Rotlicht Festival 2026 — Anthropocene: Hybrid Realities

The Rotlicht Festival is an Austrian festival dedicated to analog photography, held in Vienna at the Atelierhaus der Akademie der bildenden Künste — an exhibition space of more than 1,300 square meters at the Academy of Fine Arts. The festival is organized by the Zigutamve Association.

The 2026 theme is "Anthropocene: Hybrid Realities," exploring tensions between human intervention and nature, control and vulnerability, construction and decay. Submitted work must be made within the previous five years (2021–2026) and must include at least one decisive analog process. Purely digital work is excluded; AI-generated and AI-enhanced images are not accepted.

Twenty winning projects are selected from the open call. Each winner receives an exhibition slot at the main venue, two copies of the official catalogue, €250 prize money, a €150 travel allowance, a festival pass, and free registration for Photodays Rovinj 2027. The Grand Prix winner additionally receives a solo exhibition at the Photo Cluster Gallery, an additional €250, the cover artwork credit on 2026 festival materials, and a free hotel stay at partner hotel Korotan.

The 2026 jury is led by Chief Juror Hanin Hannouch (Curator for Analog and Digital Media at Weltmuseum Wien) and includes Miriam Marzura (Leica Galerie Wien), Miha Colner (Galerija Božidar Jakac), Wiktoria Michałkiewicz (REZO agency), Sabina Salamon (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka), artist Laura Ettel, and Florence Drouhet (Photo Festival LaGacilly-Baden). Entry fee is €20 per project. The deadline is June 30, 2026; winners announced early September.