Backlight
About Backlight Photo Festival

About Backlight Photo Festival

EN ⎥ The Backlight Photo Festival has roots in documentary photography. Yet today our event focuses on current social themes extending culturally engaged perspectives on reality through various concepts and artistic approaches. The Backlight Photo Festival promotes intercultural dialogue by revealing the hidden, the veiled, the lost and the forgotten.

The Photographic Centre Nykyaika has organized international photography festival since 1987 in Tampere, Finland. Through out its´ thirty years of history the festival has presented nearly 400 artists from over 40 countries in various exclusive exhibitions. Since 2012 the Backlight Photo Festival has produced additional actions also for the years in between the festival –such as international residencies, exhibition exchanges and promotion of Finnish photography in forms of exhibitions and tours in partner festivals and institutions abroad.

Each Backlight  forms a new unique entity with current social theme, renewed structure and a challenging content with exhibitions and wide-ranging Symposium program.

 

FI ⎥ Backlight –valokuvatapahtuman juuret ovat dokumentaarisessa valokuvauksessa. Tapahtuma keskittyy yhä yhteiskunnallisiin teemoihin laajentaen kulttuureihin sidonnaisia näkökulmia lukuisten sisällöllisten ja taiteellisten lähestymistapojen ja toteutusten kautta. Backlight tukee kulttuurienvälistä vuoropuhelua tuomalla esiin niiden kätkettyjä, verhottuja, kadotettuja ja unohdettuja osia.

Valokuvakeskus Nykyaika on järjestänyt kansainvälistä valokuvatapahtumaa Tampereella jo vuodesta 1987.  30-vuotisen historiansa aikana festivaali on esittänyt lähes taiteilijaa yli 40 maasta lukuisissa korkeatasoisissa näyttelyissä. Vuodesta 2012 lähtien Backlight Photo Festival on järjestänyt toimintaa myös festivaalin välivuosille – näitä ovat olleet kansainväliset residenssit, näyttelyvaihdot sekä suomalaisen valokuvan esittäminen näyttelyiden ja kiertueiden muodossa kumppanifestivaaleilla ja näyttelytiloissa ulkomailla.

Jokainen Backlight on aina uusi ja erilainen. Tapahtumalla on ajankohtainen yhteiskunnallinen teema, uudistettu rakenne ja haastava sisältö näyttelyissä ja Symposium-osuudessa.

 

General information regarding the open call:

Backlight Photo Festival is a triennial. Therefore the main event, festival in Tampere, only takes place in every three years [ (…) 2014, 2017…].

After Backlight ´14 we have decided to have the open call one year before the actual festival event takes place. This will give us more preparation time as well as able us to accept series still in process. We intent to work closely with the selected artists to ensure the finalization up to the artist´s concept presented.

Our open call is aimed to photographers and artists working with lens-based media under the events current theme. Application process takes place online.

Please note: we only accept applications submitted via our platform at www.opencall.fi.

Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

  • The submission is open to all photographers and artist working with lens-based media
  • Submitting projects for Backlight Photo Festival is free of charge.
  • Backlight Photo Festivals submissions have no restrictions regarding the age or nationality of the applicant. Also groups and collectives are accepted to participate.
  • The workers and / or persons currently holding a position of trust in the organizing / partnering institutions are not eligible to apply.
  • In addition to the open call Backlight Photo Festival can also invite artists or arrange co-organized exhibitions or other related program with its partners.

Selection process:

– The decisions will be made by an international jury, invited by Backlight.

– The decisions will be based on the projects relation and relevance to the festivals current theme.

– Selected artists will be informed in person.

– Due to the amount of submissions expected, the jury is not able to justify the unaccepted applications.

Grant of rights

  • When submitting entries, participants confirm that the material is their own and copyright has not been violated.
  • The artist warrants that third party rights are not attended.
  • The applicant is responsible for authorizations and release from their models and subjects.
  • The organizer has no right to use the provided material in other purposes than the jury process before contacting the artists and agreeing the terms of use in writing.