About Open Call

First we pressed the PAUSE button, then the PLAY button, and now we’re hitting REC. The round red symbol, always so easy to find on cameras and electronic devices, takes its name from record, to save, film or register. Whether still or moving, the relationship between the image and memory is a central theme in visual studies that has captured the attention of great minds in the past such as Walter Benjamin, Susan Sontag and Georges Didi-Huberman. But what remains of this relationship today in contemporary image technologies?

Our throwaway culture means that we no longer take photographs or videos to treasure moments, but to share them and forget them instantly, and we face an overwhelming abundance that wears our sensitivity down, turning all visual memory into pure noise. Added to this is the unprecedented proliferation of fake images –which collapse our concept of ​​reality– and the conversion of any document into a file readable only by non-human intelligences, with software and devices designed to quickly become scrap metal. Furthermore, the structural limits of data centres, where we store memories without taking into account their enormous needs for water and energy, threaten the future of the “archive”, both personal and civilising (Spoiler alert: it won’t be possible to keep all the information).

These are just some of the factors meaning that visual technologies are facing a gigantic paradigm shift today. That is why, in the next edition of Getxophoto, we ask ourselves how the visual media arts are reinventing themselves in this scenario: what is the difference between accumulating archives and telling a story, what is the future of images –and of memory constructed through visual registers– in a world with extreme, immaterial, easily manipulated and apparently infinite REC.

• Projects may be submitted in both English and Spanish.
• This call is carried out in collaboration with Picter platform.

What winners receive

The winning artists will benefit from:

• An exhibition at Getxophoto Festival (expenses will be covered by the organisation)
• 500€ fee as festival participant
• Accommodation for 2 nights during the Opening Week plus a travel support (up to 150€)
• National and international press exposure
• Inclusion in the Festival’s materials: programme, publication, social media, website, among others.
• The possibility to connect with other professionals during the Opening week.

Judging criteria

An international jury will decide on the winning projects by mutual agreement, taking into account artistic criteria, the conceptual development of the submitted work, as well as its relation and appropriateness to the proposed theme. Criteria of gender parity and inclusion will also be taken into account. The jury's decision will be final.

About Getxophoto

Getxophoto International Image Festival has been held in Getxo (Basque Country, Spain) for 18 years. The Festival brings to the city different proposals from visual artists from all over the world, establishing each year a contemporary conversation on the proposed theme. Getxophoto is characterised by its radical defence of public space (physical and online) as a meeting place, a place of mutual recognition and a field for experimentation, play and celebration as opposed to its homogenisation and privatisation. For this reason, most of its programme is made up of open-air installations, highlighting, on the one hand, the link between the image and the environment and, on the other, generating a more horizontal and participatory relationship with the public. From its transversal approach, Getxophoto understands the Internet as a space for the development of visual culture. For this reason, it has a digital programme that has included projects that incorporate live automated processes, video games, video surveillance systems, apps, memes or WhatsApp groups, among other proposals.

The Festival will celebrate its 19th edition in June 2025 and has featured artists as diverse as Alessandra Sanguinetti; Cristina De Middel; Takashi Homma; Penelope Umbrico; Marcos López; Hannah Collins; Martin Schoeller; Nadav Kander; Cortis & Sonderegger; Phil Toledano; John Hilliard; Juno Calypso; Joy Buolamwini; Wang Qingsong; Roger Ballen; Felipe Romero Beltrán; Lu Yang; Pieter Hugo; Maija Tami; Jacques-Henri Lartigue; Paul Fusco; Simon Norfolk; Zanele Muholi; Yann Gross; Mentalgassi; Ilyes Griyeb; Clare Strand; Randa Maroufi, Michael Wolf; Leonard Suryajaya or Sofía Crespo, among many others. For more information, visit getxophoto.com