A Guide To October 2023 Photography Festivals

Foto/Industria, InCadaqués, Hyères Festival, Omnefest, and Lagos Photo are among the festivals we selected this month.

Foto/Industria 2023

Bologna, Italy / 18 October - 26 November

Mast Foundation’s Biennale is dedicated to the documentation of industry and work through photographic imagery. Presenting a circuit of solo shows in historical locations of the Italian city of Bologna, this year’s edition will focus on the theme of Game, examining its implications across different fields. Among the 12 exhibitions are ECAL’s Automated Photography, which explores the evolution of the digital image, Andreas Gursky’s large-scale photographs of financial capitalism in Visual Spaces of Today, Erik Kessels’ archival exploration Carlo e Luciana, digging into the personal images of a couple traveling for 40 years, Hicham Benohoud’s La Salle de Classe, which turns a Marrakech’ classroom into an improvised photography studio, and Cécile B. Evans’ video installation Reality or Not, telling the story of a radical experiment of reality modification.

Read the full exhibitions program on the Biennale’s website.

InCadaqués Festival 2023

Cadaqués, Spain / 5 October - 15 October

From 5 to 15 October, the Spanish city of Cadaqués turns into an open-air exhibition space showcasing the work of 40 photographers. With galleries and cultural spaces being involved as much as cafés, restaurants, walls and streets, visitors have the opportunity to engage with the artists, take part in portfolio reviews, and workshops giving access to analogue processes. Exhibited artists include David Lynch, Weegee, Henrike Stahl, Kamilla K Stanley, Richard Pak, Henri Kisielewski, Chloé Milos Azzopardi among others. Curated by Dustin Dollin, A Fine Mess: Based On A True Story offers a view over skateboarding culture spanning 20 years, as seen through the lenses of Magdalena Wosinska, Maria Antouanneta Koulioufas, and Dave Van Laere. 

Discover more on their website.

Hyères Festival 2023

Hyères, France / 12 October - 14 January 2024

Taking place in the prestigious Villa Noailles, the 38th edition of the International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories promotes designers as well as fashion photographers, with particular attention to emerging generations. The public programme includes film screenings, performances, book signings, workshops, dj-sets, and masterclasses. Part of the exhibitions program are Rala Choi’s intimate exploration of love relationships Lovers, Luis Alberto Rodriguez’ visual experience of the body and its movements Vessel, Chiron Duong’s fashion series Eternal: Time is water flowing through the palm, realised as the awardee of the American Vintage Photography Award’s 2022 edition. Archival exhibition Hyères, 1986 will dive into the origins of the festival, while Wardrobe(s) will juxtapose past and present archives, objects, and iconography from Marie-Laure de Noailles’ lost wardrobe.

Find out more on Villa Noailles’ website.

Noorderlicht 2023

Groningen, Netherlands / 6 September - 10 December

The festival carries the theme Regenerate - that aims to ask questions about where we want to go and how to get there, about the time we live in and the time to come - within which several exhibitions will be on view in the provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe through December 10th. The festival exhibitions program host images from Wata Na Life by Ngadi Smart that was selected through the PhMuseum 2022 Women Photographers Grant. Cristóbal Ascencio, Glorianna Ximendaz, Xingrong Qiao, Wawi Navarroza, Deepti Asthana, Kim Tieleman, Claire Sunho Lee, Nicolas Janowski, João Castilho, Chloé Azzopardi, and M’hammed Kilito are among the invited artists. The Guest Curator of this edition is PhMuseum Education Mentor Eefje Ludwig.

Explore the full program on their website.

Omnefest

Castelfranco Veneto, Italy / 22 September - 30 October

In the context of historical Villa Parco Bolasco in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy, the third edition of biennal festival Omnefest presents a broad reflection on contemporary landscape articulated through events, appointments, and exhibitions. The works on show have been realised between 2021 and 2023, and propose a varied analysis of what nature and landscape are. Among them are Nature, a curated path of 14 site-specific, indoors and outdoors installations by residents and invited artists such as Sasha Arutyunova, Marina Caneve and Giorgio di Noto; Around Nature, a dialogue between photographers Peter Puklus and Massimo Sordi, Index Naturae, presenting a library of more than 100 contemporary photography books, and Insieme, a collaborative and intimate work on Apulia and Veneto by Irina Rozovsky and Mark Steinmetz. 

Explore the full program on their website.

Lagos Photo Festival

Lagos, Nigeria / 27 October - 31 December

Lagos Photo is a month-long photographic festival launched in Nigeria in 2010. Its 14th edition’s theme, Ground state - fellowship within the uncanny points at the need to restore narratives of mystery, helping to draw meaning out of the confusion of our era. Zanele Muholi, Amina Kadous, Gloria Oyarzabal, Matthew Thorne & Derik Lynch, Carlos Idun-Taiwah,and M’hammed Kilito are just a few of the 38 photographers whose works will be exhibited in Lagos and beyond: for the first time in the festival’s history, exhibitions will indeed extend to the territories of Cotonou, Ouidah, and Port-Novo in Benin, geographically broadening the aim to engage the general public with multifaceted stories of Africa. 

Explore the upcoming program of exhibitions, workshops, presentations and discussions on their website.

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Also open this month:

Festival of Ethical Photography / Lodi, Italy / 30 September - 22 October

Exploring the issue of social injustice, the Italian Festival of Ethical Photography has come to its 13th edition. Exhibitions, meetings, screenings, educational projects for students and many other initiatives will take place in Lodi, with a dedicated section reserved for

works commissioned by NGOs. Find more information on their website. 

Nordic Light Festival 2023 / Kristiansund, Norway / 26 October - 29 October 

The Nordic Light Festival takes place in the Norwegian coastal town of Kristiansund. A program of lectures, exhibitions, gallery talks, book signings, portfolio reviews and films aims at shaping a significant cultural experience lasting from day to night, offering a meeting point for enthusiasts, amateurs, established and emerging photographers alike. Explore the exhibition program on their website. 

Bucharest Photofest 2023 / Bucharest, Romania / 6 October - 15 October 

Photographers, filmmakers, directors, writers and storytellers will explore different perspectives on the theme of this 2023 edition, Identity. Expanding beyond the reach of still images through film screenings, concerts and other events, the festival has the representation of the vast Romanian cultural scene as its goal. Discover more on their website.