Krakow Photomonth, one of Europe’s most important photography festivals, has for years been tackling pressing social issues using the works of renowned and highly acclaimed visual artists. The Main Programme of the sixteenth edition of the Photomonth was put together by Iris Sikking, an independent curator, film editor, and photography historian by education, whose work deals primarily with photography and video art, which she considers complementary media.

The sixteenth edition of Krakow Photomonth will weave narratives and images together in order to capture its main theme, which is Space of Flows: Framing an Unseen Reality. This year’s edition will focus on the incessant flow of peoples, information, and substances through borders of ever growing urban sprawls, virtual cyberspace, and endangered wildlife sanctuaries. The programme derives its thematic approach from the concept of the “space of flows”, as set forth by the Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells in his seminal 1996 volume The Rise of the Network Society. Therefore, the point of departure for Iris Sikking was the notion of how in modern societies elements that are physically remote from one another often come together, in a continuous manner and in real time. In the network society, we realise more than ever that our decisions and actions may have serious consequences for faraway locales. The obvious inability of governments to regulate away complex issues such as migration policy, protecting private data online, and minimising environmental pollution is a clear threat not only to our own way of life, but to the ecosystem of Earth itself.

Space of Flows will feature projects from artists such as Eva Leitolf, Agata Grzybowska, Edmund Clark, Jules Spinatsch, Salvatore Vitale, Katja Stuke & Oliver Sieber, Antoinette de Jong & Robert Knoth, Rune Peitersen, Mark Curran, and members of the Sputnik Photos collective, Agnieszka Rayss, and Michał Łuczak. All of the featured projects will be showcased at a collective exhibition split into ten separate exhibition venues.

There can be no Krakow Photomonth Festival without a showcase of the most talented rising stars of the art world. The tenth, anniversary edition of the ShowOFF Section will be another great opportunity to meet up-and-coming artists and see their work, selected in an open competition. The jury, which included Filip Ćwik, Karol Hordziej, Jenny Nordquist, and Karolina Puchała-Rojek, selected eight artists whose works will be showcased at a collective exhibition held on the Tytano premises. The Festival agenda will be rounded out with dozens of accompanying events, including another edition of the Portfolio Review, as well as meetings, discussion panels, workshops, and parties.

All exhibitions and accompanying events will take place in Krakow between 25 May and 24 June.
 
Krakow Photomonth 2018
25.05–24.06.2018
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