Fotograf Festival

The Fotograf Festival is a thematic and curator-conceived photography festival in the Czech Republic that explores intersections in photography and contemporary art.

Overview

The thirteenth edition of the Fotograf Festival, named HYPERTENSION23, deals with the tension caused by technologies that expose our attention to the constant visual pressure to notice something, experience it emotionally, and react. Photography demands to be liked, videos to be seen, and hashtags to be categorized immediately. The day becomes a to-do list which shrinks our perception of time. 

The exhibition HYPERTENSION23, working with the medical term for high blood pressure, is curated by Monika Čejková and looks at contemporary visuality as something that primarily wishes to gain attention and somehow provoke a reaction. At the same time, the project seeks a new identity for the human being, whose original self is abstracted by digital space. It invites us to think in new ways about ourselves and humanity surrounded by a vision of a technological singularity, where general artificial intelligence will surpass the capabilities of humanity.

The theme of hypertension is also treated in an exhibition at the Fotograf Gallery by curator Tina Poliačková. Furthermore, the festival theme will be extended to the public space, where a visual essay by Shumon Basar, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Douglas Coupland will be presented in an underpass of a metro line and on the facade of the Trade Fair Palace.

A series of discussions, artist talks, site-specific events, projections, and guided tours accompany the main exhibition program from September to February.