Open Call
for Artists

Four Overall Winners each receive:

A fee of €5,000
· Museum-quality printing and framing of their work for a major curated four-person touring exhibition.
· Publication of the work as a monograph photobook, with an introductory critical essay about the work.
· Exhibition presented in the core programmes of Fotohof, Photo Museum Ireland, Cortona On The Move Festival and Imago Lisboa Festival in 2026.
· Support of up to €800 for travel and accommodation for the Overall Winners to attend two exhibitions.
· At the close of Project Groundswell, one set of exhibition prints will be given to the artist, the other set will be held in the Fotohof Archive for posterity.

Twelve Finalists each receive:

A fee of €1,000
· Mentoring and support for the development of their work into a short audio-visual piece.
· Inclusion in the premiere projection event at Imago Lisboa and at events in Fotohof, Photo Museum Ireland and Cortona on the Move.
· Inclusion and promotion of the work on the Groundswell website.
· Promotion on the organising partners’ platforms.
· The chance to be selected as one of the four Overall Winners.

· 8-15 images from each of up to three lens-based projects (photography, video/film). The work can include other art forms (literature, sculpture, performance, new media) but should be primarily image-based.
· Projects can be completed, or can be works-in-progress.
· A completed project will not be eligible for an overall award if it has already been exhibited as a solo exhibition in a major gallery or museum or in the form of a book, or if such an exhibition is scheduled for the period 2025-26. Some images of the work may have been previously published in magazines or group exhibitions. The entire body of work must not have been awarded prizes in other competitions at the time of application.
· The Jury will only consider proposals for projects that have not yet been started if a compelling reason has been given for this and where the artist can evidence a strong track record of completed projects.

· Each artist/photographer may submit up to 3 separate projects.
· For a video work, upload 8-15 screenshots and include a link to an extract of max 3 minutes duration in the Project Description.
· There is no restriction on the date of creation of the work.
· Images generated by AI, including generative fill, will not be accepted. The exception is where AI is specifically the focus of investigation in the project and in this case the use of AI to generate such images must be clearly indicated.
· No single images.

· Artists of any nationality based in Europe. This includes:
· All the EU Member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden).
· Plus: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine, UK

· Artists of all backgrounds and experience levels who are at least 18 years of age at the time of application.
· Proposals from artists’ collectives and collaborations, as well as individual practitioners are welcome. In the case of collectives, please nominate a single overall representative/contact person.

The Jury will assess the submissions along four criteria:

1. Relevance to the theme of climate action.
2. Innovation / dynamism of the proposed approach.

 
3. Potential Impact: The project's capacity to engage audiences and inspire meaningful dialogue.
4. Practicability: does the project’s ambition align with Project Groundswell’s timeframe?

It's Free.