f/stop - Festival für Fotografie Leipzig
In the nearly fifteen years since it was founded in 2007, the festival has always responded to current issues of the moment. The exhibitions and formats conceived by guest curators offer a platform for artistic, curatorial and academic contributions that deal with sociopolitical issues based on the means and possibilities of photography. In the most recent editions, the focus has already broadened from an originally somewhat local perspective on Leipzig and contemporary art production to include international and interdisciplinary topics.
f/stop is one of the most important festivals for photography in Germany. It was first held in 2007 and then annually by the association Zentrum für zeitgenössische Fotografie Leipzig e.V. (ZZF). From 2012, f/stop took place every two years. D21 Kunstraum Leipzig e.V. took charge of f/stop at the beginning of 2020. At the same time, Stefanie Abelmann and Christian Bodach took over as festival directors. The 9th edition of f/stop – Festival für Fotografie Leipzig will take place from 25 June until 4 July 2021.
International perspective
After eight editions with different festival directors from Germany, it was time not only to extend invitations to international photographers, but also to take this step at the level of curatorial programme management.
For the first time, a convened curatorial advisory board – consisting of Dr Kathrin Schönegg (Curator at C/O Berlin), Professor Steffen Siegel (Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen), Christina Töpfer (Editor at Camera Austria, Graz), Jan Wenzel (Publisher and Founder at Spector Books and Curator of f/stop 2016 and 2018, Leipzig) and Nadine Wietlisbach (Director of the Fotomuseum Winterthur) – has selected and appointed an international duo of curators for this year’s edition of f/stop.
Dr Susan Bright, renowned Australian-British curator and author, and Nina Strand, artist, author and founder of the art journal Objektiv in Oslo, have jointly developed and curated the theme and leitmotif of the 9th f/stop festival: “TRUST/vertrauen”.
Local focus
With its relaunch, however, f/stop will also create a more stable and continuous basis for photography in the city of Leipzig and the surrounding region, together with the many different stakeholders. The core vision for the future of the festival is to bring Leipzig as a city of photography back into the focus of public discourse and regular events with partners.
The festival aims to contribute to better linking the photography scene in Leipzig and the region in the long term, to developing shared intersections on the subject of photography with the region’s museums and galleries, educational institutions and stakeholders, and in this way to achieve greater visibility for the medium of photography to the outside world.
In the future, the festival will move on different levels with its themes and programmes, ideas and perspectives, questioning and making accessible the perception of our world through the medium of photography in various formats.
With the coming editions of the festival, f/stop will not only focus on contemporary art photography, but will also open up to a more interdisciplinary approach to the topics and involve a correspondingly wide range of stakeholders. Establishing and conveying a socially relevant theme for each festival edition will continue to be one of f/stop’s core principles.