Naarden Photo Festival (FFN) is a biennial photo exhibition which has been presenting the current state of autonomous photography since 1989. Photography moves and changes and that is why FFN is also in motion. Not only is photography developing, there are countless crossovers between forms of expression in the visual arts: moving image, installations, video art, increasingly blurring the boundaries of what was once the art of photography.
The festival focuses not only on documentary photography, but also on photography that is true to the basic principles of beauty and artistry - in the broadest sense of the word. It is precisely at this intersection of documentary and artistic photography that we want to incite visitors to think and to change or develop their views on current affairs.
The FotoFestival Naarden offers a mirror of society to a broad and growing audience by exhibiting carefully selected work by contemporary photographers, thus giving substance to current themes and offering the public a new, different or renewed perspective on these themes. To this end, it offers contemporary photography in the broadest sense and on an inclusive basis: relevant collections and series by major established photographers, innovative techniques and renewed 'old' techniques, a platform for young talent, multimedia and everything in between and around it.
The FotoFestival has developed a strong signature by showing various exhibitions with work of young talent and established names. FotoFestival Naarden discovers, launches and helps new talent in different ways to start their, not seldom promising, career. The public is offered a unique visual experience, enriched with the atmosphere of the surroundings. These ingredients form the backbone of the festival. For the 2021 edition, special attention will be paid to two special target groups: the elderly audience, for which there will be a collaboration with a Vivium nursing facility in the municipality, and the visually impaired, for which there will be a collaboration with Visio, an institute for the blind located in the region.
The FotoFestival:
The last edition (FFN 2019) showed an artistic exploration that was achieved by attracting a new curatorial team. New and established names, video art, installations and far-reaching digital photographic adaptations as well as analogue and collodion technology - the festival showed great diversity but also unity in the theme of 'marvelous misfits'.
Photography will remain the main theme and related art forms will have their place in the upcoming editions of the festival. In the coming years, the festival aims to open up to even more new and established talent in photography as well as make crossovers to film, digital art, installations and possibly other forms of imagery in order to offer an even more varied and stronger programme to all target groups and contribute to the profile of the Fortress of Naarden as a cultural destination.
The board of Photo Festival Naarden is as follows:
André van der Velde, chairman
Ernst de Wijs, Treasurer
Quirine van der Sloot, secretary
Frank Peters, member
Harriette Loeffen, member
Feiko Koster, chief curator FFN2021, gallery owner Koster Fine Art Gallery, Naarden
Guinevere Ras, curator Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam
Lotte van Es, curator Huis Marseille, Amsterdam
Madé van Krimpen, gallery owner Multiplemadé, Amsterdam
Kenneth Stamp, curator special project 'Celebrate the Dutch Landscape', photographer
Joke Smit, project management
Charlotte Brand, project management
Simone Kenter, communication & marketing
Ellen Piekaar, communication & marketing
