A Guide To August 2026 Photography Festivals & Exhibitions

PhEST, Kranj Foto Fest, Ministry Of Bees by Apian at NŌUA, Gibellina Photoroad Open Air & Site-specific Festival, Worlds Within Worlds at Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, and Ragusa Foto Festival are among the photography events to visit next month.

PhEST 2026

Monopoli, Italy / 6 July - 4 October

Directed by Giovanni Troilo and with photography curatorship of Arianna Rinaldo, PhEST explores the Mediterranean's interconnected identities through photography, cinema, music, and art. After ten years, the festival enters a period of transformation focused on the theme What if? The 2026 edition approaches the question as a creative and critical device: a way to suspend the certainty of reality, imagine divergent futures, and make visible what does not yet exist. Rather than offering an escape from the present, PhEST invites artists and audiences to reflect on the possibilities that emerge when established narratives are questioned. Exhibited artists include artists such as Marek Kita, Victorine Alisse, Metropolis, Sergey Melnitchenko, Noway Recordings, Sara Angelucci, Francesco Conti, Chinky Shukla, Joan Fontcuberta, Sara Munari, Juno Calypso, Chloé Azzopardi, Harri Pälviranta, Roger Ballen, and Vivian Maier.

Among the highlights of the opening weekend, Giorgia Angiuli returns to Monopoli with her performance blending electronics, vocals, analog instruments, and soundscapes. The weekend will also feature a special screening of the shortlisted projects from the PhMuseum 2026 Photography Gran t.

Find out more on their website.

Kranj Foto Fest 2026

Kranj, Slovenia / 27 August - 27 September

The festival transforms the medieval town of Kranj into a dynamic hub for contemporary photography. Dedicated to exhibiting, promoting, and supporting national and international artists, Kranj Foto Fest serves as a collaborative platform where photographers, curators, students, and photo enthusiasts gather to exchange knowledge, build connections, and develop new projects. Deeply integrated into the local environment, the festival seamlessly blends curated images into Kranj’s public spaces and historical architecture. In partnership with local tourism and cultural institutions, it prioritizes sustainability and intimate community connections, balancing audience growth with a respectful commitment to the town's heritage and landscape.

Marisol Mendez, Ian Cheibub, Debmalya Ray Choudhuri, Chiara Ernandes, Federico Estol, Peter Fettich, Byron Mohammad Hamzah, Minami Ivory, oel Jimenez Jara, Utu-Tuuli Jussila, Robert Marin and Matjaž Rušt, Hana Selena Sokolović, and Maria Sturm are among the displayed artists. Additionally, the program includes guided tours, workshops, and a screening organized by PhMuseum, featuring the shortlisted projects from the PhMuseum 2026 Photography Grant.

Ministry Of Bees by Apian – Aladin Borioli at NŌUA

Bodø, Norway / 1 August - 27 September

A Ministry Of Bees by the artistic collective Apian – Aladin Borioli, Mathilde Wiessing, Ellen Lapper, and Françoise Borioli – transforms NŌUA into an immersive, multimodal environment featuring a new iteration of their Bannkörbe project – a research-driven exploration of historical German "spellbinding hives" adorned with eerie figures to ward off evil.

Operating as a speculative institution tasked by bees to safeguard human-bee relationships amid climate breakdown, the installation combines video, sound, photography, and writing to merge ancestral knowledge, magic, and technology while promoting socialist and non-extractive beekeeping practices for the future.

You can visit the exhibition from 1 August. Learn more on the gallery's website.

Gibellina Photoroad Open Air & Site-specific Festival 2026

Gibellina, Italy / 4 July - 6 September

Gibellina Photoroad transforms the Sicilian town of Gibellina into an open-air museum, seamlessly integrating large-format photographs, site-specific outdoor installations, and projections directly into the urban architecture. Rooted in the unique history of a town rebuilt through contemporary art following the tragic 1968 Belìce earthquake, the festival explores how photography can exist beyond traditional gallery spaces to reactivate collective memory and redefine public environments.

Since 2016, under the artistic direction of founder Arianna Catania, Gibellina Photoroad has brought together international and emerging artists to use visual language as a bridge connecting past, present, and future. Promoted by the Municipality of Gibellina and Fondazione Orestiadi and organized by On Image, the 2026 edition continues this tradition with new installations by artists such as Erik Kessels, Teresa Giannico, Alice Grassi, Jacopo Di Cera, and Stefano Cerio.

Find out more on their website.

Worlds Within Worlds at Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation

Eschborn, Germany / 20 February - 16 August

Worlds Within Worlds features 14 artists exploring the transitional, in-between spaces of contemporary reality. By weaving personal, biographical experiences into broader political, historical, and social themes, the featured works push and expand the boundaries of traditional photography through video, installation, and research. From E. Elif Gönüllü’s transformation of bureaucratic struggles into prayer beads to Charlotte Burkhardt’s documentation of East German nostalgic resorts, the exhibition juxtaposes personal memory, migrant resilience, and urban infrastructure against ecological vulnerability, offering a poignant visual reflection on human order, social tension, and fragile balance.

The exhibited artists are Lena Bils, Charlotte Burkhardt, Simon Gilmer, E. Elif Gönüllü, Nelly Habelt, Philomena Hummel, Elinor Zoë Karl, Lea Kulens, Len David Oswald, Marie Schwarze, Markus Seibel, Madlen Strebel, Tatiana Vdovenko and Kerstin Weiser.

Learn more on their website.

Camille Vivier at MEP

Paris, France / 10 June - 13 September

Curated by Victoria Arescheva, this comprehensive exhibition retraces over twenty-five years of Camille Vivier's career, bringing together nearly a hundred works across gelatin silver prints, digital photographs, Polaroids, and site-specific installations. Operating at the intersection of fine art and fashion photography, Vivier’s singular visual language weaves together sensuality, mystery, and poetry to explore the boundary between the animate and the inanimate. Central to her practice is a powerful, multifaceted representation of the female nude – drawing rich references from fine arts, pop culture, literature, and early Hollywood icons to assert complex identities.

In enigmatic stagings, Vivier places unconventional female figures, such as bodybuilders, in direct dialogue with anthropomorphic objects, monumental public sculptures, modernist puppets, and H.R. Giger's biomechanical designs. Through these unexpected juxtapositions, her work examines the plurality of femininities and reflects on identity as a form of sculpture itself. The exhibition generates an unsettling tension between human flesh and sculpted matter, transforming photography into a site where bodies, objects, and uncanny presences converse.

More details on MEP's website.

Ragusa Foto Festival 2026

Ragusa, Italy / 27 August - 27 September

The 14th edition of Ragusa Foto Festival explores the theme Mediterranean Archetypes, using photography to uncover the shared patterns, gestures, and landscapes that bind communities together across the South of Italy and the broader Mediterranean. Since 2012, the festival has served as a collaborative platform bringing together artists, critics, and emerging photographers to explore local heritage, foster cross-disciplinary dialogue, and position visual storytelling as a vital tool for social cohesion amid economic, cultural, and technological shifts.

The wide program includes workshops, portfolio reviews, an OFF circuit, and exhibitions by photographers such as Massimo Vitali, Evangelia Kranioti, Zied Bien Romdhane, Therese Debono, Mous Lambarat, Alessio Mamo, Anna Di Prospero, Maria Pansini, Angelo Antonuccio, and more.

Find more info on the festival's website.

In Common. 20 Years Of Sputnik Photos Collective at Museum Of Photography

Kraków, Poland / 11 April - 13 September

The exhibition celebrates two decades of documentary photography as a collaborative and socially engaged practice. Rather than serving as a traditional retrospective, In Common. 20 Years Of Sputnik Photos Collective reflects on how photography acts as a space for dialogue and mutual exchange between image-makers, subjects, and local communities. Through this collective approach, the featured works trace the profound social, political, and cultural transformations that have shaped Central and Eastern Europe since the aftermath of the Cold War.

Founded in 2006 to explore regional realities, Sputnik Photos has continually evolved its practice through partnerships with photographers, curators, and diverse voices. Coordinated by Marzena Michałek-Dąbrowska, the exhibition highlights projects from current members Jan Brykczyński, Karolina Gembara, Michał Łuczak, Rafał Milach, Adam Pańczuk, and Agnieszka Rayss, presenting visual storytelling as a shared responsibility rooted in empathy, encounter, and community.

You can visit the exhibition until 13 September. Learn more on the museum's website.

Shadow Creatures – From Spirit Photography To The Ghosts Of The Algorithm at Fotomuseum Winterthur

Winterthur, Switzerland / 27 June - 11 October

Shadow Creatures shifts the traditional focus of photography from a medium of light and objective evidence to the hidden, enigmatic dimensions that surround images. Spanning from nineteenth-century spirit photography to contemporary AI-generated figures and algorithmic phantoms, the exhibition explores how visual tools have long been used to summon, construct, and imagine entities beyond ordinary human perception. By placing historical occult practices in dialogue with modern technologies, the show reveals striking parallels between early efforts to capture invisible presences and today's digital image generation.

Featuring works by artists and researchers including Trevor Paglen, Shannon Taggart, Cihad Caner, and William H. Mumler, Shadow Creatures examines ghosts, glitches, and non-human entities across both analog and digital media. Rather than viewing photographs as neutral records, the exhibition positions images as dynamic spaces where cultural beliefs, psychological uncertainties, and hidden fears actively emerge, questioning how technology continuously shapes our relationship with the unseen.

Read more on Fotomuseum Winterthur's website.

PHotoESPAÑA 2026

Madrid, Spain / 13 May - 13 September

Under the theme Reimagining, the 29th edition of PHotoESPAÑA celebrates photography as a dynamic space for creativity, experimentation, and critical questioning, placing a special tribute on adolescence and youth as periods of possibility and transformation. This year’s program spans nearly 50 venues with over 40 exhibitions, highlighting The Netherlands as the invited country with dedicated programming alongside the OFF Festival and the city-wide PHE Circuit.

Exhibited artists include Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Viviane Sassen, Isabel Muñoz, Colita, Isabel Azkarate, Talia Chetrit, Laia Abril, Bego Antón, Greta Alfaro, Rafał Milach, José Quintanilla, and Gorka Postigo.

Learn more on the festival's website.