Rotterdam Photo 2027 Open Call

Rotterdam Photo invites photographers worldwide to submit single images or projects for large-scale public exhibition in Rotterdam, Netherlands, with selected artists receiving dedicated exhibition space and no commission on sales.

Overview

Rotterdam Photo invites submissions across three categories: Single Image and Projects – open internationally, and Dutch Talent Project Grants. The festival's theme is Vibrance – The Pulse Of A Living World, which the organisers describe as "an exploration of energy in its many forms – from the intimate to the collective, from physical presence to digital intensity." They invite photographers to interpret Vibrance freely as a social condition, emotional state, visual rhythm, or conceptual framework.

Selected single images are transformed into large-scale public installations across Rotterdam Photo's festival site, with each image printed as a 2.5 × 2.5 metre PVC print installed on exterior container structures. Full production is covered by the festival. Selected project photographers receive dedicated exhibition space within the festival's container village, with curatorial freedom to present and sell their work. Rotterdam Photo does not charge any commission on sales.

Five artists selected for the Dutch Talent Project Grants receive a €3,000 production grant to develop their project into a work-in-progress exhibition at Rotterdam Photo 2027, with curatorial guidance and a dedicated exhibition space. The exhibition will be curated in collaboration with a guest curator and presented during Rotterdam Art Week, from 17 to 21 March 2027.

All selected photographers gain international visibility through festival and partner platforms including LensCulture, Dodho Magazine, and All About Photo, participation in Rotterdam Photo Talks and networking events, inclusion in the official festival programme and publications, and exposure to an audience of 10,000+ visitors in the centre of Rotterdam.

Practical Info

The Single Image – International category is open to photographers and image-makers worldwide working across photography and visual media, both professional and amateur. The Projects – International category is open to photographers, artists, and visual storytellers from around the world, welcoming both emerging and established practitioners working across documentary, conceptual, experimental, and interdisciplinary image-based practices.

The Dutch Talent Project Grants category is open to applicants based in the Netherlands, currently studying there, or who have completed their education in the Netherlands, including third- and fourth-year photography students at an art academy, recent alumni since 2022 of photography or related visual arts programmes, and self-taught photographers with a maximum of five years of professional experience. Entrants must be at least 16 years of age as of the date of entry.

For Single Image submissions, photographers submit individual images at €19 per image. For Projects submissions, the entry fee is €29 per entry if submitted before 7 September 2026, 11:59 PM CET (early bird), or €35 per entry after this deadline. Dutch Talent Project Grants submissions are free of charge. Photographers may apply to multiple categories, with each submission reviewed separately by the selection committee.

Applications are reviewed by a professional selection committee of photographers, curators, and industry experts. Single images are evaluated based on visual strength, conceptual clarity, emotional and spatial impact, and relevance to the theme. Projects are evaluated on artistic strength and originality, conceptual depth, relevance to the theme, and suitability for spatial presentation in public space. Dutch Talent Project Grants are assessed on artistic quality, conceptual clarity, resonance with broader personal themes or urgent societal issues, and thematic relevance.

About Rotterdam Photo

Rotterdam Photo is an annual photography fair with a festival flair, celebrating the full spectrum of contemporary photography in all its diversity. Founded in 2016, Rotterdam Photo is an accessible and innovative photography festival featuring a distinctive container village that creates a visually striking and accessible event in the city's Art Axis.