Fokus Award 14th Edition

FOKUS AWARD 2023 – 14TH EDITION

“Things Have Changed?”

Festival Opening:
– 22 September 2023 / 18:00 – “Vilson Kilica” Art Gallery, Fier.

Awards Ceremony:
– 22 September 2023 / 20:00 – “Bylis Theatre”, Fier

Exhibition in:
– Fier / Vlorë / Tirana / Elbasan / Barletta & Orvieto (Italy)

“Fokus Award”, organised for almost two decades now in the city of Fier and now reaching its 14th edition, invites you to the Awards Ceremony on Friday, 22 September 2023, at 18:00. Fokus Award is not only the largest and most important, but also the longest-running photography festival in the region. The festival is organised with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Fier, and brings together hundreds of professional and passionate photographers around it, having already built a consolidated community and drawn international attention to itself.

The festival unfolds across time and different cities, starting with the city of Vlorë, where on 20 September 2023 at 18:00, at the “Alpha Gallery”, the thematic exhibition “Life” opens its doors. The festival maintains concrete relationships with sister festivals in the region and around the world, with cooperation agreements with various organisations such as FIOF – the Italian Photography International Fund, or Fotometria in Greece, with which it exchanges projects and exhibitions, thereby achieving one of its main objectives, which is the internationalisation of Albanian photography. In this light, on 21 September 2023, at the “Trapezeria” hall of the Apollonia Archaeological Park, an exhibition opens featuring the Ambassadors of Italian Photography in the World, and on 22 September 2023, in the foyer of the Bylis Theatre in Fier, where the 2023 Awards Ceremony will also be held, a show by 27 Italian authors titled “Ri/Svegli – Re/Awakenings” will be exhibited. At the “Vilson Kilica” Gallery in the city of Fier, on 22 September 2023, at 18:00, the thematic exhibitions “People”, “Land”, as well as the one on the competition's main theme, “Have Things Changed?”, will open. Then, Tirana will be the next destination in October with the “Press Photo” exhibition, followed by Elbasan on 11 and 12 October 2023 with a photographic selection from the 14th Edition, continuing further still to Italy, in Barletta and “Orvieto Fotografia”, in March 2024. So, this edition of the festival brings more than 7 thematic exhibitions and many other special ones for the Albanian and foreign public.

MAIN THEME: The “Fokus Award” International Photography Festival, for its 14th edition, brings to the public contemporary authorial photography based on an archetype in which concept, idea, theme — based on a single curatorial thesis — form the basis for selecting the images. This is now an overturned paradigm — we are right at the moment of transition from an era in which it seemed that “the camera never lied” to one in which images — even realistic ones — can be created without the use of a camera at all. It even seems ironic to recall Diane Arbus's remark that “there are things which nobody would see unless I photographed them”. “Things have changed”, Bob Dylan sang bitterly, and we have no wish at all to hide this fact — on the contrary, we want to dedicate the festival's main theme to it. This is not a challenge between us and the machine — “Fokus Award”, through your photographs, seeks to become a manifesto of an artistic resistance that overcomes this shift by questioning this destructive potential of the photographic image. The exhibitions bring photographs that not only display photographers' visions of this epochal change, but at the same time restore, in the world of the image, a hierarchy at the top of which stand human thought and intelligence, and the photographer's instinct and sensitivity — who must, all the while, continue to show the world and the human condition responsibly, in a balanced way, that is, with their own authority, as an artist. With this theme and this epochal challenge, Fokus Award presents the Albanian public with a selection of 183 artists from 25 different countries around the world. Over 395 artists from around the world had previously applied to the festival's competitions.

WINNING PRIZES: The winner of the “FOKUS AWARD 2023” prize for the Main Theme “Have Things Changed” receives a monetary value of 1000 Euros. The winner of the “PRESS PHOTO 2023” prize receives a monetary value of 1000 Euros. The winners of the “Land”, “People” and “Life” prizes each receive a monetary value of 500 Euros.

ORGANISED BY: “Albania Fokus Centre” / With the Financial Support of: The Ministry of Culture of Albania, the Municipality of Fier, BenArt Print, Nikon, Zgatar Electronic / In partnership with the “Vilson Kilica” Art Gallery Fier, FIOF, Fotometria, “Alfa Gallery” Vlorë, “Bylis” Theatre Fier, the Antik Association and EJAlbum / Artistic Director: Arben Alliaj / Manager: Saimir Ahmeti / Competition Jury: Maria Lanotte, Ardian Isufi, Genti Skullaku, Jetona Koçibelli, Agron Dragaj, Achilleas Tziakos. Curatorial Board: Burim Myftiu, Osman Demiri, Elton Koritari.

The Organisers and the Curatorial Board of the “Fokus Award 2023” Festival have the honour and pleasure of inviting you to the opening of the exhibition and to the press conference organised at its start. At the close of the exhibition opening, Fokus Award holds the Awards Ceremony at the Bylis Theatre, at 20:00, in a festive evening with the participating artists, personalities, journalists and numerous art lovers. Invited to perform at the festive concert are the artists Redon Makashi, Aleksandër Gjoka, Egzona Ademi and Elton Deda.

For further information or additional materials, you may contact our communications office at the contacts below. A press kit with materials and information about the exhibition can also be downloaded at this link: www.fokusaward.com

Contacts: Email: info@fokusaward.com / Tel. +355693949167 / Tel. +355696472272 We look forward to welcoming you