FORMAT International Photography Festival

What is FORMAT?

FORMAT happens every two years (biennial or biennale) and is the place to engage with an incredible range of new work alongside some of the best-known practitioners in the world. It attracts tens of thousands of visitors to Derby from all over the globe.

The festival is focused on developing opportunities for audiences to see, debate, develop, contribute and participate in the best of what photography is and can be, with comprehensive professional practice programmes and a yearly International Photography Portfolio Review.

The biennial and off-year programmes celebrate the wealth of contemporary photographic practice. The programme features major conceptual works, participative projects, documentary and all that falls between categorisations, from the mobile phone to the archive. We are concerned with what is happening right here, right now in the scene and beyond, whilst sharing and contributing to it.

Each edition of the festival is curated and programmed in response to a theme, reflecting current debates and issues. This has included Evidence (2015), which considered the place of the photograph as a document, and Habitat (2017), which examined the ecological impact and legacies of humankind on the physical environment.

FORMAT confirms Derby as a major centre for photography in the UK with an international reach and reflects the reputation and heritage of the University of Derby in the area of photographic research and education over more than five decades.

You can find out more on the FORMAT Festival website.