Creative Europe
Desk UK
for Culture

European Prospects: Visual Explorations in an Undiscovered Continent is a collaborative project which uses photography and contemporary lens-based art to examine questions of identity and experience in an enlarged European Union.

Its core partners are Ffotogallery in Cardiff, Fotosommer Stuttgart, the Lithuanian Photographers Association in Kaunas and Le Château d’Eau in Toulouse. The project offers a new space for European artists and cultural agents to share experience and practice, and achieve wider exposure for their work in Europe and beyond.

In 2013 Ffotogallery and Fotosommer presented two major group exhibitions European Chronicles and I See Europe! in Cardiff and Stuttgart, featuring thirty artists from across Europe. European Chronicles formed part of Diffusion: Cardiff International Festival of Photography, which was attended by over 56,000 visitors. The exhibition was launched as part of the festival opening weekend, which brought together an international art audience discussions and celebration of the artform.

Fotosommer organised their conference Centre and Periphery: or How to put Yourself on the Map in August 2013. The event coincided with the opening of I See Europe! and focused on the issue of what it means to be ‘European’, whether living in populated centres or on the periphery. Visiting artists and curators from around Europe debated questions around visual convergence in an increasingly mobile society.

In March 2014, the European Prospects website was launched alongside the first partner publication European Prospects: Visual Explorations in an Undiscovered Continent at a two-day symposium Europa Re-imagined hosted by Ffotogallery in Cardiff. The website is a growing platform for the promotion of lens-based artists working and living in Europe, as well as an information hub listing opportunities for lens-based artists across the whole of the European region.

During summer and autumn 2014, Ffotogallery Cardiff, and the Lithuanian Photographers’ Association Kaunas, are hosting a number of artist and curators residencies. Kaunas is preparing an exhibition and portfolio review event for September 2014. More activities are planned by the project, find out more about our work, the artists involved so far and upcoming opportunities: www.europeanprospects.org