International photography competition for young photographers from the Central and East Europe (CEE).

Open call for young and emerging artists in the field of contemporary art photography organized by Photon Gallery – Centre for Contemporary Photography from Ljubljana is running in its 7th edition this year.

The call is open to artists up to 35 years of age (including those born in 1985) who work in the CEE region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia) and Austria, or who come from these states and work abroad.

We aim to encourage artistic photography with this open call, therefore the jury will favour works which exhibit originality, unconventionality, and innovation both in their formal approach and regarding the selected themes and concepts. There is no prescribed theme for the call. We accept the works in the wide range of photography and photography-related practices (photography, photomontage, photo-collage, photo-installation, appropriation of found photographs, etc.).

The first prize amounts to 1.000 € for the production cost of a solo exhibition at Photon Gallery in 2021. The selection of 10 best applicants will be awarded 200€ put towards their production expenses with their work exhibited in a group exhibition in Ljubljana, Vienna and elsewhere.

THE JURY

The selection of the artists and the works will be in the hands of an international 3-member jury, composed of Olja Triaška Stefanović, the head of the Photography Department at the VSVU in Bratislava; professor Roman Bezjak, the dean of FH Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and course leader of the Photography department at the same university; and Špela Pipan, curator at Photon Gallery.
Elí Joteva, 3rd place winner DW 2018, Biogram Blueprints, 2018


THE APPLICATION SHOULD INCLUDE

• The author’s portfolio of maximum two completed projects or projects in the process, each can include maximum 10 photographs, in the resolution of at least 1,800 pixels on the long side in PDF or JPG format.
• The description of the projects and the concepts (in English) up to 1,500 characters.
• A short biography of the applicant.
• Additional technical specifications: format and dimensions of the works, optimal way of presentation in an exhibition format.

SUBMISSION OF THE APPLICATION

The complete application should be packed in one zip file and entitled in the following format:
Name_Surname_ProjectTitle.zip
Please send the zip file together using the application form at
If you encounter any issues with submitting your application please contact us at info@photon.si.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE

The applications should be submitted by midnight on Wednesday, 30 September 2020. The candidates will be informed of the results of the call by Wednesday, 14 October 2020.

THE EXHIBITION

The selected artists’ work will be presented in a group exhibition at Photon Gallery, expected to open at the beginning of November 2020 (exact date to be confirmed). The exhibition, accompanied by a small catalogue, will then travel from Ljubljana to Photon Gallery Vienna and also to other cities, where the project’s partners are located. A selection of works was exhibited as a part of the Month of Photography in Bratislava in 2018, and in Fotogalerie im Rathaus in Graz in 2019.

OUR CONTACT INFORMATION

For additional information contact us at info@photon.si and phone number +386 59 977907 (Monday to Friday from 12 to 6 pm); contact person: Špela Pipan.