A Guide To October 2026 Photography Festivals & Exhibitions

PhMuseum Days, Photobook Mania, Photoworks Festival, SCAN Tarragona Festival, Acedia by Louise Desnos at Centre De La Photographie Genève, and Encontros da Imagem are among the photography events to visit next month.

PhMuseum Days 2026

Bologna, Italy / 1 October - 4 October

The fifth edition of PhMuseum Days returns to Bologna, centered on the theme Archipelago – a concept inspired by Massimo Cacciari that views the world as a relational network of distinct yet interconnected identities. The festival spans various locations across the city, including the new main venue at Ex Ospedale dei Bastardini, the Cortile dell'Archiginnasio, PhMuseum Lab, and public space installations in the Cortile dell'Archiginnasio and the CHEAP public billboards on via dell'Abbadia.

Its main program features diverse international exhibitions and interactive events, such as The Man of Family, a free workshop led by Adam Broomberg – in collaboration with MAST Foundation and Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna – highlighting contemporary photography's role in exploring memory, politics, nature, and identity. Allegra Baggio Corradi, Jonah Samson, Federico Clavarino, Daniel Martínez, Francisco Cantón, Robin Alysha Clemens, and Cintia Tortosa Santisteban are among the exhibited artists.

Expanding its spatial footprint, this edition turns Bologna into a true archipelago of cultural practices through new additions like the OFF circuit – featuring exhibitions by Benedetta Fioravanti and Roman Manfredi in partnership with Fondazione Home Movies and Spazio Labo'. Plus, among the major highlights is Photobook Mania, which officially joins the festival program for the first time.

The full program will be announced soon. Keep posted on the festival's website.

Photobook Mania

Bologna, Italy / 3 October - 4 October

Taking place at Serra Madre in Bologna, Italy, this second edition brings together independent publishers, artists, and international booksellers as a hub for dialogue on photobook practices. The extensive program includes talks with publishers and authors, book signings, and two featured exhibitions.

Dummies & Books From FOLIO 2025/26 presents prototypes by participants of the fifth FOLIO masterclass, who spent eight months under Nicolas Polli's guidance turning their photographic works into editorial projects. Featured books are by Ege Tascioglu, Federica Carducci, Julia Bohle, Justina Leston, Manu Gruber and Tim Gassauer, Marge Westreich, Raul Guillermo, Stefanie Lagenhoven, Stephanie Schwiederek, Vivian Poey, and Yvette Monahan. Curated by Atelier Tatanka, The Riso Book presents European publications made using the Risograph technique. It explores the possibilities of Riso in photography and independent publishing – treating the book not as a mere container of images, but as an object shaped by design, paper choice, binding, and printing.

Participating publishers and booksellers include Altana, Asola Press, Atelier Tatanka, Blow Up Press, CESURA Publish, Ciao Press, Chose Commune, Départ pour l'Image, Editorial RM, Erik Kessels, Gnomic Book, GOST Books, ISIA U, KABK, L’Artiere, Leporello photobooks et al., Overlapse, PhMuseum, RVM Hub, Shibboleth, Witty Books, and Yogurt Editions.

Photoworks Festival 2026

Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom / 2 October - 1 November

Photoworks Festival is a biennial platform dedicated to highlighting international contemporary photography. Organized by Photoworks, the festival offers a programme that invites dialogue, experimentation, and critical exchange. The 2026 edition unfolds under the expansive theme Un/Stable: Lands, Anxieties, Dreams, a framework that reflects on the precarity and possibility of the present moment while imagining potential collective futures. Through exhibitions and public events, the festival explores territories where personal narratives intersect with wider social and geopolitical shifts.

The programme brings together artists, curators, and practitioners through talks, workshops, and portfolio reviews, creating a space not only for presentation but for discussion.

Find out more on their website.

SCAN Tarragona Festival 2026

Tarragona, Spain / 16 October - 29 November

Since 2008, the SCAN Tarragona International Photography Festival has been dedicated to promoting emerging artists through a broad program of exhibitions, portfolio reviews, workshops, and podcasts. Supported by key regional partners – including the Provincial Council of Tarragona and the University Rovira i Virgili – the festival engages local communities and explores regional themes through initiatives like the Talent Latent showcase, presentations at Mèdol, and the participatory SCAN Actiu program.

For its 13th edition, centered on the theme of Metamorphosis, SCAN continues to push the boundaries of photography by blending it with other creative disciplines. The festival invites artists and audiences alike into a pluralistic space designed to encourage critical reflection, foster visual culture, and showcase transgressive imagination in an ever-evolving artistic landscape.

Check the full program on their website.

Acedia by Louise Desnos at Centre De La Photographie Genève

Geneva, Switzerland / 12 October - 8 January 2027

Curated by Aline Bovard Rudaz and Danaé Panchaud, in collaboration with Fondation Convergences, Acedia is Louise Desnos' contemplative visual exploration of laziness, fatigue, and intimacy. Located at the Maison de l'enfance et de l'adolescence, the exhibition takes its name from the state of profound apathy. By foregrounding "non-events," Desnos celebrates idleness as a creative act and a stance against contemporary demands for constant productivity, efficiency, and self-optimization. Her sensitive imagery – rich with literary, cinematic, and pictorial influences – frames sloth not as a shortcoming, but as a deliberate rejection of capitalist pressures.

Through models embodying quiet inertia, the series explores a quest for personal freedom, introspection, and melancholy. For Desnos, creating Acedia served as a personal reclamation of time – an intentional shift away from her constrained commercial photography toward an unhurried, uncompromised artistic space.

More info on the exhibition's website.

Encontros da Imagem 2026

Braga, Portugal / 18 September - 1 November

The 36th edition of Encontros da Imagem, themed Imagined Territories, Enchanted Lands, invites audiences to envision new forms of belonging in an interconnected world. Inspired by Marshall McLuhan’s concept of the "global village," the festival reflects on how technology, mobility, and multi-cultural experiences redefine identity and community. It proposes an exercise in shared imagination that transcends traditional national boundaries to encompass both human and non-human realms in a unified universe.

While rooted in photography, the festival extends across diverse visual art forms through exhibitions, portfolio reviews, performances, and talks. By creating a collaborative space for local and international artists, Encontros da Imagem fosters dialogue on the pressing social, cultural, and environmental realities of our time.

Learn more on their website.

Hier by Andrzej Steinbach at Huis Marseille

Amsterdam, Netherlands / 24 October - 7 February 2027

Hier marks Polish-German photographer Andrzej Steinbach’s debut in the Netherlands, presenting a ten-year overview of his meticulously constructed, minimalist works. Treating the act of seeing as an aesthetic problem, Steinbach uses director-like precision to guide neutral models – whom he refers to simply as "figures" – through subtle shifts in poses, outfits, and culturally inherited gestures. Across key series like Gesellschaft beginnt mit drei, Mayakovsky’s pose, and Erweiterungen, his photographs isolate patterns and break visual conventions, exposing how we automatically assign roles, meaning, and identity to what we see even when information is withheld.

Spanning macro-studies of worn tools in Auto Erotik to human-object relationships, the exhibition prompts viewers to catch themselves in the process of making assumptions without offering easy conclusions. Adapted from earlier presentations in Braunschweig and Erfurt, the show is accompanied by the catalogue Extensions, published by Spector Books.

Oslo Negativ Fotofestival 2026

Oslo, Norway / 10 October - 20 October

The sixth edition of Oslo Negativ brings life back to Oslo’s historic National Gallery over three weekends in October, occupying its basement, first, and second floors – including rooms previously closed to the public – several years after the building was cleared of art. Organised by Stiftelsen Oslo Negativ (a collaboration between Preus Museum, Møllersamlingen, and the local photography community), the festival creates a platform for documentary and artistic photography. Its core mission is to deepen public interest in the medium while fostering meaningful exchange between artists, industry professionals, and audiences.

Visitors can explore more than 40 exhibitions showcasing around 200 Norwegian and international photographers across a wide spectrum of visual styles, from reportage to experimental practices. Complementing the gallery installations, the festival features an extensive program of artist talks, lectures, film screenings, and hands-on workshops. By pairing historic architectural spaces with contemporary visual culture, Oslo Negativ offers a shared space for inspiration, discussion, and learning.

Find out more on their website.