Eidolon Grant 2025

Applications can be made under two categories, with a total of €25,000 to be distributed, for projects which explore, promote and conserve vernacular photography.

Overview

The Eidolon Grant aims to identify phenomena, collections, histories, practices, and trends within vernacular photography with the aim of offering new interpretations and analyses. Thematising both photographic heritages and contemporary photographic practices is Eidolon’s mission and we invite you to join us in this important exploration. Each chosen project will contribute to the enrichment of their institution's program in the coming year.

Practical Info

Eidolon's goal is to equally represent the vast range of past everyday photographic practices while also raising awareness of the significance of contemporary image culture. They aim to highlight how historical photographic traditions continue to shape society and visual communication today, while exploring the impact of emerging digital and social media practices on current visual trends and societal narratives.

Applicants must submit an abstract highlighting the focus and main narrative of the idea in question, a brief argument about the significance of the chosen topic, and a draft timeline of the realisation process, a CV, and a summary of their previously realised projects. Submitting specific images or visual materials used in the project or serving as inspiration is not a must, but it can strongly influence the jury’s decision and is firmly recommended.

The Grant can be used to fully or partially finance projects and ideas – in case of applying for partial funding please disclose the short, but detailed and adequate budget of the project you are proposing besides stating the amount of funding you are applying for with the Grant. This is a really important element for the jury to make decisions about the granted amount of funding. The total amount available is €25,000, but applicants are not required to request the full amount.

This year, the two categories of the Eidolon Grant reflect this commitment. In the Contemporary Everyday Photographic Cultures category, the Eidolon Grant invites projects that critically engage with the evolving phenomena of digital images, social media platforms, networked image cultures, and their social, political, historical, and aesthetic implications in the 21st century. They seek thoughtful, in-depth projects that examine the impact of these mediums on contemporary visual communication, identity, and social interaction. Proposals should offer innovative and fresh perspectives or explore underrepresented aspects of these topics, providing nuanced insights into how digital image practices shape and are shaped by recent cultural and technological shifts.

In the Everyday Photographs Of The Past category, the Grant seeks projects that engage with the significance of 19th and 20th-century everyday photography, through both private and public archives, whether hidden or well-known, and explore collective histories and memories. They want to give previously unhighlighted photographs the opportunity to shine through various interpretive gestures. Analogue vernacular photography is being lost to our heritage because, as yet, we have no systemic means of their preservation. Eidolon represents an opportunity to interpret everyday images of the past at a moment when the question of what is significant about contemporary social imaging arises. They believe that the past is interpreted through the image practices of the present. The Eilodon Grant invite proposals that critically examine the history of safekeeping these images, considering their evolution and relevance in both historical and contemporary contexts. Furthermore, projects focused on the development of the photographic apparatus and its impact on everyday culture are encouraged.

The jury is composed of Nathan Jurgenson (Social Media Theorist and Author of The Social Photo: On Photography And Social Media), Barbara Levine and Paige Ramey (Collectors, Artists, and Curators), Lev Manovich (Artist and Presidential Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York), Marcel Top (Visual Artist), and Róza Tekla Szilágyi (Director of Eidolon Centre for Everyday Photography).

About Eidolon Grant

The Eidolon Grant is an international programme that is presented annually to artists, academics, professionals, researchers, collectors and vernacular photography enthusiasts whose past work and proposed project is centred around the image heritage of everyday photography.