From October 6th to November 17th, 2025, we are open to anyone interested in leading workshops, conferences, and discussion spaces at the Experimental Photo Festival 2026, which will take place in Barcelona from July 22nd to 26th. Individual entries will be announced by email starting December 17th.
The selected participants will be officially invited to participate in the festival and will receive a cash and in-kind compensation of €800, distributed as follows:
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6-day accommodation in our residence (€300) plus €170 or financial compensation of €470*
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A ticket to participate in a 4-hour workshop (€90)
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Official merchandise: bag, t-shirt, and photo books (estimated at €40)
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The five-day lunch (estimated at €50)
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€150 in courses from Ágora, School of Experimentation
DO YOU WANT TO SEND US YOUR PROPOSAL?
Follow these simple steps:
* To process payment, we require an invoice in your name. As can be seen on our financial transparency page, our festival includes 94 people receiving financial compensation (50 artists, 14 staff, and 30 volunteers) compared to 232 people who pay to register.
Mixing Techniques
Search the Message
Working in Community
Our approach to experimentation involves the intersection of disciplines, and we will consider proposals related to photography, but also to photobooks, film, video, architecture, sculpture, dance, and more, from an experimental perspective. For us, all festival participants are equal and come to share, teach, and learn; some by giving workshops, others by giving conferences, and others by showing their work in exhibitions.
During the festival, we proposed three challenges that organize our experimental practice and that must be reflected in the proposals submitted: Mixing Techniques, Finding the Message, and Working in Community.
Workshops and Conferences
The jury responsible for selecting the invited artists is composed of the Association's employees. The first phase of selection is carried out without the participation of directors or programmers, in order to ensure impartiality and avoid subjective criteria. In a second stage, the proposals that best fit the program are evaluated based on available time and space. This two-stage process requires patience, but once the decision is made, each person will receive a personalized email notification. The evaluation will follow three criteria, in this order:
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Adaptation to challenges
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Gender equality
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Novelty of the proposal
The selected artists will develop a comprehensive program during the festival. They will lead two workshops: a four-hour introductory workshop on a technique they have mastered, and an eight-hour professional workshop related to the three challenges. These workshops will also include a conference or panel discussion on any topic related to experimental photography. The workshops are designed so that participants not only observe a process, but also produce their own results and reflect on how to display them. In addition, the selected artists will be considered for exhibitions of their work using the same technique developed in their workshops, and will receive €100 in compensation for production and travel expenses.
How to participate?
To submit a proposal, you must download the corresponding document, complete it in detail, and upload it along with your personal information to the online form. It's essential to be precise, as the organisation of more than sixty workshops depends on the clarity of each proposal. The form requests information about the proposed activity, the challenge it addresses, the required technical requirements of the space (such as water, electricity, computer or projector, etc.), and a list of materials with the estimated budget for a group of eight people.
Each workshop must adhere to a budget of 50 euros for materials, covered by the Experimentalphotofestival Association. If the artist contributes materials, the amount can be refunded against a receipt. Since darkrooms are limited, it is recommended to request them only if absolutely necessary, keeping in mind that most workshops will be held in classrooms with tables, a projector, and the ability to darken the room.
The lectures and panel discussions will last a maximum of one and a half hours, in rooms with a capacity of between forty and eighty people and equipped with projection screens. These spaces may host debates, dialogues, or reflections on experimental photography and will generally feature the participation of two or three artists. All lectures will also be accessible internationally through the online festival.
Finally, as an essential part of the festival's philosophy, the selected artists must remain in Barcelona for all days of the event, thus reinforcing the community building and collective dialogue that define the Experimental Photo Festival.
You must download the form (1) and then submit the application (2) with the following information:
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The text of your biography, with a maximum of 250 words in your language.
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A PDF dossier about your work.
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A selection of 10 images of your work in JPG (maximum 10 MB).
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The PDF proposal form for workshops (with a list and estimated price of materials for 8 people), conferences, and the exhibition.
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A high-quality portrait in JPG.
Do you dare to apply for other calls?
EXHIBITIONS
EXTENDED UNTIL
NOV. 17!
Participate in the call for exhibitions and share your work with an international community passionate about alternative photography. Your work could be included in the festival's exhibitions, opening a space for dialogue, exchange, and visibility for artists exploring unconventional photographic processes.
EXTENDED UNTIL
NOV. 17!
RESIDENCY
INTERNATIONAL
of Experimentation
Join the International Experimentation Residency. A unique opportunity to develop projects, explore new processes, and interact with artists from around the world in a creative, collaborative, and inspiring environment dedicated to experimental photography.
with the collaboration of
General rules
All selected artists must be on Tuesday morning, July 22, 2025, at the Pati Llimona Civic Centre, where the workshops will be prepared, the materials will be reviewed, the technical requirements will be checked, and a first meeting will be held with the other conference participants.
Upon acceptance as guest artists, they will receive a mandatory contract detailing the aforementioned conditions, along with the payment method for financial compensation and the transfer of image and intellectual property rights to the Experimentalphotofestival Association.
Finally, we remind you that the festival does not organize parallel activities during the week before or after the event, and we ask that invited artists not plan other initiatives during this period either.
See you in Barcelona!
General conditions
Registration in this call entails automatic acceptance of the following rules:
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The artists give the Experimentalphotofestival Association the non-exclusive right to distribute and reproduce the photographs sent digitally (always indicating the name of the photographer and the title of the work) for promotion (for example: newsletters, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, the festival websites, Ágora, IEFC, Centro Cívico Pati Llimona, and the galleries where the exhibitions are held), for exhibition, educational and commercial purposes. No royalties or compensation will be paid for these purposes. The photographer retains all copyright and ownership rights in the works. However, please also note that third parties such as educational institutions, journalists, search engines or individuals may download, save, store or archive images from our website with or without our knowledge. The Experimentalphotofestival Association will have no control over such downloading and subsequent use and therefore cannot accept responsibility for such use. The artists assume and accept all legal and financial responsibility for any infringement of the privacy, property or copyright rights of others, caused by the creation or presentation of their work in public.
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The artists assign their image rights to the Experimentalphotofestival Association and it does not have the power to assign them to third parties without express consent. By registering, they authorize it to capture, reproduce and disseminate the images of the festival where their person is in still image or video format without geographical or temporal limitation and free of charge.
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The Experimentalphotofestival Association reserves the right to exclude from the festival those dossiers and artists who violate the general conditions of participation or who violate our values, copyright, and human or privacy rights.
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The Experimentalphotofestival Association is the organizer of the Experimental Photo Festival and the Ágora, School of Experimentation, which means that the assignment of rights to the association automatically allows its use by both events.
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The Experimentalphotofestival Association reserves the right to make changes to the program until the last moment.