As Ankara Photography Artists Association (AFSAD), 48. In 2025, when we celebrate our anniversary, events will be held throughout the month of April.

In this context, 9. AFSAD International Photography Symposium will be held on 11-13 April 2025. The symposium  will be held at the Contemporary Arts Center in Ankara  .   

 The subject of the three-day Symposium; It is determined as  IMAGE and REALITY.

Since it was invented, photography has always held its place as the closest object to reality. He always used the technologies of his time. What all the changes that the photographic industry today has forcibly brought about have proven is, above all, its capacity to be reborn and find new forms and uses. Successive shell changes led to the renewal of his photographic image, while at the same time endowing him with an eternal youthfulness and modernity. The digital revolution and artificial intelligence have been no exception to this, arguably bringing vitality not only to industry but also to photographic events. Digital, which makes photography even more accessible, strips the act of photography of its magic and the photographic image from its aura; He brought about the democratization of the photographic image and expanded the experimental dimension of photography.

Rosalind Krauss said, 'Every photograph is the result of physical traces transferred by light reflections on a sensitive surface. It is an icon type or visual representation that has a symptomatic relationship with the photographic object," he wrote in 1977. The continued belief that he offers a true sign of his subject still constitutes the dramatic power of the photographs. We live in a time when the reality of the content we see is blurred, let alone whether an image we see today is a photograph or not. We don't perceive fact and fiction as opposing themes as much as we used to. Fiction and reality travel side by side and intertwined.

The variety of contemporary forms, techniques and subjects related to photography is truly stunning. In this symposium, we turned our gaze to photography, image and reality.

Are we still able to find reality in photographic images in a way that convinces us?

Let's take a look together.

PANEL 1: Technology, Photography, Similar Images and the Search for Reality Between Traditional and Contemporary Expression

PANEL 2: Everyday Life, Reality and Image

PANEL 3: Professional Field, Reality and Image

PANEL 4: Photo or Not? AI, NFT, New Artificial Images

It is possible to participate in the symposium with free papers, events and/or exhibitions, except for invited guests. Applications will be evaluated by the Symposium Evaluation Committee. Feedback will be provided for all applications. 

• Does the classic language of photography remain? 

• Changing photo production, perception and consumption with today's technology. 

• What kind of narration? Big projects, technological experimentation, originality and technology, digital evolution or revolution?

• New fictions of reality.

• Is there a common image language that surrounds the whole world? 

• Proliferation of photos and storage/elimination, mobile phone photography, artificial intelligence, changing approaches.

• Can an abundance of images cause blindness, and an excess of stimulation cause numbness?

• Does being in the flow of social media accounts distract from daily life?

• What does a life without a phone and video feel like?

• Excess of images and extremism in manipulation of images.

• Photo-sharing sites, vacations and photo trips, mementos, property, self-portraits and selfies, creating a visual identity.

• Technology and documentary photography, the sense of reality distorted by technological manipulations, new rules.

• Flawless frames and ordinary moments, technological extremism in the image.

• Technology and the deteriorating perception of reality, news photography, advertising photography.

• Public space and private space, endless recording, inappropriate recording.

• Has the image bank, the drone, mobile photography, citizen photography, technology democratized photography?

• The transformation of events from "happened" to "maybe it happened". Who will tell the truth next?

• Taking refuge in documentary works within art activities.

• Technological manipulations with the sense of reality, new data, the image that the eye does not see/does not see,

• Artificial intelligence images, new computational images

• Bad and good scenarios, what awaits us.

• Battered reality, weirdness, post-truth information and images

Click here for Abstract Writing Rules.

Click here for the Copyright Transfer Form.

You can fill out the application form for freelance paper applications.

Apart from free papers, you can also participate in the symposium with exhibitions, shows, performances or similar activities. To have your application evaluated:

• The application file, which includes the text explaining the content and your short resume with photo, should be sent to the Afsad Symposium contact address. (email: afsadsempozyum@afsad.org).

• Images (up to 50 pieces) should be prepared in sRGB and jpeg file format, with a resolution of 72 dpi, 1000 pixels on the long side, named as 'ad_soyad_01' and presented as a single zip file.

• If desired, applications can also be made with video format images. The video size should not exceed 20 Mb.

The deadline for submissions or events  is 07 March 2025. Applications after this date will not be accepted. 

Transportation, accommodation and similar expenses will be covered by the participant. The organization committee will assist in the installation and placement of the events and the devices to be used. 

We look forward to your participation and look forward to seeing you among us. 

Goodbye and stay with the art....