WHO WE ARE

Belgrade Photo Month is a permanent team of 5 people, but also great group of contributors, passionate about art and photography.

BPM Book Week 2024

Photobooks have always been an essential part of Belgrade Photo Month since the very beginning of the festival life. In 2016 and 2017 the two first editions of the festival included three curatorial projects related to photography and photobooks curated by Natasha Christia: What’s this Book in 2016, Uncensored Books and H. said he loved us in 2017. The 2018 edition saw the FUAM Limited Edition photobook exhibition, curated by Volkan Kiziltunç, and the 2019 edition, Enter. Photobooks from the Baltics, curated by Evita Goze. As the festival developed, it was decided to dedicate an edition exclusively to photobooks as it became obvious that photo books have grown into a self-sufficient artistic practice for many photographers. Besides, collecting photobooks became a separate practice for art lovers and photography enthusiasts. And that was how Belgrade Photo Book Week was born two years ago as an independent biannual event.

This year Belgrade Photo Book Week is filled with several amazing events. The Week will include three exhibitions:

  • International Group Exhibition (Aaron Reyes, Alex Fokin, Cristina Astilleros, Cristopher Vrsalovic, Katarina Trifunović, Kirill Osipov, Rebecca Uliczka, Sam L. Street, Zeynep Ayta) Tribute to Saul Leiter “Early Color” photobook in Radisson Collection Old Mill Belgrade.
  • “Still Birth” Chiara Ernandes (Italy) in collaboration with Grenze Arsenalli Festival in the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Belgrado
  • “Pastinsky” by Josep Maria de Llobet (Spain) in the Instituto Cervantes de Belgrado.

Another event of the Photo Book Week is the portfolio review. The review will take place in Dom omladine Beograda by 5 different photography experts: Ivana Tomanović, Andrew Phelps, Olga Matveeva, Josep Maria de Llobet and Francesco Rombaldi.

An equally important part of the festival is the Photo Book Bazaar at Koska bar in Dorćol Platz. Guests will have a unique opportunity to buy books from four international publishers: Ediciones Posibles (Spain), Yogurt (Italy), FotoHof (Austria) and Footnote / Pureland (UK/Serbia). As part of the Bazaar there will also be the exhibition of the books published by Book [embodiment] Lab. (Russia). These publishers will also hold talks and book presentations as part of the festival program. In addition to books from established publishers, self-published books by independent local and international photographers will also be presented there.

Tatyana Valova, Curator

MISSION

As we like to say, this festival belongs to us and to you; it is a festival for people from Belgrade and Serbia, but also a festival for photography enthusiasts from every corner of the world who want to enjoy it, in person or online.

Many things have changed since we started the festival in 2016, from the team members to the very vision of the festival, from its visibility in the media to the different kinds of support we have received from both volunteers and institutions.

From one year to the next, we feel an increasing obligation to continue improving the quality of the festival, as well as our outreach, and this is not an easy task. We are aware that with last year’s festival we raised the bar high in terms of the quality of work exhibited, and despite the extremely challenging situation in Serbia concerning financial support for cultural manifestations and culture in general, we will persevere in our endeavours to make the festival even more special. Through our imagination and creativity, we will transform these challenges into concrete objectives to continue promoting photography in Serbia and Serbian photographers to international audiences.

Thank you all on behalf of the entire Belgrade Photo Month team. I would also like to thank all participants and visitors; all partners who offered exhibition or presentation spaces; all our volunteers, sponsors and organisations who have helped us to make this dream possible.

PARTICIPANTS

Who can participate on this event: art galleries, art and cultural institutions, which tend to organize photography exhibitions or movie screenings, groups interested in organizing workshops or any other photography related activities.

Participation requirements: Just the commitment to work during April 2023 in the same direction as Belgrade Photo Month. Nothing more.

What we offers to the participants: The promotion of the event in Serbia but also in international photography webs and magazines. We will make a catalogue with all the details regarding the participants, including a map with all the related events and places around the city and other relevant information as well.

CONCLUSION

We’re not sending a starship to the moon, we just want to put Serbia on a photography map of the world!