Project Groundswell 2025

Four photographers will receive a €5,000 artist fee, publication of the work, an exhibition in the core programs of Fotohof, Photo Museum Ireland, Cortona On The Move Festival and Imago Lisboa Festival in 2026, support of up to €800 for travel, and more.

Overview

Project Groundswell invites photographers and lens-based artists to submit work that engages with any of the wide range of climate actions that are currently underway anywhere in the world. To give just a few examples, they welcome critical explorations of how individuals, grassroots movements or wider societal initiatives are tackling climate change by reducing carbon emissions, assisting circular economies, promoting biodiversity, exposing greenwashing, or enabling climate justice. What approaches? In addition to documentary, independent photoreportage and socially-engaged practices, they also welcome more oblique, personal, diaristic or conceptual approaches. Raising awareness about the effects of climate change is not enough. This call is for photographic/video projects that make visible how individuals, communities or wider social groups are working to combat climate change.

Practical Info

Artists may be of any nationality but must based in Europe. This includes all the EU Member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden), plus Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine, and UK.

Submissions must include 8-15 images from completed or works-in-progress projects using lens-based media (photography, video/film). The work can include other art forms (literature, sculpture, performance, new media) but should be primarily image-based. A completed project will not be eligible for an overall award if it has already been exhibited as a solo exhibition in a major gallery or museum or in the form of a book, or if such an exhibition is scheduled for the period 2025-26. Some images of the work may have been previously published in magazines or group exhibitions. The entire body of work must not have been awarded prizes in other competitions at the time of application. The Jury will only consider proposals for projects that have not yet been started if a compelling reason has been given for this and where the artist can evidence a strong track record of completed projects.

For video work, submissions must include 8-15 screenshots and a link to an extract of max 3 minutes duration in the Project Description. Images generated by AI, including generative fill, will not be accepted. The exception is where AI is specifically the focus of investigation in the project and in this case the use of AI to generate such images must be clearly indicated.

Four overall winners each receive a €5,000 artist fee, museum-quality printing and framing of their work for a major curated four-person touring exhibition, publication of the work as a monograph photobook, with an introductory critical essay about the work, an exhibition presented in the core programmes of Fotohof, Photo Museum Ireland, Cortona On The Move Festival and Imago Lisboa Festival in 2026, and support of up to €800 for travel and accommodation for the Overall Winners to attend two exhibitions. Plus, at the close of Project Groundswell, one set of exhibition prints will be given to the artist, and the other set will be held in the Fotohof Archive for posterity.

In addition, twelve finalists each receive a fee of €1,000, mentoring and support for the development of their work into a short audio-visual piece, inclusion in the premiere projection event at Imago Lisboa and at events in Fotohof, Photo Museum Ireland and Cortona on the Move, inclusion and promotion of the work on the Groundswell website, and promotion on the organising partners' platforms.

The jury is composed of Elina Heikka, Herman Seidl, Nadine Weixler, Paolo Woods, Rui Prata, Sebastian Albert, Shirley Clerkin, Tanya Kiang, Trish Lambe, and Veronica Nicolardi.

About Project Groundswell

Project Groundswell is organized by a partnership of four photo organisations, Photo Museum Ireland (project lead), Fotohof, Cortona on the Move and Imago Lisboa.

Photo Museum Ireland is the national centre for contemporary photography, dedicated to advancing the development, appreciation and understanding of photography and visual culture across Ireland. They connect diverse audiences with inspirational and exciting photography and visual culture. Their mission is to support, curate and promote great photography while supporting both established and emerging artists to develop their practices. 

Since its foundation in 1981, Fotohof has been the centre for artistic photography in Salzburg, with diverse activities at home and abroad. In addition to the exhibitions in the gallery in Lehen, Fotohof’s program includes one of the most extensive photo-specific libraries in Austria, an internationally active photo book publishing house, an archive for historical and contemporary photography, international touring exhibitions, a wide range of educational offers with workshops and discourse events.

Imago Lisboa – Photo Festival is organized by Cedilhas e Legendas – a non-profit cultural association. We are a group of people who use the visual arts, and particularly photography, as their tool for cultural activism. With different paths in the cultural area, our common interest in images brought us together and awakened the desire to move forward with this project.

Since its inception in 2011, Cortona On The Move has been a leading international photography festival, hosted annually in the Tuscan town of Cortona, Italy. Renowned for its dedication to photographic excellence, the festival serves as a hub for photographers, curators, critics, authors, and the public. It has become a pivotal event in the global photography landscape, showcasing groundbreaking work and fostering meaningful connections.