Exhibition RESET with Salvatore Vitale, Garry Loughlin, Dávid Biró, Ana Zibelnik and Julie Poly
Organized by Futures Photography
Oct. 6 (Tuesday), 4pm
The curator Salvatore Vitale invites the artists for a talk about the online exhibition RESET. In partnership with Fotomat, the show investigates our main theme with projects by seven artists from our platform: Julie Poly, Ela Polkowska, Eva O'Leary, Garry Loughlin, Sanne De Wilde, Dávid Biró, and Ana Zibelnik.
Register online here
ASSEMBLY #2 - On Adaptation and Production (with Lewis Bush and Aisling Murray)
Organized by PhotoIreland Festival
Oct. 8 (Thursday), 4pm
In his article ‘What protective measures can you think of so we don’t go back to the pre-crisis production model?’ (published in Versopolis on 24th April, 2020), Bruno Latour proposes 6 key questions that are useful for individuals, artists, cultural producers, and institutions to ask of themselves. PhotoIreland invites Lewis Bush (artist, educator) and Aisling Murray (Exhibitions Manager, Science Gallery Dublin) to take inspiration from these questions in order to review our shared inventory of our positions as we emerge into a post-pandemic world. What can we learn from the pandemic? What can we dispose of? What can we gain? How can we evolve so our work and our institutions don’t become obsolete? Should we interrupt our current modes of production?
Register online here
ASSEMBLY #3 - Reset Modernity: talk with Sylvain Gouraud
Organized by Hyères Festival
Oct. 10 (Saturday), 4pm
In this talk, Hyères Festival digs into the exhibition and book 'Reset Modernity', by Bruno Latour, to understand the challenges of today. In order to do that, they invited the artist Sylvain Gouraud to talk about his participation in the exhibition and about his work.
Register online here
ASSEMBLY #4 - Talk with Igiaba Scego and Nicola Lo Calzo
Organized by CAMERA
Oct. 13 (Tuesday), 4pm
Starting from their related research and experiences, the writer Igiaba Scego (Rome, 1974) and the artist Nicola Lo Calzo (Turin, 1976) will discuss crucial topics like decolonization, representation and power in the contemporary cultural scenario. Commonly grounded in the fields of post-colonial and critical studies, their researches appear as textual and visual attempts of re-reading the African diaspora, not only in the historical colonial contexts but also from the perspective of its heritage in the Western countries and cultures. Based in Rome, Scego is an Italian writer, journalist, and activist of Somalian origin who published books and international articles related to the above mentioned topics mixed with autobiographical dynamics. Nicola Lo Calzo is an Italian photographer based in Paris. He is developing Cham, a long period visual research about the colonial slavery and its consequences in ordinary life.
Register online here
ASSEMBLY #5 - Talk with Tanya Kapitonova, Rafal Milach and Yulia Krivich
Organized by The Calvert Journal
Oct. 15 (Thursday), 4pm
Responding to the festival's theme of RESET, Liza Premiyak, Managing Editor of The Calvert Journal, will moderate a conversation with the photographers Tanya Kapitonova (Belarus), Rafal Milach (Poland) and Yulia Krivich (Ukraine) — whose past projects have tackled protest imagery and activism in their respective homes. With the rise of so-called “performative activism”, we believe this will be a timely debate that will encourage artists to think beyond what we know protest imagery to be.
Register online here
ASSEMBLY #6 - Survival Artists! How artists are dealing with Coronavirus
Organized by Triennial of Photography Hamburg
Oct. 17 (Saturday), 4pm
What motivates this year's Futures Talents Manuela Braunmüller, Lukas Kreibig, Maximilian Mann, Sina Niemeyer and Arne Piepke at the moment? What is behind their committed photographic concepts? The five photographers take us into their world with their presentations and together we discuss how Corona affects their artistic projects. They take us with them on their photographic journeys, which they will hopefully be able to undertake in real time in the near future. This talk is oderated by Stephanie Bunk (freelance curator for photography, lecturer and author) and Anja Kneller (photo editor and coach for photographers).
Register online here
ASSEMBLY #7 - Resistances in solidarity: Talk with Pía Ogea, Sandra Maunac and Nicolás Combarro
Organized by PhotoEspaña
Oct. 20 (Tuesday), 4pm
A triple perspective focusing on how the different image agents are facing this new situation caused by COVID-19. Pía, Nicolás and Sandra will offer a hopeful dissertation about the need to establish new strategies and new solidarities from a triple dimension: artistic practice, community (museums, curators...) and government support. In this context, we would like to highlight the importance of alliances and particularly the need of more platforms and joint work.
Register online here
ASSEMBLY #8 - RESET your mindset and adapt in the world of photography
Organized by Photo Romania Festival
Oct. 22 (Thursday), 4pm
Join us for a challenging talk with the photojournalist and Photon Festival director, Tania Castro, about the skills and competencies needed by photographers in the current worldwide situation. The talk will be moderated by Sebastian Vaida, who is the artistic director of Photo Romania Festival, and also a photographer and psychologist. The result will be a change in your mindset, so that you can adapt easier to the ever-changing world of photography.
Register online here
ASSEMBLY #9 - Resetting The Cow – Artists reflecting on mankind tailoring nature to its own needs
Organized by Capa Center
Oct. 24 (Saturday), 5pm
Online round table discussion accompanied by a slideshow showcasing the work of three contemporary artists dealing with the topic of intensive animal farming, cattle breeding in particular. The three authors are using cow as a metaphor to people’s desire for domination of natural phenomena which often result in weird situations and unnatural processes within industrial livestock production. Two emerging artists from the younger generation, Hungarian artist Dániel Szalai (Futures talent of the Capa Center) and German photographer Manuela Barunmüller (Futures talent of the Triennial of Photography Hamburg) will be joined by renowned Dutch photographer Hans van der Meer, who also published a book titled Time to Change on this topic. The conversation is mediated by the curator István Virágvölgyi.
Register online here
ASSEMBLY #10 - Resetting photography: Can Photography be a tool of changes? Workshop by Karolina Gembara (Sputnik Photos)
Organized by Fotofestiwal Lodz
Oct. 27 (Tuesday), 4pm
Photography is many things. In my lecture I propose to reset our thinking and consider its very basic quality - its toolness. What does it do? What do I do with it? How can I utilise it? Can I make any change using my camera? Can this change be good? Going over several examples of the so-called activist photography, engaged projects, participatory programmes and her own practise, Karolina Gembara would like to discuss how the medium we use could become an extension of democratic and inclusive processes. She will also try to reflect on the anthropological burdens and privilege traps photographers should pay attention to while working with ‘sensitive’ topics. During the meeting, we will have an opportunity to bounce off some ideas and questions with an invited guest - an expert working with excluded communities.
*This event has a longer duration of around 2 hours
Register online here
ASSEMBLY #11 - Sandrine Colard in conversation with Léonard Pongo
Organized by FOMU
Oct. 29 (Thursday), 4pm
Within Africa and its worldwide diasporas, the photographic medium has a long history of violence and abuse. Images of slavery, lynching, ethnographic “curiosities,” colonialism, apartheid and land exploitations, have contributed to subjugate the pictured subject, but also, to awaken viewers to the represented injustices. 2020 has symbolized the epitome of that power of indignation, with the video of George Floyd’s murder igniting a worldwide outrage demanding racial justice. Yet, the place of beauty in photographs of black lives, their homes and environments, have less readily been perceived and circulated as a legitimate and powerful means of resistance, or has sometimes been suspected of aestheticizing tragedy or suffering. This roundtable invites an artist who make a resolute use of beauty in his practice as an amendment for the underrepresentation in black everydayness, milieu, or history.
Register online here
In The Expos, we present our talents' work in two online exhibitions. The shows will be hosted by Fotomat, available from the 5th to the 31st of October.
RESET
Hosted by and curated by Salvatore Vitale, the expo RESET investigates our main theme with projects by seven artists from our platform: Julie Poly, Ela Polkowska, Eva O'Leary, Garry Loughlin, Sanne De Wilde, Dávid Biró, and Ana Zibelnik.
2020 will likely be remembered as one of the most tumultuous years in modernity. The process it started is still ongoing and may be a catalyst for general changes that were already underway. This takes the connotation of a reset which is leading human beings to re-think the basis of their positions in the world through a process able to place creativity and free-thinking as cornerstones to foster pragmatic processes. Taking these processes as a starting point, we ask ourselves how contemporary artists and thinkers have impacted and reacted to social tensions through their often personal visions, strategies of isolation, and forms of self-organisation, regrouping, and dispersion.
The exhibition RESET features the work of seven artists who, in- and within their differentiated and multi-layered practices, offer plural methods and visions to address some key issues and stories concerning modernity.
You can access the exhibition here.
FUTURES TALENTS 2020
The programme of exhibitions also presents the showcase Futures Talents 2020, which introduces our 59 emerging artists of this year. The online show has been curated by trying to answer the question ‘What are emerging artists in Europe talking about today?’. Identities, territories, spirituality, physicality and memory are some of the topics that have arisen from the talents' works.
You can access the exhibition here.
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