The Rotterdam Photo festival has launched its annual international open call for photographers, inviting submissions until December 1st for the 2026 exhibition themed "Echoes of Silence – War in the Artist's Soul." The call seeks photographic works that explore how war and conflict affect artists who are not direct witnesses but carry the emotional legacy of violence and trauma.
Unlike traditional war photography or photojournalism, this exhibition focuses on introspective and symbolic representations of conflict's psychological impact. The festival organizers are specifically looking for autonomous photographic works that reflect personal resonance, psychological processing, or symbolic representation of war rather than direct documentation of violence. The theme examines how conflict reverberates in the minds of those who survive, flee, or only hear about war from a distance.
The exhibition concept positions war not as a scene to be captured, but as a condition experienced internally through memory, family stories, and the subconscious. According to the festival description, participating photographers should use their lens not to register explosions, but to capture the echoes of conflict through silence, emptiness, repetition, fragmentation, or alienation. The visual language can vary widely, from analog distortion to poetic portraits, abstract landscapes to symbolic still lifes, unified by the common thread of war's inner impact on artistic expression.
Rotterdam Photo emphasizes the cultural and social urgency of this theme, noting that artists worldwide are inevitably connected to violence, displacement, and memory through diaspora experiences, colonial legacies, intergenerational trauma, or recent wars. The festival aims to provide a platform that acknowledges the stratification of experience beyond the spectacle of war, making room for reflection, symbolism, and empathy.
The contest is open to both professional and amateur photographers internationally, with participants required to be at least 16 years old. Rotterdam, as a city marked by its own history of trauma and transformation through migration, bombing, and reconstruction, provides what organizers describe as the perfect context for this program. The festival seeks an internationally diverse selection with particular attention to voices from post-conflict areas and diaspora communities.
Selected photographers will receive substantial benefits including dedicated exhibition space in container venues during Rotterdam Photo 2026, opportunities to sell their work without commission fees, and networking possibilities with gallerists, potential buyers, and international art press. Winners will also receive coverage across festival and partner social networks including LensCulture, Dodho magazine, and All About Photo.
Additional opportunities include participation in Rotterdam Photo Talks and networking events, publication in the festival program, international press exposure, and the chance to be part of an event that attracts over 10,000 visitors to central Rotterdam. Winners may also have opportunities to exhibit in Barcelona in June through the International Photo Festival Association gallery, in Tampere, Finland during the Backlight festival in September, and in Switzerland during Photo Schweiz.
The judging process consists of three evaluation rounds, with photography experts reviewing entries based on creativity, photographic quality, and effectiveness in expressing the contest theme. Special category awards and cash prizes are available, including a Young Talent Award that comes with both monetary prizes and photography equipment.
Founded in 2016, Rotterdam Photo has evolved into an accessible and innovative platform celebrating contemporary photography in all its diversity. The annual event combines the energy of a photography fair with festival creativity and community spirit, featuring a distinctive container village at the heart of Rotterdam's Art Axis. The festival's mission focuses on reducing barriers typically associated with art and photography fairs while providing direct exhibition opportunities for both emerging and established photographers.
