No One Belongs Here More Than You

What we can witness in postsocialist Central and Eastern European countries nowadays, as well as in the Former West, is the rise of nationalist, populist, and far-right tendencies that are becoming increasingly normalised in our societies. Embraced by political representation, the implementation of discriminatory and exclusionary structures is justified by the vision of a uniform community. By making tangible borders and those in our minds more impermeable, this becomes visible in both public and virtual spaces.

The 12th edition of the Fotograf Festival explores the role of contemporary art in confronting these pressing social issues and asks how do photography and moving image contribute to the representation, understanding, and subversion of such political tendencies and their manifestations in spaces to which we belong. Accordingly, the festival brings together documentary, media-reflexive and activist approaches and sets a thematic focal point at each exhibition venue.

The central exhibition “No One Belongs Here More Than You” at the National Gallery’s Trade Fair Palace presents artistic strategies that question nationalist narratives as well as their fabrication and manipulation for cultural and political purposes. The exhibition “Extremely Normal” in the Fotograf Gallery asks how to come to terms with the far right by visual means, particularly in relation to contemporary photography and audiovisual art. Coming to terms with the contemporary visual presence of far-right symbolism in the public space is the theme of the exhibition “Outlet” presented at the Artwall Gallery.