Local artists of photography for f/stop – Leipzig Photography Festival 2027

The f/stop – Leipzig Festival of Photography will take place from 28 May to 6 June 2027 and is dedi­ca­ted to the theme
of the ALIEN. It explo­res the ali­en as a sym­bol of the ‘for­eign’, but also of ali­en­ati­on – the sen­se of estran­ge­ment within
what is (sup­po­sedly) familiar.

As part of the f/stop LOKAL fes­ti­val for­mat, regio­nal­ly roo­ted artis­tic prac­ti­ces are brought to the fore in the exhibition
“Memory in Suspension”, cura­ted by Anne Pfautsch. “Memory in Suspension” is a rese­arch-based group exhi­bi­ti­on that
explo­res how con­tem­po­ra­ry pho­to­gra­phic prac­ti­ces enga­ge with expe­ri­en­ces of ali­en­ati­on, “othe­ring” and belon­ging in
the con­text of reuni­fied East Germany.

At its core, it approa­ches ali­en­ati­on not as a con­di­ti­on pro­du­ced sole­ly through exter­nal dif­fe­rence, but as an experience
that can emer­ge within the fami­li­ar. It is par­ti­cu­lar­ly inte­res­ted in how lived expe­ri­ence, memo­ry, and forms of knowledge
have been shaped, dis­rupt­ed, or recon­fi­gu­red sin­ce 1989, and how the­se pro­ces­ses con­ti­nue to reso­na­te in the present.
For par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on in the exhi­bi­ti­on, we invi­te pho­to­graph­ers to sub­mit pho­to­gra­phic works enga­ging with ques­ti­ons of:

• ali­en­ati­on and estrangement
• memo­ry and post-socia­list experience
• iden­ti­ty, belon­ging, and self-positioning
• social trans­for­ma­ti­on and its visu­al traces
• archi­val prac­ti­ces, reap­pro­pria­ti­on, and nar­ra­ti­ve fragmentation

We are espe­ci­al­ly inte­res­ted in con­tri­bu­ti­ons from emer­ging pho­to­graph­ers based in or con­nec­ted to East Germany,
though sub­mis­si­ons from other con­texts that reso­na­te with the exhibition’s the­ma­tic frame­work are also welcome.
Please submit:
• A port­fo­lio or cohe­si­ve pho­to­gra­phic series (max. 20 images)
• A short pro­ject descrip­ti­on (in English or German; max. 300 words)
• A brief artist bio (in English or German; max. 150 words)
Submissions should con­sist of exis­ting pho­to­gra­phic works or series. New pro­duc­tions can­not be supported.
Please send ever­y­thing in one com­ple­te PDF (no indi­vi­du­al pages) (max. 10 pages; data volu­me max. 10MB) or use a
per­ma­nent­ly usable down­load link; plea­se pro­vi­de time-based media such as video/sound exclu­si­ve­ly as a link (do not send
ori­gi­nal files!)).

The rea­li­sa­ti­on of the pro­ject is sub­ject to fun­ding. The decis­i­on is taken by the curator.
Submissions can be sent to: anne.pfautsch@f‑stop-leipzig.de by 15.06.2026.