The Member
Fotofestiwal Lodz
Fotofestiwal is one of the first photography festivals in Central and Eastern Europe. This small, spontaneous initiative today, it's an international event with more than 20,000 visitors each year. The festival takes place in Lodz - a city with a remarkable industrial history, which has inspired the organizers from the beginning. Exhibitions are presented in the main festival center - the post-industrial buildings of former textile factories. More than 30 exhibitions can be seen throughout the city, organized in cooperation with local galleries, museums and universities. The program includes: exhibitions (curated Main Program, Open Program, book exhibitions), author meetings, slide shows, film screenings and educational activities. We are interested in photography that tells about the world, intervenes, engages, makes you think and take action. The festival draws audiences from all over Europe every year, with 30 exhibitions and more than 50 events over the 10 days of the festival, in at least 20 locations across the city of Lodz. The festival was covered by: New York Times, The Washington Post, British Journal of Photography, Der Greif and many more.
Nominations
Discover the artists selected by
Fotofestiwal Lodz
since
2018
The artists invited to participate in this year’s FUTURES Talent programme stand out for their innovative approaches and compelling narratives which resonate with contemporary issues, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, and are often informed by their personal experiences. Their fresh perspectives and ability to capture the nuances of human emotion and social change make them intriguing figures. Each exploring new visual territories, they offer unique contributions that enrich and diversify the field, marking them promising talents to watch.
Almost all of the artists invited to participate in FUTURES 2023 by Łódź Fotofestiwal refer directly to the most important events of recent years in Central and Eastern Europe. They use and expand the visual language of the document, and their works are important in representing the social involvement of artists, as well as topics such as youth, generational experience and the relationship between man and nature.
Created in 2001, Fotofestiwal was one of Poland's first photography events: a small-scale, spontaneous initiatives by a group of Sociology students. Today, the festival is an international event attended annually by over 22,000 guests. We treat it as a public meeting hub, with photography serving as a point of departure for vital discussions.
The festival is held in Łódź - a city with an exceptional industrial history, which has always been a source of inspiration for its organisers. Exhibitions are staged in post-industrial settings, from the Art_Inkubator festival centre in a former cotton storage facility, to the impressive OFF PiotrKowska complex in the heart of the city. Every year, new venues open especially for festival events; over 30 exhibitions take over the city, organised in cooperation with local art galleries.
Fotofestiwal has hosted exhibitions, workshops and meetings with artists such as Roger Ballen, Joan Fontcuberta, Vivianne Sassen and Christina de Middel. We also developed Photo-Match , an original portfolio review format which reduces the distance between experts and artists, allowing for the effective creation of collaborative networks. This formula has since been adopted by numerous around the world.
Fotofestiwal was established in 2001 as one of the first photography events in Central Europe. It is known not only for its excellent programmes prepared in cooperation with world-class specialists, but also for its exceptional atmosphere. The programme is always created on the basis of curator selections and an annual open call announced every autumn.
We are from Łódź – the city of extraordinary history and impressive industrial architecture. Our city has always been an important point of reference for us. We organise exhibitions, meetings, workshops and concerts in old factories, palaces and villas. We present different faces of photography, but we also make sure that the festival is a space for meetings, conversations and exchange of experience. We have created an original concept of Photo-Match: a completely different portfolio review, in which we try to break with the inequalities between experts and photographers. Photography,city, collaboration and community are important to us. Since 2016, we have been operating as a collective – without one boss or a top-down management structure.
