We are delighted to announce the Open Call for exhibits at the Fotofestival Lenzburg 2022, which will be held in Lenzburg between the 26 of August and the 2nd of October 2022, in various locations within the city. Renown Photographers and emergent talents are invited to share their visions, with a project or single images, related to our festival theme for the 2022 edition re:sources 2.0.

As we all know only too well, there have been enormous changes and unprecedented challenges in all areas of life since the start of 2020: Everything we hold dear, everything we take for granted, everything that gives us support, everything that gives us a sense of security, has been challenged. The voids in our lives on the other hand allowed us to reevaluate what may be truly valuable to us. Deprivation proved to us what is most urgent to care about and explore what are essential resources for humanity and in general for our world. On the material as well as the immaterial levels.

The origin of a better future is always in the now. And photography is the perfect medium to contemplate this moment, reflecting on the past and projecting onto what is to come. For the 2022 edition, Fotofestival Lenzburg continues to explore the theme of resources, focusing on the relationship between man and nature, the health and well-being of all of us, and the major climatic and human changes that we are currently experiencing.

The competition is open to all types of photography and is aimed at photographers from near and far. An international jury of curators (from Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy) will choose the most interesting projects, which will be exhibited during the Festival at the Gallery of the Villa Müllerhaus. One project will be awarded the Jury Award of 1500 CHF. An additional group of single images (about 50) selected by the jury will be showcased in the shop windows of Lenzburg’s historic town centre, with the chance to win the Public’s Award (every image will have a corresponding number and the public will be asked to vote for their favourite image via SMS) of 1000 CHF.

What the winners receive

  • Exhibition during the Festival for 3 selected projects and more than 50 single images.
  • Jury’s Prize for best “Project”: 1.500 CHF
  • People’s Prize for best “Single Image”: 1.000 CHF
  • Accommodation in Lenzburg for the opening’s weekend (26-27 August 2022)
  • Dedicated feature on the Festival’s website and communication channels / features in Festival’s partners channels (up to 20 partners)


Judging Criteria

The jury will decide which project addresses the theme re:sources with depth, high quality and original photographic language. Projects may have already been produced and exhibited but must be recent (no older than 2018). Photographic projects designed for indoor or open air exhibitions, printed or digital are eligible.


Application: Please submit 5 to 15 images and a brief description of the proposed project for Category Project or 1 to 3 images for category Single Images

Eligibility: all Swiss and international photographers and artists working in photo-based media

Jury: Daniel Blochwitz (Festival Curator), Margherita Guerra (Festival Director), Anne Lacoste (Director Institute for Photography Lille), Ute Noll (Photo Director at Du Magazin)

Application Fees: Single Images Category – CHF 16.50 / EUR 15.00; Projects CHF 25 / EUR 23

Submission Deadline: 6 March 2022

Registration

Jury

Daniel Blochwitz

Curator of the Fotofestival Lenzburg, independent Curator for photography

Daniel Blochwitz (*1973/D) is a freelance curator for photography in Zurich. He studied photography in the USA and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Florida in 2003. During his studies he taught photography for several semesters and curated his first exhibition together with Professor Barbara Jo Revelle. In 2003 he participated in the 50th Venice Biennale (Utopia Station) together with a small international group of artists and art historians around Martha Rosler. After his studies, Blochwitz went to New York at the invitation of the Whitney Museum to attend the postgraduate Independent Study Program there. In 2005 he began working for various galleries, initially in New York City and later as director of the Edwynn Houk Gallery in Zurich, which specializes in photography. Since 2015, Blochwitz has been a freelance curator specializing in photography and has realized various solo and group exhibitions for museums, galleries and off-spaces, among others on Vivian Maier, Arnold Odermatt and Lee Miller. In addition, he publishes, teaches and advises repeatedly on photography. Between 2017 and 2019 he was also given the mandate of artistic director and curator of photo basel, which he successfully developed further during this time.

Daniel Blochwitz is a member of the association Spectrum – Photography in Switzerland and was appointed to the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh) this year. Daniel Blochwitz lives and works in Zurich.

Margherita Guerra

Director Fotofestival Lenzburg

Since 4 years director of the Fotofestival Lenzburg. After studying theology, multimedia publishing and photography in Milan, she has been working in the field of photography for 20 years. She worked as a manager and picture editor in various publishing houses and for ten years in the photo archive Alinari, Florence. In 2015 she founded Yourpictureditor in Switzerland, an international network of picture editors offering advice and support for photo projects in various countries.

Ute Noll

Photo Director of Magazine Du

Ute Noll is a magazine, book and exhibition maker with a focus on photography. Her project agency UTE NOLL VISUAL PROJECTS and her gallery UNO ART SPACE with a focus on international artistic photography have been based in Stuttgart since 2007. Ute Noll realises her projects internationally. Since 2013, she has been photo director at Du Magazin, Zurich, and is also responsible for the conception of Du Magazine in the editorial team and for its issue dramaturgy. Developing portfolio formats for various magazines since 1999 and author on photography since 2004. Co-festival organiser Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie since 2004. Lecturer FH Bielefeld since 2009. Since 2001, Ute Noll has been regularly invited to juries and international photofestivals such as Fotofest, Houston. In 2020 she was a juror for the Ilwoo Photographs Award, Seoul, the Foundation Prize for Photographic Art of the Alison and Peter Klein Foundation, Nussdorf, and the Nannen Jury Category Photography, Hamburg. She has been self-employed since 2007, before that she was, among other things, responsible picture editor, Frankfurter Rundschau magazine, 1999 to 2007. M.A. degree in sociology, Tübingen.

Anne Lacoste

Director Institute for the Photography, Lille

Firstly graduated from a business school, Anne Lacoste wrote her Ph.D. thesis at La Sorbonne on the history of archeological photography. She was curator at the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne from 2011 to 2017.

She worked at Christie’s for five years before starting her career as a curator at the Photography Department of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Since 2005, her projects have spanned the history of photography with monographs on Felice Beato, Paul Strand, Irving Penn, Luc Delahaye, and Philippe Halsman, and themes such as the portrait, contemporary American photography, the photo booth, photo collections, and archives.