World Press Photo Contest in Groningen

The World Press Photo Contest 2018 exhibition returns to Groningen. The photos will be displayed in the Groningen Synagogue daily between Friday 9 November and Sunday 2 December. The University of Groningen is a partner of the Academy programme of the World Press Photo Contest 2018.

The World Press Photo Contest 2018 is an intriguing photography exhibition showing off the best press photos from 2017. The exhibition includes portraits, documentary series and news images. Every year, the World Press Photo Contest makes a selection of the most intense, unique and high-quality images from the field of visual journalism. Photographers from across the globe submit their best images in the categories of nature, sport, daily life, news, people, contemporary questions and long-term projects. New to this year is the environment category. Together, the winning photos – selected from 73,004 images by 4,548 photographers from 125 different countries – comprise the 61st edition of the World Press Photo Contest exhibition.

Academy

For curious individuals, there is also the Academy: a broad programme including lectures by the World Press Photo Contest 2018 winners, such as photographer Kadir van Lohuizen, who won first prize in the environment category this year. In addition, an International Student Night features workshops, discussions and a lecture from well-known photographer Magnus Wennman, winner of the people category. Alongside these events, there is a portfolio evening for photographers and a special 'Human Flow' experience evening, featuring images, text and story, where the documentary of the same name by Ai Wei Wei will be screened.

UG Researchers

The Academy programme will be supplemented with guided tours led by researchers from the University of Groningen. In his ‘Visual Media’ guided tour, Dr Scott Eldridge will talk about how the stories of communities and society are told. The ‘Visual Global Politics’ guided tour by Dr David Shim will discuss visual representation methods, such as stereotyping, that underlie world politics. Dr Bob de Jonge will give a guided tour about ‘Migration’, in which he will ask questions about the relationship between violence and immigration as well as the role of cleanliness in the photographic reporting of this subject.

New in Groningen this year is the Digital Storytelling Contest, an innovative new media variant of the World Press Photo Contest, featuring documentaries and interactive websites. Alongside this, the Non-Fiction Photo Exhibition – produced by local talent –will also be on display, including the ‘Green is the new Black’ photo exhibition featuring work from local photographers. Inspired by the theme of environment and ‘Journalism solutions’, the exhibition investigates local answers to global problems. Exhibiting photographers include Joost Nuijten, Dennis Lapré, Majella Elgersma and Marion Verwey, who will give a guided tour of their own work every Wednesday at 3 p.m. during the exhibition period. The message of this critical exhibition is strongly reinforced by the ‘Fucking Recycle’ series, by designer Becky Redman. In addition, there will be a screening of the ‘Passengers’ documentary about Syrian refugees, made by journalist Tarfa Abdulghafour who had to flee the country herself due to her profession.

Place and entry

The Synagogue is open daily and wheelchair accessible. Tickets will be available online, on the door and also at the UG IShop on Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat.

Special arrangements will be offered for group visitations for schools, students or colleagues, and there will also be a family ‘children's corner’ every weekend between 1 and 5 p.m. There will be daily guided tours of the exhibition at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

For the webshop and for more information, visit: www.nonfictionphoto.nl