The formation of philosophical and social thought of different cultures and their interpenetration as elements creating the contemporary world order and the code of visual communication are the basis of the museum collections, private collections, individual and collective exhibitions presented during this year’s festival. They are exposed to the public according to Aby Warburg’s method of iconographic analysis. “Collecting Worlds,” as the topic of the festival, illustrates the human needs to organise and describe everything around us as a form that builds harmony against the chaos of the Universe. Collecting also means acquiring trophies and the need to share them with the audience.
Collecting is always determined by precisely defined rules that subordinate the choices made and the systematic creation of specific collections. Hence, we present to our recipients the numerous worlds contained in various museums collections, as well as individual views of artists from around the world. As a complement to this perspective, we bring the profile of Polish photography festivals closer to the audience through their direct presentations in the context of the topic.
Aby Warburg was an art historian who, on the one hand, introduced the method of iconographic analysis – analysing works of art through the symbolism they contain – and, on the other hand, as a consequence of this analysis, led to a reading of the meanings contained in art by juxtaposing works or artefacts from different eras that seemingly have nothing in common. For Warburg, the development of culture was not a temporal, chronological sequence, but rather a proliferation of symbolic and allegorical energies rooted in primordial anxiety – their conscious rationalisation allows us to contain the chaos (ordering, collecting) and distance ourselves from the source of anxiety. The Mnemosyne Atlas he was creating is a concept of memory understood as an archive of images, a visual archive of European cultural history and a reconstruction of collective memory. The curators and artists of the current edition are interested in the method of creating the Atlas and it is to this method that we refer during the festival. Ultimately, it allows us, following Warburg, to get to know the human being and his psyche through the image, rather than deciphering the artwork itself. This is why we will be more interested in associative rather than chronological or descriptive statements in the exhibitions of the collection.
dr hab. Grzegorz Jarmocewicz prof. UWM
Artistic director of the festival
BIAŁYSTOK INTERPHOTO – International Festival of Photography
is an interdisciplinary event promoting photography and related media
that make up the contemporary form of visual expression.
BIAŁYSTOK INTERPHOTO
is a cyclical festival of high artistic quality, held as a biennial, every two years. It includes not only exhibition activities but also meetings, lectures, workshops, multimedia shows, school competitions, and activities combining photography with music or literature, as well as city games. These activities are aimed at audiences of all age categories. The festival has been growing steadily since 2013 and is anticipated by audiences, artists, and critics as the most important event of its kind in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. During recent editions, statistics have shown that more than twenty thousand direct attendees and over one million online participants have honoured us with their participation.
The main goal of the festival is to constantly expand the international platform we have previously created for the exchange of experience and ideas between artists from Eastern and Western Europe, enabling a cross-border dialogue not only between artists and photography enthusiasts but also with the general public. In addition to classic artists of the medium, we present artists who employ contemporary methods and themes, represent neo-avant-garde attitudes, or operate in the realm of critical art. Such presentations raise public awareness not only about photography or multimedia but also about the issues of contemporary civilisation, which is engrossed in material aspects of life. They increase sensitivity to moral phenomena, public and individual changes, suffering, and political problems affecting both democratic countries and those still under regimes. They draw attention to omnipresent oppression, McDonaldization, nationalist and climate threats, and, on the other hand, to the positive development of civilization through scientific achievements.
The festival’s activities popularise current trends in contemporary Polish and foreign photography, with an emphasis on artistic phenomena from Central and Eastern European countries. An important element is the educational theme, situating the medium in relation to social and historical issues. This is why exhibitions showcasing artistic phenomena occurring in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe that influenced the development of world art have been permanently included in the schedule. The festival also presents contemporary Polish continuators of the artistic thought of the inter-war period to show the continuity of the development of Polish art after 1945.
The main theme of the festival, regardless of the edition, is THE BORDER, with all the dimensions belonging to this concept, from Genius Loci to the areas of individual experience on a spiritual or experimental level. As part of this year’s festival, we have planned to present more than 200 artists, with the direct participation of around 100 of them, as well as 17 curators and 15 jurors from abroad. There will be: 30 exhibitions, 3 workshops, 4 film screenings in the Helios cinema network, an innovative hybrid Portfolio Review, competitions such as INTERPHOTO GRAND PRIX, Street Art, and Young Photography, a photo show with live music, a scientific panel on the profiling of Polish photo festivals, 5 lectures and talks, 28 author meetings, an international streaming press conference, an inauguration ceremony with the participation of the public, guests, artists, provincial and city authorities, curators, critics, and publishers; a picnic and a photo walk. Those unable to make it to Bialystok are invited to visit our social media and website, which has been visited by guests from all over the world since the beginning of the festival. During INTERPHOTO, entries exceed 1 million.
This year’s edition invites artists from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belgium, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, directors of photography festivals, jurors, and critics from Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA. Large group exhibitions are organized on the basis of international cooperation with the Olomouc Art Museum in the Czech Republic and the Lithuanian Museum of Photography in Šiauliai, the Schupmann Collection, the Cezary Pieczyński Collection, the Września Collection, and the Leica Collection – Poland.
You Are Welcome!
Art historian, 1990-2015 photographycurator in the Centreof Contemporary Art in Warsaw. Expert in portfolio reviews at numerous national and international photography festivals, such as Mesac Fotografie-Bratislawa, Fotofest-Houston, Image Festival-Aarhus, Photo Festival-Kaunas, Krakow Photomonth Festival, Photofestival Łódź, and many other. Curator of numerous exhibitions in Poland and abroad. Founder and editorof photographic journal FOTOTAPETA (online version in the last several years). Cooperated with, among others, Images, European Photography, Foto, Exit, Photography, Sztuka.pl, Imago.Photoeditor for Gazeta Wyborcza. Honorary member of ZPAF and member-correspondent of Deutsche Fotografische Akademie.
A.D.,lecturer at the Film School in Łódź, curator, artist.Author of the award-winning album „Evil Man. He explores quasi-document and authenticity ofphotographic medium in various contexts. Winner of many international competitions: Prix Voles Off: Selections 2013 The Rencontresd’Arles Off Festival, France; Photo Diploma Award 2013, Poland. Has exhibited in Poland and abroad.
Polish visual artist, photographer, educator, curator, juror of international photography competitions, reviewer of portfolio reviews, co-founder and Artistic Director of the International Photography Festival Białystok INTERPHOTO – one of the most prestigious photography festivals in Central and Eastern Europe. Author of texts on photography. He graduated with honours from the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan in photography. He received his doctorate at the National Film School in Łódź and his habilitation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. He is currently a professor at the Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. Grzegorz Jarmocewicz’s works have been exhibited in such cities as Berlin, Brescia, Bratislava, Budapest, Dresden, Yokohama, Kaunas, Poznań, Rotterdam, Tallinn, Warsaw and Wrocław. The artist’s works can be found in private collections and at the District Museum in Suwałki, CCA Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Museo Ken Damy di Fotografia Contemporanea, Brescia, Italy, CCA Suwałki, CLZ Białystok.
Born in 1960. PhD in art history, critic, juror, curator of exhibitions (including: Joseph Beuys, Zofia Rydet, Jan Saudek, Erwin Olaf, Diane Ducruet, Katerina Mistal) and lecturer in the history of photography. In the years 1985-2005 he worked at the Art Museum in Łódź, most recently as the head of the Department of Photography and Visual Techniques (1998-2005). Blog author: www.jureckifoto.blogspot.com, www.omniekrzysztofjurecki.blogspot.com
Valentyn Odnoviun is a visual artist, curator and photography theorist based in Vilnius, Lithuania. He holds Master’s degrees in Photography and Media Arts as well as Art History and Theory from the Vilnius Academy of Arts. In addition to his artistic and academic pursuits, he is a lecturer at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Currently, Odnoviun is working on a dissertation at the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute on the topic of intersections in the context of Eastern European photographic culture in the second half of the 20th century.
Member of the Association of Lithuanian Art Photographers “Artist Creator” status granted by the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania. 2024-2026 – Expert in the field of photography at the Lithuanian Council for Culture
Image anthropologist, Ph.D habilitatus, an assistant professor at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Warsaw; involved mainly in visual anthropology, city anthropology, anthropology of contemporaneity. Author of books: Photography. Between document and symbol (2004) and Film and Paradox of visuality. Practising anthropology (2012) and a large number of scientific articles. Co-author of the film Żeby to było ciekawe (2009) and co-editor of the book Disappearing Borders. Anthropologization of Science and Its Discourses (2009). Coordinator of projects completed in 2016: Bottom-up Creation of Culture and Images of Cultural Diversity and Heritage.
Art exhibitions curator, editor of art publications, author of numerous completed grant projects, initiator of many interdisciplinary artistic undertakings. She has realized hundreds of exhibitions of Polish and foreign artists. She also carries out exhibition projects presented at international festivals. She cooperates with many cultural institutions in Poland and abroad. Since 2011, she has been the curator of five galleries, including renowned FF Gallery and Imaginarium Gallery. She edits art press for Art Museum in Łódź, among others.