FORMAT27: PLAY
11 March – 11 April 2027
FORMAT International Photography Festival is delighted to announce that in March 2027 our FORMAT27 biennale will explore the theme of PLAY.
From its first inception, the essence of photography has centered experimentation, trial and error, and exploration of something unknown; the desire to record the world around us in a way that is as close to reality as the eye can see. From Niépce’s first image to the Albumen print, photogram, cyanotype and collage, the very creation of the photographic medium and its continued evolution has been developed through the act of PLAY – experimentation as play.
PLAY is at the heart of the creative process, no matter the subject or idea; the act of exploration is what fuels us. FORMAT27 will seek to explore the theme in the widest possible sense, inviting people to think widely and challenge our interpretation of it. PLAY can be thought of as fun, joyful, intriguing, exploratory, experimental, challenging, deceitful, mischievous, imaginative, curious, provocative, inventive, spontaneous, subversive, engaging or perhaps rule-bending. Camera play, playing with and questioning the medium of photography itself, documenting the act of play, playing with the development of new technology, play as sport, playing with the truth or reality, the politics of play and the significance of the freedom of play being taken away are just some of the ways this broad theme could be interpreted.
The creation of an artwork with an ‘other’ whether this is an individual, advanced technologies, or mother nature and its natural materials are all rooted in the search for the collaborative and experimental aspect of play. The rapid advancement of digital technologies such as AI is becoming near impossible to avoid and experimentation with the medium of photography is taking on a whole new meaning. There are a lot of questions still to be asked about what impact AI will have on the future of photography and what the meaning of image making will become, but with our existence becoming so reliant on the digital, the natural rebellion in humanity is yearning for the real, tactile and natural characteristics of the analogue. Explorations of more environmentally friendly image making and ways of display, from materials, techniques and darkroom chemicals are becoming ever more important in a world that is still making sense of what changes need to be made to avoid ecological catastrophe.
PLAY as both a creative strategy and a critical tool within contemporary photographic practice is essential to creativity. Innovation and invention cannot occur without curiosity, risk taking and a willingness to explore the unknown through playful enquiry. In this sense, PLAY is a vital method for rethinking how photography is made, shared and experienced today.
Across the festival we will engage with PLAY as experimentation, improvisation and rule breaking, using humor, performance, games, and participation to question power, authorship, identity, and the politics of images.
FORMAT27 Open Call
Our Open Call is open or submissions until 6th September 2026 and invites exhibition and event proposals from artists, collectives and curators across the world to respond to the festival theme with diverse and imaginative proposals. Our eminent panel of international experts, together with the FORMAT Curatorial team will review the submissions and select up to 5 projects to be exhibited at FORMAT27 in Derby between 11 March and 11 April 2027.
We are looking for a wide range of submissions and are open to all approaches and ideas from the archive to the most contemporary and conceptual projects. Including proposals from all the image-based genres, long term researched documentary; multimedia; VR; moving image; installation; publications; online; interactive; performance; participatory; mobile and interactive. We want you to challenge us and respond to the theme in as many inventive ways as you can imagine.
Selected entries will be given the opportunity to exhibit at FORMAT27 and a chance to receive one of the festival awards. All submissions will be reviewed by the FORMAT Curatorial team and up to 250 shortlisted submissions will receive the opportunity to be seen by our panel of industry experts.
Comment from QUAD CEO, Eleanor Thornley: At QUAD and FORMAT we are passionate about access to the arts and our mission to bring the best in Photography, digital art and film to the people of Derby and Beyond. The FORMAT Open Call opportunity is a brilliant way of opening our doors to artists, and for us to seek out exciting voices, perspectives and practice that we may not otherwise encounter.
We invite you all to PLAY with us and I can’t wait to see this year’s submissions
