E·CO/26 - About Time

Each selected project will receive a production grant of €5,000. Plus, selected groups will participate in a collective production and reflection process, with virtual accompaniment from specialists in the themes throughout the entire work development.

Overview

As part of the seventh edition of E·CO – Encounter of Collectives – we are pleased to announce the launch of E·CO/26 - About Time is now open. We are looking for images and stories that explore the relationship between the past, the present and the future in our communities.

The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), together with the VIST Foundation and NEWF, is launching a new call for the conceptualisation, creation and production of visual projects, to foster collaborative work networks in Ibero-America and Africa around the construction of new visual narratives, as well as encouraging reflections on the concept of time — the revision of the past, ancestral knowledge, and the enunciation of new futures in the region.

The selected projects will be presented on E·CO/26 platforms, including exhibitions, websites, and social media, in accordance with the VIST Foundation’s and NEWF’s general editing and curatorship criteria. Special attention will be paid to themes that highlight the social, political, and cultural realities of the various communities of Ibero-America and Africa in relation to time.

E·CO invites collectives interested in exploring alternative approaches to time, reinterpreting the history of their communities, and creating visual projects that examine the themes of roots, memory, and ancestral knowledge. They particularly welcome proposals that explore different ways of conceiving time in relation to life cycles and the territories we inhabit. They will also support projects that explore the relationship between time and territory, as well as those that propose new ways of imagining the futures we will inhabit.

This call aims to rethink the past in order to better understand the present, and to articulate and envisage new futures.

Practical Info

All applicants must be residents of a country in Ibero-America or Africa. International projects involving several countries in a single application may be submitted. Project registration must be collective and include the name and country of residence of each participant. Existing collectives and groups of creators formed for this project may also participate. Projects may be visual, audiovisual or transmedia, and must align with the theme of the call. It is essential that the registration form is completed correctly and that the requested material is attached.

Each selected project will receive a production grant of €5,000. Projects may be submitted by existing collectives or groups of people working together for this project on an interdisciplinary basis. The works will be developed within the framework of the E·CO/26 platform.

The selection committee will take into account the relevance of each project in relation to processes that identify, question, and foreground within the territories of Ibero-America and Africa: a) the different ways in which communities relate to time—whether by measuring, understanding, or narrating it; b) how this relationship is expressed within the territories they inhabit, understanding that narratives emerge at the intersection of time and space; and c) the potential to imagine alternative ways of engaging with time.

Particular consideration will be given to interdisciplinarity and collaborative practices, with an emphasis on projects that result in visual outcomes and propose new visual narratives and languages within the framework of the call.

A total of twelve proposals will be selected: six from Ibero-America and six from Africa. The selected groups will participate in a collective production and reflection process, with virtual accompaniment from specialists in the themes throughout the entire work development. Once production is complete, the results of the projects will be presented in one or more exhibitions, which may tour, and on the digital platforms of the VIST Foundation, NEWF, AECID and the Spanish Cultural Centres, or the institutions they designate.

All submitted proposals will be evaluated by a selection committee composed of members of Fundación VIST, NEWF, and representatives of AECID.

About E·CO

E·CO (Encuentro de Colectivos) is a space where photography merges with other disciplines, challenging the boundaries of representation and exploring diverse artistic and scientific research processes within contemporary visual narratives. It promotes and encourages collaborative practices among creators and researchers from different backgrounds and professional profiles, fostering experimentation, knowledge exchange, and critical dialogue, while contributing to the transformation of how we see the world today.

Its six previous editions took place in Costa Rica (2024), Bolivia (2023), Mexico (2022), Brazil (2014/2008), and Spain (2010), leaving behind networks of collaboration that have opened new paths for photography, transcending borders towards a more creative and diverse future.