Fotografia Europea Open Call 2026

Fotografia Europea 2026 invites Europe-based photographers to explore the unseen traces of contemporary life, offering support and exhibition space during the festival to be held in Reggio Emilia, Italy, from 30 April to 14 June 2026.

Overview

The new edition of Fotografia Europea, titled Fantasmi del Quotidiano (“Ghosts Of The Moment”), invites photographers, curators, and collectives from Europe, either by birth or residency, to submit projects that reflect on the unseen traces that inhabit contemporary life. Selected applicants receive €3,000 to produce their exhibition, along with curatorial and organizational support from the festival team. The resulting projects will become part of the official Fotografia Europea 2026 programme in Reggio Emilia.

The festival offers each selected artist or collective a dedicated exhibition space, coordination for installation and deinstallation, insurance coverage during the exhibition period, and promotion across Fotografia Europea’s official channels.

Practical Info

Applications must include 5 to 10 images, a project description, personal or collective information and proof of payment of the €25 registration fee, all submitted through the online form.

Participants must guarantee the originality of their proposal, including disclosing any use of AI tools and be ready to collaborate with the festival on the production and installation of the exhibition. They are responsible for round-trip transport and packaging of their works, as well as for providing all necessary materials for the catalogue and communications. Selected artists are also expected to attend the festival’s opening events and, when possible, take part in public activities such as guided tours or meetings.

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.