FOTODOKS Open Call 2025

• Fotodoks Festival

• Deadline: November 15th, 2024

• Prize: €500 + Exhibition in Munich (Germany)

• Theme: Feedback

• Entry Fees: Free

• REGISTRATION: CLOSED. Click HERE for more Opportunities

In 2025, FOTODOKS returns to Munich (DE) with a group exhibition and a four-day program that delves deep into photography. Through this medium, the festival aims to uncover and engage with the emotional, historical, and cultural layers of images, reflecting the ideas of Black feminist theorist Tina Campt, who focuses on visual culture and contemporary art. An open call will launch on 15 October 2024, inviting artists to submit work in alignment with this theme.

The festival’s overarching theme, "Feedback," calls on professional photographers and lens-based artists from around the world to contribute to the upcoming edition. Initially a technical term, 'feedback' combines the ideas of 'feeding' and 'returning' information. In today’s world, it applies to our daily interaction with images, challenging us to consider how photography facilitates or complicates communication.

Whether it’s through social media’s viral nature or reinforcing echo chambers, every image generates responses—often manipulated by algorithms, reinforcing biases and norms. FOTODOKS 2025 will examine the complexity of this interconnectedness, focusing on how 'feedback' encompasses empathy, belonging, resistance, and also grapples with the political and ecological power dynamics of today. Photography has transformed from a tool for documenting life to a fabric that derives meaning through interaction and reflection.

Given today’s polarized world, ongoing conflicts, and rising political extremism, the theme Feedback underscores FOTODOKS’ commitment to expanding the conversation around the evolving role of photography. The open call encourages photographers to examine the intricate processes behind image creation, distribution, and consumption, drawing attention to their impact on social interaction and identity.

In addition to the open-call process, the FOTODOKS curatorial team will directly invite selected artists. The festival encourages applications from people of all ethnicities, genders, religions, abilities, and backgrounds. Submissions in both English and German are accepted, and both individual and group submissions are welcome.