fotodoks open call 2025
In 2025, FOTODOKS will once again take place in Munich (DE), with a group exhibition and a four-day accompanying programme. Through an engagement with photography on multiple levels, the emotional, historical, and cultural layers of images are not only seen but also 'felt' – a notion advanced by Tina Campt, a Black feminist theorist who specializes in visual culture and contemporary art. FOTODOKS is launching an open call on 15 October 2024 that builds on this idea.
Taking as its overarching theme the term Feedback, FOTODOKS invites professional lens-based artists and photographers, regardless of their geographical location, to submit work that resonates with the thought-provoking focus of its forthcoming festival edition.
Initially used as a technical term in early communication models, the term 'feedback' derives from the combination of 'feed', meaning to supply or to nourish, and 'back', implying a return or reflection. However, the concept of feedback also applies to our daily interaction with images and visual media. In what ways does photography facilitate or even complicate this exchange of information?
From viral social media feeds to reinforcing echo chambers, every image now generates a response, often influenced by algorithmic control, shaping how ideas are shared and ultimately leading to a confirmation of preexisting biases and norms. In this context, the 2025 edition will explore the ongoing complexities of an increasingly interconnected world, where the concept of 'feedback' not only speaks to affection, empathy, resistance, and a sense of belonging but also addresses the political and ecological tensions surrounding power and resources. Images are no longer just tools for capturing our lives and environment; they have evolved into a circulating fabric that derives meaning from how we interact and think with them.
In view of today's global polarizations, ongoing wars, and rightward political shifts, Feedback embraces FOTODOKS' dedication to fostering ongoing conversations about the expanding responsibility of photography. The open call thus invites artists and photographers to question the many conflicting facets of image production, circulation, and consumption. In this way, FOTODOKS 2025 seeks to bring together emerging and existing projects in documentary photography that broadly explore the multiple implications of feedback under debate today – be it in social interactions, reflections on the medium itself, or strategies for shaping and controlling identity.