Athens Photo Festival APhF:15 "Reframe Memory"

Athens Photo Festival is the leading international festival of photography in Southeastern Europe. Exploring issues relevant to our times, our programmes work internationally, nationally and locally, encompassing a variety of activities that aim at fostering a critical understanding of contemporary culture and society through photography and related media. The festival has opened submissions for the 2015 programme. Artists/photographers, collectives and curators from all over the world are invited to submit their work. The 2015 theme, under the title “Reframing Memory”, explores the relationship between past and present, both experimental and mainstream, bringing together a wide range of international artistic positions. The main programme will take place from 3 June through 26 July 2015, at the Benaki Museum, one of the oldest and most prestigious museums in Greece. At the core of the programme is a series of solo and group exhibitions from emerging and established photographers and artists, as well as a range of events, including portfolio reviews, screenings, workshops, talks (the so-called ‘Photo Voices’) and participatory projects. In addition to the main venue-based programme, the festival encourages community involvement through the satellite exhibitions across the city of Athens. These activities are designed to reflect the diversity of contemporary photographic practice, and to create opportunities for participation, exchange of ideas, learning and creative partnerships. The festival continues to evolve with the times and looks forward to developing projects that open up new audiences for photography and exploring realms where photography intersects with other creative disciplines. Athens Photo Festival is a member of the European Month of Photography (EMoP), a network comprised of photography festivals in 8 European capitals – Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Bratislava, Ljubljana, Luxembourg, Paris and Vienna – that aims to foster collaboration on joint projects within a European context. History The festival was founded in 1987, under the name International Month of Photography in Athens, as a biennial event. It is the longest-running festival of photography in Greece, and one of the five oldest of its kind in the world. In 1997, the festival turned into an annual event. In 2008, was officially renamed the Athens Photo Festival in order to reflect upon the festival’s expanding programme which now embraced a wide range of events that are completely in tune with today’s social and aesthetics needs. Ever since its creation, the festival has remained faithful to its founding purpose, raising audiences awareness of photography and acting as a catalyst for lens-based practice within Greece and a showcase for contemporary trends, new talent from all over the world and the very best of Greek photography. The upcoming edition of the Festival marks the start of a new era in the event’s growth. This ambition is reflected in the move to a new venue, no doubt affording a new identity and new possibilities. The new move not only provides the festival with improved specifications, but also allow us to expand its role within an international network of large-scale periodic contemporary photography events.