3 in 1 Call from KAUNAS PHOTO 2016 - Guidelines

Maria Kozhanova's work at exhibition "N-18" at "Post" gallery during KAUNAS PHOTO 2015

KAUNAS PHOTO festival has been a festival of premières for future stars of photography since its launch in 2004. The festival is organised every year in Kaunas, the second largest city of Lithuania. Being the longest-running photo art festival in the Baltic States, KAUNAS PHOTO is a platform for dialogue around contemporary photographic creation between North and South, East and West. While being the prime event of art photography in Lithuania, KAUNAS PHOTO does not solely focus on Lithuanian photography. Its programs and projects, such as exhibition and book “Generation ’74. 11 European Photographers born in 1974” feature a vast menu of internationally acclaimed photographers.

In 2016, KAUNAS PHOTO festival is back with an open call, offering three fields of opportunities in one call for photographers from Europe and beyond:

1/3 - Visibility of works on the database of urban photography, folioPORT for Flâneur
2/3 - Inclusion in the KAUNAS PHOTO festival program
3/3 - KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2016 Award

3 fields of opportunities in 1 Call 

1/3. Visibility of works on the database of urban photography, folioPORT for Flâneur.

folioPORT for Flâneur is a platform of call-for works for the KAUNAS PHOTO 2016, at the same time serving as a public resource of photography, related to street, urban life and public space. Once a photographer applies for participation for KAUNAS PHOTO 2016, his / her works will be visible to the international image community and researchers.

2/3. Inclusion in the KAUNAS PHOTO festival program

In 2016, the entire KAUNAS PHOTO festival adopted the topic of Flâneur: new urban narratives.
The EU co-funded project of the same title has enabled the festival to re-engineer its application platform folioPORT to match this particular purpose and its functionalities.
While photographers from all over the globe can submit their work, some parts of the KAUNAS PHOTO program will only consist of works by European photographers.
KAUNAS PHOTO 2016 events will start from June to the end of October, with the main week between September 6 and 11.

Works submitted to folioPORT for Flâneur can be selected for the following:
- Outdoor exhibitions in KAUNAS PHOTO festival, presented in squares in Kaunas, running from the mid-June to October;
- Exhibitions in galleries from August 19 to mid-October;
- Central exhibition at M.Žilinskas Art Gallery of the National M.K.Čiurlionis Art Museum (photographers from geographical Europe), from August 19 to September 19.
- KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2016 - solo exhibition at the Kaunas Photography Gallery from August 19 to September 15.
- Projection events, among them one open-air night with screens in the center and old town of Kaunas, inspired by the Nuit de l'Annee in Arles. Dates to be precised.

3/3. KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2016 Award

The winner of the KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2016 title will be one of the TOP-4 photographers / artists. The TOP 4 positions will be decided by the mathematical calculation of the online votes of experts. The choice of the winner, since 2014 is done by a board of curators of KAUNAS PHOTO festival and Kaunas Photography Gallery, the host of the exhibition.
The winner receives:
- a solo exhibition at Kaunas Photography Gallery at a date proposed by the festival and the gallery,
- accommodation in Kaunas for up to 4 days at festival's designated hotel;
- return trip allowance of up to 300 EUR, based on the travel expense proofs tickets, invoices;
- coverage of transportation or production costs of the exhibition based on mutual agreement. KAUNAS PHOTO STAR exhibitions at Kaunas Photography Gallery tend to have a site specific character, therefore, every exhibition is regarded as individual. Its implementation requires a common work between the photographer / artist and the exhibition curator and architect.

Winners of previous KAUNAS PHOTO STAR award, who have held their exhibitions at KAUNAS PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY (exhibition year follows the year of the title):


Who can submit?

All photographers, artists, regardless of their age, nationality and place of residence are invited to submit work.
For more about folioPORT for Flâneur workflow, consult "How It Works" page.

Theme "Flâneur: New Urban Narratives"

In 2016, photographers are invited by KAUNAS PHOTO festival to submit works on the theme "Flâneur: new urban narratives".

What should the works speak about?
The subject is vast, but to be sure not to distance from it, photographers must have in mind the following:
Flâneur - could be synonymous to "street photographer". The French noun flâneur, means "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", or "loafer". Flânerie refers to the act of strolling, with all of its accompanying associations. Source - Wikipedia.
New - the work must be created in or after the year 2000 and deal with contemporary lifestyle. Both finished and works in progress are welcome;
Urban - the work must deal with the city, urban culture, civilization.
Narratives - the work needs to tell a visual, conceptual, documentary, story based on a phenomenon, location, person. It should reflect upon aesthetic, social, political, moral, economic or other types of issues.

Experts, Curators and their votes

A panel of invited experts will be reviewing the portfolio as soon as they are submitted for review. After the end of the submission period, based on calculation of votes for every portfolio, a list of rated portfolios from best to least highly rated will be automatically generated. For certain aspects of the festival program, the expert's votes will be of high importance.

List of Curators and Experts will be found under "Experts".

Roles of experts votes and festival curators in selection of works for the specific parts of the KAUNAS PHOTO 2016 program:
- Outdoor exhibitions - picks by the festival curators, considering the portfolio's message, suitability to specific urban spaces, suitability for exhibition in public space, etc.
- Exhibitions in galleries - festival curators' decisions will be based on ratings and variety of urban narratives.
- Central exhibition at M.Žilinskas Art Gallery of the National M.K.Čiurlionis Art Museum - festival curators' decisions will be based on ratings and variety of urban narratives.
- KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2016 - solo exhibition at the Kaunas Photography Gallery from August 19 to September 15 - experts votes to generate TOP-4, winner's choice by festival and gallery curators
- Projection events - Picks by the festival curators.

All the photographers from the TOP-4 positions will be invited to exhibit in either outdoor, public space or the central exhibition. One will be selected for KAUNAS PHOTO STAR award.


Entry stages, fees

Stage 1 – Registration of photographer's profile; When signing up, photographers agree with the Guidelines and Terms.

Stage 2 – Uploading of portfolio and submitting for review;

Stage 3 – Approval of the admittance of a portfolio is sent within 24 hours after submitting a portfolio. More about approval on "How It Works".

Stage 4 – If a photographer chooses to participate in KAUNAS PHOTO STAR Competition, the entry fee of 15 EUR to be paid per every portfolio, proposed for the competition.

Stage 4A – When fee transfer received, portfolio is qualified for KAUNAS PHOTO STAR.

How to participate in the KAUNAS PHOTO STAR Award? 

Once the portfolio is confirmed, simply transfer the fee of 15 EUR. There are two payment methods:
1) PayPal to: festival@kaunasphoto.info 
2) Bank transfer (European photographers encouraged to use this method). Recipient: VšĮ Šviesos raštas, Bank code: 73000, SWIFT: HABALT22, IBAN: LT397300010079629079.

Details accompanying payment: "KPS. Name Surname_Name of the Series".

Time table

May 18 – June 17 – Call for entries

May 25 – June 27 – experts and festival curators reviewing portfolios. 

June 17Deadline / last date to submit works until 23:59 Entrant's local time (Submission for review)

June 30 – announcement of KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2016 Winner and Participants of KAUNAS PHOTO 2016 exhibitions

June – October  – outdoor exhibitions in squares of Kaunas , featuring works of photographers, from folioPORT for Flâneur database

August 19 – September 19 – exhibitions in museums / galleries, including the main exhibiton and KAUNAS PHOTO STAR Winner’s exhibition


Author’s rights and other legal aspects

While submitting works to the folioPORT for Flâneur (folioport.eu) platform for KAUNAS PHOTO festival open calls, photographers declare that they are the only owners of the economic author’s rights to the pictures submitted. They agree that the pictures submitted can be reproduced in materials and forms of artistic or media presentation of folioPORT and KAUNAS PHOTO festival, "Flâneur: new urban narratives" project outcomes, such as flyers, invitation cards, post cards, posters, catalogs, projections, slideshows, web sites, including but not limited to that of KAUNAS PHOTO festival for unlimited time in unlimited territory without any royalty payments. Entrants accept their responsibility for the right to the image of persons, models, places, objects or trade marks appearing in the pictures submitted to folioPORT for Flâneur on-line portfolio reviews.

folioPORT.eu and KAUNAS PHOTO festival are not agencies or stock photography sites and exercise no activity of direct sales or licensing of the submitted works. All arrangements resulting from on-line portfolio reviews are to be done between photographers or their representatives with the interested parties. folioPORT.eu and KAUNAS PHOTO festival do not limit the photographers’ /artists’ moral or economic rights to promote, broadcast, exhibit, publish and sell their images submitted to the folioPORT.eu & KAUNAS PHOTO festival’s open call for works.


KAUNAS PHOTO festival

(Lithuania, since 2004) has been a festival of premieres for future stars of contemporary photography. Being a part of Photo Festival Union and Festivals Of Light Organization, KAUNAS PHOTO festival is the longest-running photographic festival in the Baltic states is a platform for dialogue around contemporary photographic creation between North and South, East and West.

Today, more and more competitions (even highly ranked ones), galleries and festivals practice requesting artists to pay for almost every aspect of participation and exhibiting their works – from high entry fees to production of works, travel, accommodation.

If selected to exhibit at KAUNAS PHOTO festival, photographers do not need to make huge investments. In most cases, the works are produced to match site-specific settings, at the expense of the festival. If the artists’ works are available to be transported, are in reasonable distance within the EU and match the general idea of exhibition and space in Kaunas, the festival covers transportation and insurance of works. Hotel accommodation for at least 2 days in Kaunas (at festival’s chosen hotel) is paid, if invited artists are available to be present at exhibition openings or purposely arranged guided tours. The only promise the festival is unable to make, is taking the full travel bill. Therefore, a modest contribution to travel costs is offered to participants of exhibitions. Adapted in 2010, this formula has enabled most artists to be present at KAUNAS PHOTO festival exhibition openings or guided tours, artist talks.

KAUNAS PHOTO festival is in pursuit of perfection in building exhibitions, respect to artists and by welcoming artists, curators and audience, making world-wide photo exchange happen.

For references, please consult a friend who has exhibited in Kaunas and visited his/her exhibition, especially after 2010.
www.KaunasPhoto.com

Organiser of the festival: VšĮ Šviesos raštas


How to submit work?

Go to How it Works and follow the workflow instructions.

Join & Submit your work if you are new to folioPORT for Flâneur
or
Login & Submit your work if you already are a registered photographer.

Entries accepted until June 17, 2016