Submissions to the open theme annual call for entries of Verzasca Foto Festival are now open!
OPEN THEME – Send us your pictures by May 2 for a chance to win 2000 Swiss Francs and exhibit at the Verzasca Foto Festival 2025!
We are looking for submissions of photographic projects (digital, analogue, or mixed) composed of a selection of 3-10 images. Projects should be accompanied by a title and a short project description/artist statement.
The winner will be awarded: 2000 Swiss Francs; Solo Exhibition; Board and Lodging in Ticino during the Verzasca Foto Festival (03.09.2025 - 07.09.2025)
2nd and 3rd place will be awarded: a Solo Exhibition each; Board and Lodging in Ticino during the Verzasca Foto Festival (03.09.2025 - 07.09.2025)
Seven finalists will receive: Invitation to present their work at the Night of Photography ("Notte della Fotografia") event; Board and Lodging in Ticino during the Verzasca Foto Festival.
Hyunmin Ryu - Finalist Verzasca Foto Awards 2024
JURY 2025
ph. Yara Jimmink
Amelie Schüle
has been the Director of Photoforum Pasquart in Biel/Bienne since 2023. In this role, she oversees a dynamic program dedicated to supporting emerging and mid-career photographers while promoting contemporary photography. Her work focuses on the intersection of artistic production, culture, and society, with an emphasis on empowering people to actively engage with social structures, politics, and their surroundings.
Before joining Photoforum Pasquart, Amelie worked at Foam Photography Museum and Unseen in Amsterdam, where she curated exhibitions, developed public programming, and supported emerging talents. She also has experience in the gallery sector in Switzerland.
Amelie holds a master’s degree in Curatorial Studies from the Zurich University of the Arts. Beyond her institutional roles, she is actively involved in the photography community, participating in portfolio reviews, mentoring artists, and guest lecturing.
Diana Poole
is a Zürich-based Art Advisor specialising in photography. She supports private and corporate clients as they build and grow art collections, advising on the acquisition, management and presentation of modern and contemporary photography.
Before establishing her practice in 2013, Diana worked for over a decade as director, curator and artist liaison for contemporary and photography galleries in London, Zürich and New York (most recently Edwynn Houk gallery), participating in leading international art fairs such as Art Basel and Paris Photo.
In 2024, she co-founded Der Greif Studio, which curates, produces and installs photography and video art from Der Greif’s global community of emerging artists in hospitality and workspaces. She supports the team in concept creation, curation, project management and artist-led events that activate the projects within these spaces.
Diana is a member of the APAA (Association of Professional Art Advisors) and Spectrum (Association for Photography in Switzerland).
ph. Thomas Halkin
Emmanuelle Halkin
is a graduate of the École du Louvre and the Sorbonne in art History. She is an independent curator and editor. In 2014, she joined the artistic direction of Fetart collective, which supports emerging photography, notably through the Circulation(s) festival held annually at CENTQUATRE PARIS. From 2017 to 2021, she co-created and developed The Anonymous Project, a color slides archive, and created many exhibitions and editorial projects based on this collection, including the exhibition The House at Rencontres d'Arles in 2019.
Since 2023, she has been artistic director of Rencontres Photographiques du 10e in Paris for Fetart. And since 2022, she has also been associate curator of Diaphane, an Art center dedicated to Photography in the Hauts-de-France region in France.
ph. Rami Shaya
Marta Szymanska
is a photography curator from Poland. She has been creating Fotofestiwal - International Festival of Photography in Lodz since 2004 and Fotofestiwal Collective since 2017. The Collective tests democratic, non-hierarchic models of cooperation and managing cultural projects.
Marta is responsible for Fotofestiwal’s programme. She gained much experience in curatorial practices and management as a vice-director of the Archeology of Photography Foundation (2014-2019).
Marta is also a regular contributor to Sputnik Photos, an international collective of photographers from Central and Eastern Europe. Marta is an active portfolio reviewer and she supports artists in their creative process. Her main interests include activist and engaged practices, archive-based projects, and photography from Central and Eastern Europe.
ph. Giulia Romanelli
Simone Azzoni
graduated in Modern Literature and Philosophy in 1996. He began his career in 1988 when he became master Colalucci's curatorial assistant during the restoration process of Sistine Chapel. He is an art critic and, since 2012, professor of Contemporary Art History at the IUSVE Pontifical University. Since 2023 he has been a professor of Aesthetics of Visual Arts at the Santa Giulia Academy of Fine Arts (Brescia). Azzoni also teaches Critical Reading of Images and History of Art at the Palladio Institute of Design in Verona (since 2005). In 2021 he is a professor of History of Graphics within the Master Publishing Journalism - Cultural Management at the University of Verona. He is interested in Net Art and New Media Art and Art Marketing tips. Simone Azzoni has curated numerous exhibitions in unconventional places, both in Italy and abroad. He is a theater critic for national magazines and newspapers. He authors seminars on Critical Reading of the Performing Arts at the University of Verona as well as theatrical texts performed all over the world. He organizes research and experimental theater reviews with the Teatro Nuovo Foundation of Verona and, since 2012, Azzoni has been co-artistic director of Theater Art Verona.
He is the co-Founder, Artistic Director and Curator of Grenze - Arsenali Fotografici, artistic director of the multidisciplinary space Il Meccanico. Among the recent publications, "Frame – Videoarte and surroundings" was published by the University publishing house, "Stretch marks" by Mimemis and in 2021 "Theatre and photography. Conversations with Enrico Fedrigoli” and, for LazyDog “The hen's gaze” and in 2024 “Wim Wenders: 1964-1984” catalog of the exhibition of the same name he curated in Verona. His teachers and points of reference are the scholars/masters of Kitsch: Roberto Togni and Gillo Dorfles.
Alfio Tommasini
is a photographer, curator and the art director of Verzasca Foto Festival which he co-founded in 2013.
He has collaborated with different cultural realities primarily from Latin America and is currently guest curator of RAK Arts festival (UAE).
The relationship we weave with the territory in which we live is the focus of his photographic projects.
He has exhibited his personal projects internationally and received various awards including first prize at the Encontros da Imagem International Festival, first prize at the Phodar Biennal, and the bronze medal at the Sony World Photography Awards. His images have been published in magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian, British Journal of Photography, Le Temps Magazine, The North Face Mountain, Jiazazhi Press China, Burn Mag.
His book Via Lactea (Journey into Mountain Agriculture) is published by Edition Patrick Frey.
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