[Image: Antonio Guerra, Raise the Earth]
As member of the FUTURES platform, PhotoIreland are co-curators and hosts to the annual travelling exhibition. Along with our exhibition partners FOTODOK and the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, we have formulated the annual theme and selected artists from a FUTURES open call, which received over 100 applications from across Europe, responding to the theme of ENERGY: Redistributing Power and Taming Consumption. The first of the exhibitions will launch at the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center in Budapest this October 2023 during the FUTURES Annual Event.
The selected artists are: Antonio Guerra (ES), Dávid Biró (HU), Hiên Hoàng (VN/DE), Marta Pinto Machado (CV/PT), Tanja Engelberts (NL), Umberto Diecinove (IT), Yana Kononova (UA) and Yana Wernicke (DE). Their projects will be exhibited at the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center (Budapest), PhotoIreland (Dublin) and FOTODOK (Utrecht).
The theme of ENERGY aims to explore, on one hand, the ecological, socio-political, economic, and humanitarian energy crises that humanity and non-human entities are facing today. On the other hand, Energy is paradoxically seen as the power needed to bring change into this world. It serves as the catalyst for vitality, in terms of vitality, creativity, strength, and consolidation, brings people together, makes them socially active, helps each other, and enables them to react to ecological and socio-political emergencies. Lastly, the annual theme focuses on practices that reflect on the medium of photography, its specificity, and its circulation in relation to energy.
“We received 116 incredibly strong submissions. […] There were so many talented artists and incredible work submitted […] With the finalists that we collectively selected, we emphasise the diversity of the approaches to the subject matter. While some projects talk about the destructive forces of energy in warfare or in extractivist society (Engelberts, Kononova), others explore existing strategies as possible solutions (Biro, Diecinove, Guerra), exemplify desirable companionships (Wernicke) and reflect on healing (Hoang). Finally, there is a perspective on how the colonial and capitalist structures shaped contemporary cities and how the energy of presence in these spaces could be a form of resistance (Machado)”
The jury and co-curators for the 2023 ENERGY travel exhibition are Ángel Luis González and Julia Gelezova (PhotoIreland); Emese Mucsi (Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center); Daria Tuminas (FOTODOK).
PhotoIreland and Futures
Futures Photography Platform is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, and PhotoIreland is the Irish partner of the platform.
Since 2017, PhotoIreland is the Irish member of the European Platform of Photography Futures, alongside 17 other partner organisations. Futures organises a series of events across Europe within each of its member countries. The aim of the platform is to pool the resources and talent programmes of leading photography institutions across Europe in order to increase the capacity, mobility and visibility of its selected artists. All participant members of the platform put forward every year 5 artists to be promoted nationally, and that alongside all the other selected artists gather at the annual Futures event — previously held at Unseen Amsterdam and in an online festival RESET last year. It is there where they enjoy a series of professional development events conceived to further their careers and promote their work. The artists are also promoted online, in print, participate in awards, and enjoy a profile page on the Futures website. You can visit these at futures-photography.com/artists
To date, PhotoIreland has put forward 30 Irish and Ireland-based artists, selected through direct invitation and an open call: Aindreas Scholz, Aisling McCoy, Aoife Herrity, Audrey Gillespie, Barry W Hughes, Becks Butler, Cian Burke, Ciaran Óg Arnold, Clare Lyons, Dorje de Burgh, Emilia Rigaud, Emma O’Brien, Garry Loughlin, George Voronov, Jamin Keogh, Jialin Long, Mark Duffy, Mark McGuinness, Megan Doherty, Miriam O’ Connor, Niamh Barry, Patrick O’Byrne, Pauline Rowan, Phelim Hoey, Róisín White, Ronan McCall, Ryan Allen, Shia Conlon, Vera Ryklova, and Yvette Monahan.
The current members of the platform are Bienal Fotografia do Porto (PT), CAMERA (IT), Centre Photographique Rouen Normandie (FR), Copenhagen Photo Festival (DK), Der Greif (DE), FOMU (BE), FOTODOK (NL), Fotogalleriet (NO), Fotofestiwal Lodz (PL), Fotograf 07 (CZ), ISSP (LV), Organ Vida (CR), PHotoESPAÑA (ES), PhotoIreland (IR), Photo Romania Festival (RO), Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Centre (HU), Triennial of Photography Hamburg (DE), and Void (GR), and research member Eurokleis (IT).
FUTURES is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. The ENERGY exhibition at PhotoIreland and its engagement programme is co-funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.
