Biel Photographic Days

Whether it is a city, a forest or an industrial setting, the landscape is cleared, cultivated and inhabited. Defined as terrain transformed by human physical activity, it is also observed and represented in the form of maps, paintings, images or texts. Whether glimpsed through windows from inside or used as a background in Renaissance paintings, its conception has since developed and become more complex. Over time, our relation with the landscape has evolved, and its role in our constantly changing society is increasingly a subject of debate.

Whether structured or fragmented, the landscape is closely connected with the real or imagined relationship that human beings cultivate with it. To evoke it is to bring up a story, a setting, a scene; it is also to appeal to our memory and to call on us to express new ways of perceiving it, conceiving it and describing it. The 28th edition of the Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography presents new horizons and contemporary perspectives that offer new ways of representing landscape.

The festival is delighted to be collaborating with Swiss and international artists in planning exhibitions, often previously unseen, to be presented in 11 venues across the city. This year, in a new collaboration with the CAP Prize (International Prize for Contemporary African Photography), works by the 2024 winners will be presented, offering a deep dive into contemporary African photography.