PhEST Pop-Up Open Call 2026
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Opens29 Apr 2026
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Deadline13 May 2026
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Link
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Entry feeFREE
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Author
PhEST launches the 6th open call, inviting multidisciplinary to access several prizes offered by PhMuseum, LensCulture, FUJIFILM, and the University of Bari Aldo Moro, as well as the chance to be part of PhEST 2026 in Monopoli, Southern Italy.
Overview
PhEST, the international festival of photography and art in Monopoli, Italy, launches the sixth edition of the international contest, with the theme of the 2026 edition of the festival: WHAT IF? Together with LensCulture and PhMuseum, and with the support of Fujifilm Italia and UniBA.
After a 2025 edition dedicated to space and human endeavours, the 2026 edition of PhEST – in line with the festival’s central theme - invites artists and photographers to investigate our relationship with our current times, and interrogate ourselves on future possible scenarios. An invitation to suspend the certainty of reality and inhabit the space of possibility.
“What if?” is not just a question, but a creative and critical device: it opens fractures in the present, imagines divergent futures, and makes visible what does not yet exist. What scenarios can we imagine? Not as an escape, but to reflect on the infinite possibilities that we have. PhEST is looking for works that are intense, intimate and profound, capable of reading our present and interrogating our future.
Practical Info
Participation is possible with any visual expression without media limits, ranging from photography, painting, drawing, graphics/illustration, collage, sculpture, installation, and video. Each artist can submit multiple projects for the call. For each project, the application must include a project title, a description of the work in English (max 200 words or 1200 characters with spaces), technical details if necessary, and a short biography in English, including your age and where you reside.
You can apply in the artistic category Series or Single. Applications for the series category must consist of a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 images. Applications for the singles category need to include the Vimeo or YouTube link in the relevant field and the cover image of the video.
Six prizes will be awarded by the international jury. The PhEST 2026 Awards offer two exhibition opportunities at the festival’s next edition: one for an international artist and one for an artist based in Puglia, Italy. The UniBa Award includes an exhibition dedicated to the best international short film during the festival, offered by UniBa – University of Bari Aldo Moro. Furthermore, one artist will receive a mirrorless FUJIFILM Camera X-T5 + lens 16-80mm Kit, offered by Fujifilm Italia. Additionally, one selected artist will receive a publication on PhMuseum and a copy of PhMuseum Annual. One more artist will be published on LensCulture’s website. Additionally, a selection of submissions will be projected during one of PhEST 2026’s opening-night events.
This year's jury is composed of Laura Sackett (Co-Founder & Creative Director at LensCulture), Giuseppe Oliverio (PhMuseum Artistic and Founding Director), Arianna Rinaldo (Curator of Photography at PhEST), and Giovanni Troilo (Artistic Director at PhEST).
About PhEST
PhEST is the international photography and art festival in Monopoli, Italy. PhEST is produced and promoted by the PhEST cultural association, with the support of the Puglia Region and the Municipality of Monopoli. PhEST was born in 2016 in Monopoli, in Puglia, from an idea of Giovanni Troilo, artistic director of the festival, and Arianna Rinaldo, who is in charge of the photographic curatorship. With the organizational direction of Cinzia Negherbon. PhEST is photography, cinema, music, art, and contaminations from the Mediterranean. A way to give back their own voice to the thousand identities that make up the sea in the middle of the lands, redefining a new imaginary.
