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open for application
online event
May 15
Jun 28, 2025
Ties That Bind - Exhibition in Porto

The exhibition Ties That Bind, featuring Ihar Hancharuk, Sasha Chaika, Angyvir Padilla, Jan Durina, Dev Dhunsi, Sheung Yiu and Donja Nasseri, will be showcased in Porto starting from May 15.

Focused on the 2024 FUTURES annual theme, Ties That Bind explores and challenges the networks of interdependence linking social, natural, and scientific structures.

The seven FUTURES artists were invited to embrace, challenge or rediscover various forms of attachments and connections within different social structures and relationships: from exploring intimate family bonds with Angyvir Padilla, to revealing an intricate web of relationships that are the result of human misconduct with Donja Nasseri; from interwoven ties where past meets the present in Dev Dhunsi’s work, to entanglement of biological and technological ecologies in Sheung Yiu research; while Jan Durina's work shows how hate-fueled rhetoric results in violent actions towards queer people, Ihar Hancharuk focuses on tensions and public paranoia that through images become palpable; finally, Sasha Chaika explore new ways of kinship that are not dependent on language.⁠

As part of the FUTURES Meet-Up, the FUTURES community is invited to take part to a guided tour of the Ties That Bind exhibition, conducted by the Bienal'25 co-artistic directors, Jayne Dyer and Virgílio Ferreira, on June 7th at 5 PM.

The 2024 Open Call was curated by The Bienal Fotografia do Porto, Fotogalleriet, Fotograf Magazine and Organ Vida Festival.

Ties That Bind exhibition in porto is curated by Ci.CLO Plataforma, Organ Vida and Fotograf Zone.

Exhibition Run 15 May - 28 June 2025

At Casa Comun - Reitoria da Universidade do Porto (Porto, Portugal)

More info here.

Credits image Dev Dhunsi

With the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

open for application
online event
Jun 25
Jun 25, 2025
FUTURES x Magnum Artist Spotlight: Rebecca Topakian

Join us on June 25 for the FUTURES x Magnum Artist Spotlight featuring Rebecca Topakian.

Rebecca Topakian is a French-Armenian artist living between Paris region and  Yerevan. After studying philosophy and geography, she turned to photography and graduated from the ENSP Arles in 2015. She is interested in defining identity through its invisible, mythological, and fictional dimensions.

For this talk, Topakian will present her photobook Dame Gulizar and Other Love Stories.
Her starting point for the project is the unique story of her Armenian family, who lived in Turkey before her grandfather emigrated to France. This story is about the love of her great-grandparents – Garabed and Gulizar.
Topakian explored this part of her identity by choosing fiction and mythology. Bearing the love story of her ancestors in mind while she traveled and lived in Armenia, desire became the thread of this project: it is a desire for earth, ground, identity, but also for the other’s body acting almost as a mirror.

Dame Gulizar and Other Love Stories will be on show at MAC VAL – Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val de Marne from 14 June till 4 January 2026 as part of the Forever Young group show.

Register here.

About FUTURES x Magnum Artist Spotlight:

Every two months, we’ll invite a photographer from the FUTURES platform to join us for an engaging online conversation about their artistic journey. This series offers a unique chance for audiences worldwide to hear directly from the artist, gaining insight into their practice, motivations, and creative processes.

We also hope to inspire the next generation of photographers, providing them with the opportunity to connect with artists who recently began their careers.

© Rebecca Topakian

open for application
online event
Jul 2
Jul 2, 2025
Open Studio with Bobby Shuk Pui

Join us for an exclusive open studio with visual artist Bobby Shuk Pui, our newest resident at the FUTURES Hub.

Bobby Shuk Pui Yu will present her ongoing project Curses, Human-faced Fish, Sadako Yamamura, which explores how folklore and visual culture materialize collective fears and societal anxieties through the transmission of curses.Inspired by two iconic Asian narratives—the Taiwanese legend of the human-faced fish and Sadako Yamamura from Japan’s Ring—her project examines how fear spreads through storytelling and visual media, shaping behaviors around self-preservation. As part of the FUTURES & MPB Residency, Bobby continued researching and developing her forthcoming solo exhibition at Fotografiens Hus (October 2025), investigating how traditional folklore evolves in contemporary contexts.

📅 Event Details
Date: Wednesday, 2nd July 2025

  • Walk-in: 17:00 – 18:00
  • Artist Q&A: 18:30
  • Studio Open Until: 20:00

🔗 RSVP by June 30 to confirm you attendance!

About Bobby Shuk Pui:

Yu Shuk Pui Bobby is a visual artist and filmmaker based between Hong Kong and Oslo. Working across film, text, installation, sculpture, and performance, Bobby's practice centers on themes of identity construction, cultural displacement, and family mythology. Her work often reflects her personal experiences as an "escaper" navigating multiple languages without a fixed mother tongue, creating layered narratives filled with humor, surrealism, and empathy.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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 kit.

Photo Credits: Bobby Shuk Pui

open for application
online event
Jul 10
Jul 10, 2025
FUTURES goes to Arles

Thursday, July 10 | 14:00–19:00

Come spend an afternoon with us at a special session of the FUTURES: Learn with Magnum Photos program. This event, exclusively for FUTURES artists, includes a live lecture led by Magnum, followed by a friendly get-together with drinks and good conversation.

We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

More info will follow

open for application
online event
Oct 3
Oct 5, 2025
Fotograf Zone
FUTURES annual event 2025

Annual event hosted by Fotograf Zone. More details to follow. Curated exclusively for the FUTURES artists selected in 2025.

open for application
online event
Nov 6
Nov 6, 2025
Open Studio with Michał Sita

More info will follow!

open for application
online event
Nov 13
Nov 16, 2025
FUTURES at Paris Photo 2025

More info will follow

open for application
online event
Dec 11
Dec 11, 2025
Open Studio with Ugo Woatzi

More info will follow!

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Past events
things we had a lot of fun at
open for application
online event
Jun 24
Oct 30, 2020
PHotoESPAÑA 2020

In 2020, PHotoESPAÑA will host one of its most unique editions. The exceptional situation around the world caused by the coronavirus health crisis has prompted substantial changes in all areas of our lives, including changes in the way we live and interact, which the Festival is experiencing as well.

Despite having been hatched under exceptional circumstances, the 23rd edition of PHotoESPAÑA, which will last through 31 October this year and encompass almost all of Spain, will focus on important digital projects.

The outdoor exhibitions, which spotlight and pay homage to the role that balconies and windows have played in recent years, are extending to 50 cities all over the country, with a simultaneous opening of the shows in the #PHEdesdemibalcón (#PHEfrommybalcony) call for photos. This initiative invited citizens to use photography as a means of expression and communication in such difficult times. Madrid, Barcelona, Santander, A Coruña, Salamanca, Seville, Córdoba, Las Palmas, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Pamplona will turn into festival venues, and their residents will expand the list of artists participating in this encounter with photography and the visual arts.

The confinement, from the viewpoint of and as a source of inspiration for professional photographers, will be the point of departure for a wholly digital project put together with the assistance of the Enaire Foundation, which will bring together works made in recent months by authors like Bego Antón, Carlos Spottorno, Carma Casula, Cristina de Middel, Eduardo and Rafael Trapiello, among others, on the Festival website. The OFF Festival has also been planned as a digital project this year and further extended to galleries all over Spain, which will showcase the work of one of their artists this summer. Yet obviously, PHotoESPAÑA would never turn its back on the programming in museums and art centres in Madrid, Alcalá de Henares, Alcobendas, Barcelona, Santander and Zaragoza, the Festival’s usual venues.

These shows will feature famous international and Spanish artists, as well as new voices who can use the festival to showcase their works. The programming will include major collective shows—Japanese photography from the 1950s and 1960s; the Magnum photographers’ views of the human body; and a survey of the relationship between art and fashion from the lenses of great artists like Helmut Newton, Moholy-Nagy and Francesca Woodman.

The major individual shows will feature works by Adriana Lestido, Danny Lyon, Maria Magdalena Pons and Lee Friedlander, among others, while Spanish photography will be represented by artists like Ramón Masats, Koldo Chamorro, Piedad Isla, Miguel Trillo, Alicia Martín and Juan Valbuena.

For the full programme, access here.

open for application
online event
Jun 8
Sep 17, 2020
Exhibition 'Do You Accept Cookies' by Dávid Biró

The artist Dávid Biró, nominated for Futures in 2018 by Capa Center, presents his new series 'Do you accept cookies?' at the Trapéz Gallery in Budapest, Hungary. The exhibition is open from June 9th to September 18th.

In his newest series, Biró carefully examines the mechanism of face-recognition systems. In the works, he created face-imitating installations, in order to experiment
on what the human eye recognizes as a face, and what appears to be a face according to the algorithm of mobile cameras as well.

Find out more about his project here.

Dávid Biró - Do You Accept Cookies?

Trapéz Gallery, Budapest

Henszlmann Imre street 3., Budapest, Hungary, 1053

www.trpz.hu , www.birodavid.com

June 9th - September 18th 2020

open for application
online event
May 4
Sep 2, 2020
Our events during the COVID-19 pandemic
Every year, Futures organizes and supports a series of events throughout Europe. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our local activities for the next months are being postponed or adapted to the digital world, following the guidelines by European governments and the WHO.

We will keep you updated about these activities, including online events that are currently being organized by our project. Meanwhile, follow us on social media and here to discover what’s new in contemporary photography.

open for application
online event
Nov 6
Nov 9, 2019
Futures' highlights during Paris Photo

From November 7th to 10th, the 23rd edition of the Paris Photo brings to the Grand Palais a big programme dedicated to professionals, collectors and enthusiasts. Some of our Futures talents will take part of the event in exhibitions, talks, and book launches.

We selected the Futures’ highlights in and alongside Paris Photo 2019:

GRAND PALAIS. Curated by Osei Bosun, the Curiosa Sector this year is dedicated to emerging art. The duo Elsa & Johanna was invited to exhibit in the sector, where they show works from the series A Couple of Them. On November 8th, at 6pm, they will also participate in a talk with the sector’s curator and the artists Leandro Feal, Nydia Blas, and Nathaniel Lewis.

Meanwhile, Máté Bartha’s works will be presented by the TOBE Gallery at the main sector (booth D31).

Inside the book signing programme, on November 7th at 4pm, Francesca Catastini will also sign her new book ‘Petrus’ published by Kehrer (booth SE7).

SATELLITE EVENTS. Outside the Grand Palais, Vincent Levrat will launch his new book from the project ‘Outburst’, published by Ciao Press. The event will be hosted at Los Patos (23 Rue de Nemours, Paris) on November 8th at 7.30pm.

On November 8th, the talent Jean-Vincent Simonet will open his studio (21 Rue Basfroi, Paris) with Andreas Lumineau from 6pm to 10pm. They will present the installation ‘Brace! Brace!’.

At the Galerie Joseph Paris (4-6 Rue de Braque, Paris), Julie Poly is part of the show group LensCulture Discoveries 2019. The exhibition presents works from 52 award-winning photographers from 21 countries. Meanwhile, at Espace Lhomond (21 Rue Lhomond, Paris), the talent Aisling McCoy is presenting together with the artists Shane Lynam. The opening is on November 7th, at 6.30pm.

More information about Paris Photo 2019: www.parisphoto.com.

open for application
online event
Sep 18
Sep 21, 2019
Futures at Unseen Amsterdam 2019

Futures will host a series of events during Unseen Amsterdam 2019. This year, the project will have its own space at the festival, inside the Westergastheater. This space will work as a headquarters, bringing together the 12 members of Futures and the 69 emerging talents with a programme of showcases, talks, lectures and private meetings. The activities are focused both on the festival's visitors and on the project's talents in order to increase the capacity, mobility and visibility of new artists in Europe. Unseen Amsterdam will take place at Westergas from the 19th to the 22nd of September.

SHOWCASE. During the four days of the event, Futures will present artworks from the 69 artists and collectives selected for this year. These emerging talents were chosen by 12 leading photography institutions in Europe: British Journal of Photography (UK), The Calvert Journal (UK), CAMERA (IT), Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center (HU), FOMU (BE), Hyères Festival (FR), Fotofestiwal Lodz (PL), PHotoESPAÑa (SP), PhotoIreland (IE), Photo Romania Festival (RO), Triennial of Photography Hamburg (DE), and the Unseen Foundation (NL). The showcase will take place inside of the Futures’ space at Westergas. A publication about the talents will also be released during the event.

PROFESSIONAL MARKET. The events will be focused on increasing and amplifying the professional opportunities for the artists. On Friday 20th Sept, ‘Futures Conversations’ will take place; private meetings with experts from the field such as international curators, collectors and editors. On Saturday 21st, experts from the Creative Europe programme will join the event in a talk dedicated to grants opportunities for artists and cultural institutions within the EU. On the same day, the lecture ‘How to translate your work to a bigger audience and make it relevant’ will see the dialogue between the editors of The Calvert Journal about the relation between words and images as well as the lecture ‘Challenges in the artists' professional practice’ moderated by PhotoIreland director Ángel Luis González Fernández will be about steps in an artist’s career.

ING UNSEEN TALENT PROGRAMME. In a partnership between ING, Unseen, and Futures, five Futures Talents from 2019 were selected as finalists for the ING Unseen Talent Award. They are: Elena Aya Bundurakis, Ulla Deventer, Irene Fenara, Kevin Osepa, and Karolina Wojtas. Coached by Adam Broomberg, from the artistic duo Broomberg & Chanarin, the artists are producing a new body of work. The result can be seen at the exhibition ‘Nature of Change’, during Unseen Amsterdam. The winners will also be announced in the event.

WOVEN MATTERS. Inside Unseen Amsterdam programme, the Futures talents Elena Subach and Mous Lamrabat will also show some of their work at the exhibition Woven Matters, developed by Unseen Foundation. At the Machinegebouw, the showcase presents an overview of artists combining textiles and photography within their practices. The works explore juxtapositions between the tactility of materials and the two-dimensionality of photographic images.

Throughout the four days of Unseen Amsterdam, the Futures Talents of 2019 will be invited to meet photography professionals, present their portfolios, and participate in talks and lectures.

FUTURES PROGRAMME (WESTERGASTHEATER)

THURSDAY - 19TH OF SEPT. (ONLY FOR GUESTS)
- Evening opening, with presentations of the selected artists of 2019
FRIDAY - 20TH OF SEPT.
- 10.00-17.00 - Futures Conversations: Private meetings between the 2019 Futures talents and 30 among the finest professionals in the photography field
SATURDAY - 21ST OF SEPT.
- 13.00-16.00: Panels
- Creative Europe Mobility Programme, introduced by Silvana Verdiana
- Nomadic H, a project by 2018 Futures artists collective
- Challenges in the artists' professional practice: Salvatore Vitale, Sheng Wen Lo, and Diana Scherer, moderated by Angel Luis Gonzalez, Director of PhotoIreland
- How to translate your work to a bigger audience and make it relevant: Editors of the Calvert Journal, Taco Hidde Bakker (indipendent curatora) and Bertan Selim (representing Prins Claud Fund) in conversation
SUNDAY - 22ND OF SEPT.
- 10.00-11.00: Futures meeting Fuji (only for guests)
- 11.00-12.30: Futures Partner Eurokleis at work (only for guests)
- 12.30: Goodbye moment (only for guests)

More about Unseen Amsterdam: https://amsterdam.unseenplatform.com/event

open for application
online event
Sep 5
Oct 12, 2019
Exhibition 'The Image is Our Voice' in Amsterdam

Five of our Futures Talents of 2019 will present their work at the exhibition ‘The Image is Our Voice’ in Amsterdam. Organized by Unseen Foundation and Melkweg Expo, the show opens on 6th of September (Friday) at Melkweg Expo. The five artists were selected by Unseen this year to join the Futures platform. They are: Eline Benjaminsen, Verena Blok, Pleun Gremmen, Eva Kreuger, and Kevin Osepa.

Five photographers, fives voices, five projects which raise questions about themes that span from cultural identity to socio-economic processes and politics. The selected photographers have one thing in common: they use images to question the world around them and propose challenging perspectives to their audience. Examining subjects that are hidden rather than distinctly visible, they are eager to engage with the photographic medium and stretch its borders.

In order to provide support to the young artists, Unseen Foundation has selected independent curator Iris Sikking to coach and advise them––whatever stage they might be at in the work process. At the end of this program, the resulting work is showcased in a group exhibition in Amsterdam.

THE IMAGE IS OUR VOICE

Melkweg Expo, Marnixstraat 409, Amsterdam
From 7 September to 13 October
Opening: 6 September, 18:00 - 22:00
Free entrance
More info: https://www.melkweg.nl/27485

open for application
online event
Aug 4
Oct 7, 2019
The Polish Futures Talents Launch
After that, I had this idea to go to other defence fairs to show this global aspect of the arms trade, even though I had no idea how to fund all the travel costs. After travelling to South Korea for the next fair, I was lucky enough to win the German VG BildKunst Grant in 2018 and PHMuseum Grant 2019. So now, after 14 fairs on five continents, it feels pretty ordinary for me to walk around observing what’s happening.

The Polish Futures Talents Launch will be one of the main parts of the Night of Photography. it will take place during Fotofestiwal’s Opening Weekend - June 21st to June 24th. The venue of the Night of Photography will be the Piotrkowska Street - the longest street in Poland and one of the longest commercial thoroughfares in Europe. The Night of Photography will consist of 5 large format projections (slideshows) in the public space, presenting emerging European photographers. It will be organized in cooperation with other Futures members, the City of Lodz and the Lodz Events Center.

open for application
online event
Jul 11
Jul 11, 2019
Triennial Futures Talents 2019 Presentation @ House of Photography

The Triennial of Photography Hamburg presents their five Futures Photography Talents of 2019 this Friday, July 12th, during the Sommernacht der Fotografie. The event will take place at the House of Photography/Deichtorhallen Hamburg, at 9pm. The artists will be introduced with a presentation of their work and participate in a talk with the chief-curator of the House of Photography, Ingo Taubhorn.

For the Futures Talents of 2019, the Triennial of Photography Hamburg selected five emerging artists: Lia Darjes, Johanna Maria Fritz, Nina Hansch, Lukas Heibges, and Alexander Kadow.

More information about the event: https://bit.ly/2XIS7pD

PROGRAMME
19.00 Opening Gute Aussichten - junge deutsche Fotografie
20.00 Start Sommernacht der Fotografie
21.00 Presentation Futures Talents

open for application
online event
Jun 26
Jun 26, 2019
31 days of .tiff 2019

Belgium is teeming with talented photographers in Europe. FOMU has used the pages of .tiff magazine to provide exposure for ten promising photographers per year since its inception in 2012. The magazine has since evolved into an international platform also possible thanks to the Futures platform.

During one month this summer, FOMU will show recent work by the following artists selected for .tiff 2019: Elena Aya Bundurakis, Bertrand Cavalier, Jeroen De Wandel, Ulla Deventer, Lionel Jusseret, Léonard Pongo, Maroussia Prignot & Valerio Alvarez, Titus Simoens, Egon Van Herreweghe & Ann Vincent.

PROGRAMME
7.00 PM Guest preview
Food and drinks in museum café Pixel
8.00 PM Official opening reception
Speeches by Elviera Velghe, director of FOMU and Luk Lemmens, president of De Museumstichting.
Followed by a reception with music by We Are Various Soundsystem.

open for application
online event
Jun 19
Jun 19, 2019
5 Dutch Talents

Unseen Foundation exists alongside Unseen’s companies Unseen Amsterdam, Unseen Magazine and Unseen International. Unseen Foundation is an independent not-for-profit organisation that aims to increase the impact of artists, working with photography, on society. Unseen Foundation endeavours to launch initiatives to promote the work of emerging artists, with a specific focus on young talent.                                                      

The foundation is part of the platform since 2019 and it has been called to nominate 5 emerging talents based in the Netherlands.

For the selection process Unseen Foundation worked with six nominators. Each of them brought forward five names of artists that they would like see in Unseen Foundation’s talent selection. In a second step, Unseen together with Iris Sikking selected the final five talents.
                     
Nominators:
- Delphine Bledel, Artist, Researcher & Publisher
- Fleurie Kloostra, Curator Melkweg Expo
- Jenny Smets, Director of Photography Vrij Nederland
- Sara Blokland, Artist and Curator
- Taco Hidde Bakker, Writer
- Bertan Selim, Head of Grants & Collaborations Prince Claus Fund

The final 5 Dutch talents are Eline Benjaminsen,  Eva Kreuger, Kevin Osepa, Pleun Gremmen, Verena Blok.

The talents will be launched and presented to the audience on Thursday Sept 20th in Amsterdam in a public talk between them and the curators Iris Sikking and Amelie Schule, representing Unseen Amsterdam.

Starting at 18.00

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