Premio Luigi Ghirri 2025

GFI | Premio Luigi Ghirri is an open call promoted by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, addressed to artists under 35 - Italian citizens, even if residing abroad, or foreigners currently residing in Italy - who use photography as a medium.

Overview

Nietzsche states “what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal” or, in other words, a transition. A bridge is first and foremost an infraction on nature's constituted order, a potentially revolutionary device. What role can images play in a world full of questions and doubts, a world in which established institutions are more and more called into question?

Seven proposals will be included in a group exhibition as part of Fotografia Europea 2025. Artists must submit a project that adheres to the theme Unire / Bridging and consists of a series of images with a description and a proposed installation. The selection committee reserves the right to prefer recent or unpublished projects. The form and mode of the exhibition will be defined in agreement between the artist and the curators. Each artist or collective can submit only one project. Artists who have already been selected in the last three editions of the call (ed. 2022, 2023, 2024) cannot participate.

Unire / Bridging

Twenty years ago the Mostar Bridge in Bosnia was reopened after long reconstruction works. A masterpiece of Ottoman engineering, once considered one of the most beautiful bridges in the world, Stari Most, also known as the Old Bridge, became a symbol of the civil war that tore the Balkans apart in the 1990s. Once reopened, it regained its function of connecting and bringing together the two sides of the city separated by the Neretva River. The rebuilt bridge thus became the promise, mostly unkept, of reconciliation and coexistence between peoples. And yet, the last twenty years have seen increasing divisions, factions and nationalisms, not only among the communities of the area, which appear more and more divided, but also among the majority of European countries.

In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche states "what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal" or, in other words, a transition. It is also true that, in any form or configuration, whatever the action being taken, a bridge is first and foremost an infraction on nature's constituted order, a potentially revolutionary device.

In this new edition of Young Italian Photography | Luigi Ghirri Award we wonder whether images can act as bridges. Can they perform a function of connection, of closeness, of dialogue and of care towards the outside world? Can they become a place and a space of solidarity, not only between the photographer and the subject, but also between the image and the viewer? How can this be activated? What value can they bring, not only in telling a story, but also in rebuilding, in bridging the gap between very different points of view, even on a personal level? What role can images play in a world full of questions and doubts, a world in which established institutions are more and more called into question?

Practical Info

Applicants must submit 5- 15 images, a project description (in both Italian and English, including any links to video content), a curriculum vitae, a short biography in English, a signed model releases (in either Italian or English for any recognizably portrayed individuals) and a sketchwork or description consisting of a proposed installation layout for a wall no larger than 9 meters long and 3 meters high.

Selected artists will receive a €1,500 fee to cover the costs of production and transportation of artworks, personal travel and stay in Reggio Emilia during the installation and opening days, any insurance to cover the transportation of artworks, and an exhibition in the group show GFI#12 | Luigi Ghirri Award 2025 which will be set up at the Palazzo dei Musei in Reggio Emilia and included in the program of the Fotografia Europea 2025 festival.

Additionally, the Premio Luigi Ghirri, consisting of €4,000 cash prize, will be awarded to one of the finalists by an international jury which will meet during the opening days of Fotografia Europea (April 24-27, 2025). One artist will be granted the artist residency New Trajectories. GFI in Stockholm, consisting of a period of study and research in Sweden during which the artist will have to produce an artistic project that will be exhibited in an exhibition curated by the Italian Cultural Institute of Stockholm. The director of the IIC Stockholm will select the artist. Plus, one of the GFI finalists will participate in the Photo-Match portfolio review program as part of Fotofestiwal Łódz 2025.

The selection committee includes Danit Ariel (Artista, Writer, Curator), Ilaria Campioli (Curator), Krzysztof Candrowicz (Curator, Artistic Director, Researcher), Daniele De Luigi (Curator) and Femke Rotteveel (Director Fotodok).

About Giovane Fotografia Italiana

Giovane Fotografia Italiana (Young Italian Photography) is a project born in 2012 and promoted by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia. Since 2018, Giovane Fotografia Italiana provides for the awarding of a prize, which, starting from the 2022 and in collaboration with Luigi Ghirri's heirs, takes the name of Premio Luigi Ghirri. Thus enhancing the recognition of emerging talents of contemporary photography in Italy.

The project, curated by Ilaria Campioli and Daniele De Luigi, is in partnership with the Italian Culture Institute of Stockholm and in collaboration with GAI - Association for the Circuit of Young Italian Artists; Fotografia Europea Festival, Reggio Emilia; Fotodok, Utrecht; Fotofestiwal Łódź in Poland; Photoworks, Brighton. With the support of Reire srl and Gruppo Giovani Imprenditori Unindustria Reggio Emilia.

Through the network of partners, GFI aims at creating further opportunities of visibility for artists. The artists who apply for the call accept to exhibit their works in initiatives promoted in collaboration with project's partners and sponsors and at their venues (cultural institutions, companies, banks, etc.).