PhMuseum has announced the first edition of Photobook Mania, a biennial festival dedicated to photographic books, scheduled to take place on October 18 and 19, 2025, at Serra Madre in the Greenhouses of Margherita Gardens in Bologna, Italy. The free-admission event aims to become an international reference point for independent photographic publishing, bringing together more than twenty publishers from around the world who will present a selection of publications reflecting the latest trends and current experiments in the field of photographic books.
Photobook Mania is part of a renewed program of activities that alternates with the PhMuseum Days festival, which will also become biennial and take place in fall 2026. This scheduling reinforces PhMuseum's commitment to promoting all aspects of contemporary photographic culture. The initiative represents a significant expansion of the organization's efforts to support the global photography community through diverse programming formats.
Beyond the presence of publishers, the Photobook Mania program will include more than forty conferences featuring artists, curators, and industry professionals, along with thematic workshops and two major exhibitions. The comprehensive programming reflects the festival's ambition to serve as both a marketplace and educational platform for photography enthusiasts and professionals alike.
The first exhibition, titled "Dummies and Books from FOLIO 2024/25 Photobook Making Masterclass," presents the maquettes of photographic books created during the fifth edition of the masterclass dedicated to creating book prototypes. Over eight months, fourteen participants, supervised by Lewis Chaplin, co-founder of Loose Joints, finalized their projects and prepared them for publication. This exhibition offers an in-depth look at the process of transforming photographic images into coherent and captivating narratives in book format, exploring the creative potential of photographic storytelling.
The second exhibition is dedicated to the PhMuseum 2025 Photobook Award, launched in collaboration with MPB, Europe's leading camera retailer. This initiative presents thirty photographic book projects submitted during the first call for applications for PhMuseum's new grant dedicated to visual publishing. A jury composed of Max Pinckers, Yumi Goto, Karla Hiraldo-Voleau, Giuseppe Oliverio, and Camilla Marrese will select the winning project, which will be announced by PhMuseum and MPB on Saturday, October 18 at 6:30 PM.
Thanks to MPB's support, the winning work will be published as a photobook, edited and produced by PhMuseum, and will be officially presented at PhMuseum Days 2026, the international photography festival scheduled for October 2026. On Saturday at 6:00 PM, PhMuseum will also present the first issue of its new print magazine, as part of a rich program of book presentations and meetings with their authors.
PhMuseum also offers the "Dummy Deep Dive" program, an intensive workshop led by American photographer and writer Aaron Schuman, designed for photographers and artists wishing to transform their projects into books. This hands-on educational component adds another layer to the festival's comprehensive approach to photobook creation and development.
The event is made possible through the contribution of the Municipality of Bologna, sponsorship by MPB, collaboration with Banca di Bologna, and cultural partnership with the Patto per la lettura del Comune di Bologna (Bologna Municipality's Reading Pact) and Card Cultura. The list of participating publishers includes: Artphilein Books (Switzerland), Atelier Tatanka (Italy), Cesura Publish (Italy), Départ pour l'Image (Italy/France), FotoEvidence (United States), Giostre Edizioni (Italy), GOST Books (United Kingdom), Havaiana Papers Tiratura (Brazil/Italy), KABK (Netherlands), L'Artiere (Italy), Leporello (Italy), Libreria Ulisse (Italy), Macaronibook (Belgium), Muddyisland (Italy), PhMuseum (Italy), RUST Publishing (Poland), RVM Hub (Italy), Studiofaganel (Italy), The Velvet Cell (Germany), Witty Books (Italy), Yogurt Magazine (Italy), and Zoetrope Athens (Greece).
