Results Announced: Discover The Five Recipients of PhMuseum Days 2023 Photo Festival Open Call

Their projects will be showcased in Bologna from 22 September to 1 October as part of the official festival program. Learn more about their work and read the judges' motivations.

The quality of the applications for the PhMuseum Days 2023 Photo Festival Open Call was so remarkable that the jury together with PhMuseum Days Director and Curator decided to award five individual exhibitions instead of the initial four. The prize recipients are Appunti Per Un'orestade Africana - A Democracy In Fatigue by Gloria Oyarzabal - a reflection on the universalisation of Western discourse, postcolonial gaze, and the concept of democracy - Security Questions by Daniel Everett - a narrative on the absurdity and melancholy of mundane systems - Non Technological Devices by Chloé Milos Azzopardi - an exploration of our perception of the future that blends ecological and hyper-technological imagery - Captionthis by Luca Massaro - a portrait of the conflicting hybridisation of contexts in modern communication - West Of Here by Leonardo Magrelli - a project that challenges reality with Los Angeles images from Grand Theft Auto.

Judge Sara Palmieri comments on the work of Gloria Oyarzabal: "Through a deep and constantly renewed process of analytical self-critique and a visual narrative that carefully avoids the danger of the single story forcing us to review also the limits of verbal language, Gloria Oyarzabal’s work invites us to reflect on the creation of knowledge, the invention of freedom, the violence exercised on the land, the universalisation of the hegemonic discourses of the West and to both collective and individual memory."

Judge Carla Liesching shares her motivations for the selection of Daniel Everett: "The more that I sit with Security Questions by Daniel Everett, the more unnerved I am by the reality it evokes: A world composed of a series of gates and doors that ask us continually to perform ourselves via images and text. Everett presents the viewer with deftly layered digital collages and photographs, alongside an installation of drapery containing a list of red and blue “security questions” that have become commonplace in our 21st-century networked society. The use of this everyday language speaks to the ways in which technological processes permeate and also halt, curb and control our daily lives. The project is deadly serious, with a good dose of dry humor on the side, and it poses a literal litany of questions about our heavily surveilled society."

Judge Marcelo Brodsky remarks on the selection of Non Technological Devices by Chloé Milos Azzopardi : “The major conduct and cultural changes determined by the digitalization of our everyday lives have totally modified the way in which we live. The mobile phone, computers, and cameras have distanced us from real life and from our connection with nature. This essay provokes us to consider a closer connection with nature and our senses, to question ourselves about the changes that the new technologies are generating in our perceptions and in our life.”

PhMuseum’s Director Giuseppe Oliverio reflects on the choice of Luca Massaro’s work: “Captionthis is a smart project that invites us to reflect on the dynamics between textual and visual language. The infinite possibilities of pairing a word and an image are declined according to Massaro’s vision that effectively floats between nostalgia and humor while referencing fashion, advertising, and urban lifestyle. His visual essay succeeds in inviting us to reflect on the contemporary use of iconotexts and in imagining how its power could be instrumentalized through new tools such as AI softwares.”

PhMuseum’s curator Rocco Venezia explains why the panel selected West of Here by Leonardo Magrelli: "West of Here is a captivating exploration of the intricate relationship between human perception and machine-generated realities. Through seemingly traditional photographs of Los Angeles, this work is blurring the line between the tangible world and the intangible virtual realm, while challenging our preconceived notions of truth and authenticity in photography. With his images, Magrelli is further inviting us to ponder on the very nature of perception and the complex interplay between human experience and visual interpretation."

The 18 works selected for the festival's projections and the 40 images chosen for the collective installation can be seen at phmuseum.com/d23. A big thanks to all applicants and supporters of the Open Call third edition. In July we will unveil this third edition full program which will comprise of workshops, portfolio reviews, talks and much more. Stay tuned and we hope to see you in Bologna, Italy from 22 September to 1 October.