The festival presents a generation of emerging photographers who subtly shed light on phenomena affecting and even transforming our environment and our daily life. Phenomena that we can miss now that so many demands are made on our gaze that it is almost blinded. An image of something banal runs counter to the sensational. It encourages us to observe what we perceive as normal and ordinary. A photograph of the banal may be grounded in our daily life and tied to a world that seems recognizable, comprehensible and rational, yet it also invites doubt.
It invites us to think about reality through its frame. And there is in them a kind of delicacy of subject and meaning. Discreetly and poetically, they reveal a world in continuous transition. Program and events. In their explorations of the remarkable ability of living things to adapt, the invited photographers record how human beings, animals, and even the landscape are transforming themselves in reaction to new conditions.
In the 21st century, the challenges are mainly created by humans themselves. Confronted with entirely new situations, individuals, whether in isolation or as members of a group, seek ways to adapt, or sometimes to resist it. The Festival has selected works of photography which engage closely with issues that raise questions for the future of our contemporary societies: intensive resource development, neocolonialism, demographics, economic needs, recent political changes, religion, genetic modification, climate change, new technologies, as well as the uses of the medium of photography itself.
The photographers have aimed at finding subjects that reflect a present that is very near to us, from one end of the planet to the other: from Japan to the US, from Ukraine to Lesotho, and in Switzerland too. The images offer a panorama of the practice of photography now: documentary photos, humanistic projects and conceptual ones; photographs with a scientific or classificatory aim; projects that incorporate archival images or images found on the internet; and installations that take possession of the exhibition space.
Comprising 22 exhibits, most of which will be receiving their Swiss premiere, even worldwide, the Festival is a unique opportunity for discoveries. With a rich programme of activities centred on dialogue about the images and meetings with the artists, the Festival is a three-week long celebration of photography.
