Fotografia Europea 2025 Open Call

Fotografia Europea’s open call is now open for the new edition of the festival entitled Being Twenty to be held in Reggio Emilia from 24 April to 8 June 2025.

Overview

Fotografia Europea turns 20 and celebrates this important milestone by dedicating the 2025 edition to a reflection on that precise period of life that most of all seems to open the doors wide to infinite possibilities. In a person’s biography, 20 marks the shadow line, the end of innocence, and at the same time, the taste of freedom and independence. At twenty, you can still become anything, but you discover you are alone, detached from the world and from your family heritage. Being twenty is like sailing an ocean of possibilities without a precise map. It is an age of contradictions: you are an adult, but often still living at home with your parents; you are connected to the whole world, but the loneliness can be overwhelming.

Born in 2015 to give the possibility to deal with an international festival, the open call is now a consolidated appointment. Realised thanks to the support of Iren, already special sponsor of the festival, which supports the search for new talents and new looks on contemporary reality, the open call is an opportunity to increase visibility in Italy and not only: after Fotografia Europea exhibition, many artists have received important awards also abroad.

Practical Info

European or European-based photographers, curators and collectives, of any age, with a project that explores the theme of this edition in a creative and original way are welcome to apply with a project that is in keeping with the theme of Fotografia Europea 2025, Being Twenty. Applicants need to fill out the online form and submit 5 to 10 images, and the receipt of payment.

Selected artists will receive a prize of €3,000 to create an exhibition that will become part of the official program of Fotografia Europea 2025. In addition, they will have to follow the production of the exhibition in all its phases, take care of the transport of the works (round trip) and their packaging, to provide, by the date set by the organization, materials for the press office and for the exhibition catalog, and a plan for the exhibition set-up. Plus, they will have to be present on the opening days, and to be available for guided tours and possible ‘meetings with the author’.

The festival will provide for the set-up/dismantling of the exhibition, following the instructions of the artist/curator/collective, and insurance cover for the works (stock-only insurance) on the basis of the values declared by the artist/curator/collective.

The selection committee is composed by the festival's artistic direction, which includes Tim Clark (Editor and Curator 1000 Words), Walter Guadagnini (Director of Camera, Torino) and Luce Lebart (Photography Historian, Exhibition Curator and Researcher).

About Fotografia Europea

Fotografia Europea is an international cultural festival dedicated to contemporary photography. The festival, created in 2006, is promoted by the Fondazione Palazzo Magnani and the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and it won Photo Festival of the Year at the Lucie Awards 2022 in New York.

Fotografia Europea uses photography as a tool to reflect upon the complexity of the contemporary living following the lesson of the local photographer Luigi Ghirri, a prominent figure in the late ‘900s photography’s renewal, whose archive is stored in the city. The festival takes place in different locations of the city, both public and private, formal and informal, and it consists of a central core of exhibitions among which new ad hoc commissioned productions, related to a specific theme identified every year by the Scientific Committee. The exhibitions are accompanied by a rich program of events, conferences, screenings, workshops, portfolio reviews and site specific performances.