Can we understand the extremist tendencies in society through art? The 12th edition of the Fotograf Festival believes so. With this year's subtitle No One Belongs Here More Than You, the festival presents an artistic response to the worrying rise in the normalization of nationalist, populist and far-right tendencies in society and shows how contemporary art can help to understand them. You will be able to see this for yourself from 8 September to 30 October 2022.

Six galleries in Prague and Ústí nad Labem will present works by 36 Czech and international artists. The works use documentary, media-reflexive and activist approaches and together create interconnected environments where art and theory can be shared and discussed with the audience. In addition to photographs and audiovisual works, visitors can also expect discussions with the artists, lectures, screenings, or guided walks through interesting places in Prague. The festival is curated by three women: Markéta Mansfieldová (CZ), Elisabeth Pichler (DE) and Tereza Rudolf (CZ). 

The “home scene" of the festival is the Fotograf Gallery in Jungmannova Street in Prague 1, where the 12th edition of the festival will open on 8 September at 6 pm with the opening of the exhibition Extremely Normal. The first exhibition in the festival program asks how to cope with the far right through visual means, especially in relation to contemporary photography and audiovisual art.

The festival's core exhibition No One Belongs Here More Than You will take place in the National Gallery's Trade Fair Palace and will present artistic strategies that challenge nationalist narratives as well as their formation and manipulation for cultural and political purposes.

The representation of national narratives in public space is reflected in the works in the Gallery VI PER. The exhibition Contesting Sites of Memory challenges the notion of a universally shared national legacy.

A shared space will be opened in the Jelení Gallery, where the group Office invites visitors to develop a Practices of Belonging.

Coming to terms with the contemporary visual presence of far-right symbolism in public space is the theme of the exhibition Outlet presented at Artwall Gallery.

Outside of Prague, the exhibition at the Hraničář Gallery seeks Common Grounding, which takes into account the specific context of the city of Ústí nad Labem.

In collaboration with etc. gallery, the festival presents audiovisual works that use their evidential power to combat repressive ideologies.

The complete program of the 12th Fotograf Festival can be found here.

Fotograf Festival

For 12 years now, Fotograf Festival, the only thematically and curatorially conceived photography festival in the Czech Republic, has been dealing with the intersection of photography and contemporary art - just like its partner projects Fotograf Gallery and Fotograf Magazine. The festival takes place in Prague, and this year also in Ústí nad Labem, and thanks to its connections to several institutions and experts, it offers events that go beyond the medium of photography towards community projects, performances, discussions, walks and meetings outside of established exhibition spaces. The purpose of the festival is to open socially and artistically relevant topics and to subject them to different questions and interpretations through a diverse program and media.

Exhibitions

Fotograf Gallery / Extremely Normal (9. 9. – 2. 10. 2022) . Galerie Jelení / Practices of Belonging (10. 9. – 25. 9. 2022) . Galerie VI PER / Contesting sites of memory (13. 9. – 31. 10. 2022) . Galerie Artwall / Outlet (16. 9. 2022 – 5. 1. 2023) . The National Gallery in Prague, Trade Fair Palace / No One Belongs Here More Than You (23. 9. 2022 – 8. 1. 2023) . Galerie Hraničář, Ústí nad Labem / Common Grounding (24. 9. 2022 – 18. 1. 2023)

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