A Guide To April 2024 Photography Festivals & Exhibitions

Fotografia Europea, Circulation(s), La Scia Del Monte Or Magnetic Utopians at MBAL, Kyotographie, and Collateral Histories by Giulia Parlato and Giovanna Petrocchi at Galleria Eugenia Delfini are among the photography events to visit this month.

Fotografia Europea 2024

Reggio Emilia, Italy / 26 April - 9 June

Directed by Tim Clark (editor & curator 1000 Words), Walter Guadagnini (director of Camera, Torino), and Luce Lebart (photography historian, exhibition curator), the 19th edition of the Italian festival attempts to represent nature by exploring the interconnection between concealment and discovery.

Under the overarching theme Nature Loves To Hide, exhibitions include Susan Maiselas, Helen Sear, Yvonne Venegas, Arko Datto, Matteo De Mayda, Jo Ractliffe, Natalya Saprunova, Terri Weifenbach, Lisa Barnard, Bruno Serraloungue, Karim El Maktafi, Silvia Infranco, Silvia Rosi, Marta Bogdańska and Michele Sibiloni. Index Naturae, curated by Stefania Rössl and Massimo Sordi (OMNE), will feature 116 photo books published over the last five years exploring the theme of nature. Sky Album, 150 Years Of Capturing Clouds, will exhibit 150 works ranging from the origins of photography to the dawn of satellite imagery, mostly drawn from the collection of the Archive of Modern Conflict. Contaminations will bring together the works of 7 photographers aged under 35, finalists of the Luigi Ghirri Award: Claudia Amatruda, Benedetta Casagrande, Noemi Comi, Massimiliano Cortellesi, Camilla Marrese, Alessandro Truffa and Cinzia Romanin all engage with image-making as a possible interaction between humans and other living beings.

During the opening days of the Festival (26-28 April), a space entirely devoted to publishers, bookshops, and presentations of photographic books will be held inside the Chiostri di San Pietro.

Discover more on Fotografia Europea's website.

La Scia Del Monte Or Magnetic Utopians at MBAL

Le Locle, Switzerland / 23 March - 15 September

Curated by Federica Chiocchetti (MBAL) and Nicoletta Mongini (Fondazione Monte Verità), La Scia del Monte celebrates utopia through the legacy of the mythical Monte Verità, a magnetic oasis in Switzerland home to the first alternative, naturist, feminist and vegetarian colony in the early 20th century.

The exhibition is centered around the works of 26 contemporary artists who have been inspired by Monte Verità and its surrounding aura. Among them we find Tonatiuh Ambrosetti, The Cool Couple, Luca Mengoni, Sophie Taeuber & Jean Arp, Giaime Meloni, Ingeborg Lüscher, and Lisa Lurati. Exploring all media and techniques, from video art to artificial intelligence, installation, sculpture, painting, photography, engraving, sound and fabric, the exhibition underscores the importance of Switzerland as a home for free spirits and iconoclasts, offering an eclectic and captivating dialogue between nature, art and spirit.

Discover more about the exhibited artists on MBAL's website.

Circulation(s) 2024

Paris, France / 6 April - 2 June

Created and organized by the Fetart collective, every year Circulation(s) selects young European photographers questioning the boundaries between photography and contemporary art. For its 14th edition, Centquatre-Paris will showcase 24 artists whose works are characterised by a predilection for fluidity and experimentation.

Jérémy Appert, Lyoz Bandie, Audrey Blue, Jules Bourbon, Glauco Canalis, Luca De Jesus Marques, Fig Docher, Lars Dyrendom, Quentin Fromont), Natalia Godek, Utu-Tuuli Jussila, Tom Kleinerb, Luna Mahoux, Diambra Mariani, Giulia Sidoli, Maria Siorba, Amin Yousefi and Masha Wysocka are among the selected practitioners. A Focus exhibition is dedicated to Ukraine, presenting the series of four photographers from this territory: Maryna Brodovska, Lisa Burkeyeva, Yevheniia Laptii, and Dima Tolkachov.

On Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April, Fetart collective organizes portfolio reviews for participants to present their work to gallery owners, agencies, critics, festival directors, iconographers and more.

Find out more about the expansive program on their website.

H Is For Hemp, A Green Art Extravaganza by Maren Krings at Fonderia 20.9

Verona, Italy / 9 March - 6 April (finissage on 5 April)

German environmental photographer Maren Krings embarked on a six-year journey to investigate how hemp could play a pivotal role in establishing circular economies and contributing to a systemic reset. Her extensive journey led her to photograph over 200 projects across 26 countries on four continents and conduct interviews with more than 80 industry experts.

H is For Hemp was selected from the PhMuseum 2023 Photography Grant and awarded a solo show at Fonderia 20.9 gallery in Verona, Italy. The traveling exhibition is rooted in a scientific framework, with experimentation involving new materials, frameless hanging, ecologically produced inks, and the optimization of weight, packing, and size for exhibition works. By meticulously recording transport routes, emissions, and material behaviour, the project seeks to provide new insights into making exhibitions more sustainable and the resulting ecological benefits.

The finissage of H Is For Hemp, A Green Art Extravaganza will take place on April 5, 19 pm. Discover more on Fonderia 20.9's website.

Kyotographie - International Photography Festival 2024

Kyoto, Japan / 13 April - 12 May

The new edition of the festival founded by Lucille Reyboz and Yusuke Nakanishi explores the theme Source, seen as the beginning, the initiator, the origin of all things.

Among the 13 exhibitions, A Dialogue Between Rinko Kawauchi and Tokuko Ushioda is supported by Kering's Women In Motion, a program aimed to highlight the work of women in the fields of arts and culture. The Yanomami Struggle, curated by Thyago Nogueira and organized in collaboration with Instituto Moreira Salles, tells the story of the collaboration between Claudia Andujar and the Yanomami people in defense of their rights and sovereignty. PHOSPHOR: Art & Fashion 1990–2023 offers a retrospective on Vivian Sassen's work, curated by Clothilde Morette and presented by Dior in collaboration with the MEP – Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. You Don't Die. The Story of Yet Another Iranian Uprising is an ode to the courage of Iranians and a manifesto of an important episode in Iranian history -the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in September 2022 after she was arrested by the morality police. The collection of photographs and videos in this exhibition, curated by Marie Sumalla and Ghazal Golshiri, was initially created for Le Monde's coverage of the 2022 uprising.

Visit Kyotographie's website to discover more.

Collateral Histories by Giulia Parlato and Giovanna Petrocchi at Galleria Eugenia Delfini

Rome, Italy / 1 March - 3 May

This bi-personal exhibition presented by Galleria Eugenia Delfini brings together the work of two young Italian artists, both questioning the relationship between photography, historical narratives and museology.

As part of a single installation, Collateral Histories shows digital collages by Petrocchi from her series Magic Lanterns, analogue photographs by Parlato from Diachronicles, and an unpublished corpus of black and white photomontages and 3D objects realized collaboratively by the two artists. “The variety of media and visual approaches chosen by the authors only confirms, apparently by contrast, the cohesion of their research - both individual and collective” writes Elisa Medde in the critical text. Medde observes that “the works in the Collateral Histories series somehow combine Parlato's investigative, forensic approach with Petrocchi's contemplative, re-mediating approach. Digital collages and sculptures are exhibited as if these were research findings or part of museum collections. The exhibited works investigate the transitions and migrations of material culture, the artifice of the context, the arbitrariness of classifications”.

Discover more on Galleria Eugenia Delfini's website.

Capture Photography Festival

Vancouver, Canada / 1 April - 30 April

Launched in 2013, Capture Photography Festival is devoted to presenting and connecting Vancouver to the world through lens-based art.

A program of solo and collective shows will present artists such as Sarah Anne Johnson, Al Razutis, Elizabeth Zvonar, Jalal Toufic, Delali Cofie, Nicole Beno, Laura Gildner, Kosar Movahedi, Ho Tam, Vanessa Denham, Stan Douglas, Junior Sealy, Katya Lesiv, Anya Tsaruk, Harsha Pandav, Jin-Me Yoon and more. The collective exhibition On Time will challenge the inextricably linked relationship between time and photography, and the traditional notion that an image captures a single moment outside the temporal flow. Family first? will delve into the intricate dynamics of Black familial relationships and the journey of self-discovery, while Her Presence (Womanhood in Ukraine) will offer a nuanced and critical exploration of the experience of Ukrainian women. Public art installations and activities spanning tours, projections, artist talks, and community events will expand and activate the Festival.

Find out more on their website.

The Via Combusta at Fotografiska Shanghai

Shanghai, China / 9 March - 21 April

Curated by emerging Chinese artists Gan Yingying and Zhou Yichen, The Via Combusta is the winning proposal of the 3rd Jimei x Arles Curatorial Award for Photography and Moving Image.

Designed to be a journey into a realm where technology and human spirit intermingle, the show presents the works of Alex Turner, Alice Wang, Gu Tao, Josef Kovac, Magali Duzant, Song Xi, Vivian Xu and Yurian Qunintanas Nobel. Including photography, video, text, and installation, The Via Combusta aims to provide different perspectives on the way communities throughout the world are preparing for the onset of powerful new technologies.

Discover more on Fotografiska’s website.

Making Light Of Every Thing at Centre de la photographie Genève

Geneva, Switzerland / 28 February - 28 April

Making Light of Every Thing brings together works that aim to make visible, capture or fix a form of intimacy through elaborate processes of image manipulation.

The links between fabricated images and memory, the use of visual technologies to investigate relationships, or of modeling techniques to reconstruct spaces and moments, are at the core of the works on show. Technology is looked at through the lens of vulnerability, respecting the elusiveness and intangibility of a concept as intimacy.

Displayed artists include the duo Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah, Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, Sara De Brito Faustino, Emma Bedos, Alina Frieske, Moritz Jekat, Leigh Merrill, Martin Widmer, Jessica Backhaus and Peter Hauser.

Find out more on their website.

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Also open this month:

Cindy Sherman at Photo Elysée / Lausanne, Switzerland / 29 March - 4 August

Comprised of Cindy Sherman’s latest body of work, this exhibition features a series of improbable portraits that exemplify the morphing of self. The artist renders the notion of identity as a construct even more perceptible by splicing together photographs of the individual parts of her own face into a set of collaged images. The result is a series of wholly asymmetric – and therefore seemingly distorted – portraits, depicting entirely new characters that are brought to life in the process.

Corrispondenze at FMAV / Modena, Italy / 8 March - 5 May

The exhibition involves seven Italian artists who have been invited to peruse the important photography collections held by FMAV for inspiration to create a new work. Curators Chiara Dall'Olio and Daniele De Luigi asked them to choose works by past maestros from the FMAV-managed collections in which they could find the roots or a reflection of their own work. Invited artists are Silvia Bigi, Federico Clavarino, Teresa Giannico, Orecchie D'Asino, The Cool Couple, Vaste Programme and Alba Zari.

Medium Festival & Review 2024 / San Diego, Tijuana / 24 April - 28 April

With a rich program of artist talks, film screenings, workshops, publishing panels, and exhibitions at locations across San Diego and Tijuana, this year welcomes the 12th annual Medium Festival and Medium Review, bringing photographers, curators, and the community together in San Diego and Tijuana to celebrate photography. Among the main events is the signature exhibition Size Matters hosted during the annual Medium Festival of Photography. The show celebrates photo based artwork smaller than 10”.

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Check out our festivals and exhibitions page to get a complete view of what's coming up on the photography calendar over the next few months.