In July, I spent a week in Barcelona, Spain to attend the Experimental Photo Festival, a 5-day event focused on celebrating experimental photography through workshops, exhibitions and community building. I discovered the festival earlier this year through Instagram, and knew immediately that I had to—no, needed to—attend. An event all about experimental photography with people like me who enjoy doing weird things with the medium in Barcelona?! Count me in!
Fortunately, I was able to make it happen, and I am so glad I took the chance on myself and my art to attend. I tried to take advantage of many of the opportunities, from participating in workshops to a portfolio review to sharing my work in the community shop. There were around 200ish of us from all over the world and everyone was really friendly and the staff and volunteers went out of their way to make you feel welcome and like you belonged there. While we represented all facets of experience, we were all peers, even the instructors. We communicated through the app Telegram and had lunches and dinners and in-between downtime to mingle and get to know each other. I left having met some really great people and feeling part of this community of artists.
In addition to the workshops and panel discussions during the day, each night featured a new exhibition opening. There was so much talent on display! And, my work was even selected to be part of one of the group exhibitions, which was incredibly exciting. I’m still so grateful for the opportunity and feel so honored.
Overall, I was very impressed with the professionalism and quality of the festival. So much so, I really hope to be back next year to learn even more and reconnect with the people I met this year and meet new faces. It’s really about building a community of experimenters! These are just some of the highlights of my experience, if you’d like to know more or have specific questions, feel free to reach out to me. You can find even more highlights over on EXP’s instagram or website.
Me in front of selected work as part of the Ausstellungseröffnung group exhibition at the IEFC.
Day One of the festival kicked off with a series of hands-on, Bauhaus-inspired introductory courses. I participated in the Dance and Architecture course with Ana Mundim, where it was all about how we use and position our bodies and other objects in space and relation to each other.
The Experimental Photo Festival’s manifesto.
The majority of our time was spent at Centre Cívic Pati Llimona in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. Several exhibitions were on display here.
On our final day, we hung out at the Nau Bostik for lunch and free workshops, which also included a film swap and film soup party.
Every participant was given a number that also matched two other participants—it was your goal to find your matches and then take a photo. “What’s your number?” became the most-repeated phrase of the week! (It was also a great icebreaker!)
Save the date for next year’s festival! I’m planning to be back in 2024—maybe you’ll join me?!
