FotoFocus Announces Theme for 2026 FotoFocus Biennial: The Long View
Posted on April 15, 2025
Having Drawn Over 1 Million Visitors Since Its 2012 Inception, America’s Largest Photography Biennial Returns to Explore Time and Perspective
(Cincinnati, OH — April 15, 2025) — FotoFocus, the nonprofit arts organization dedicated to creating dialogue between contemporary lens-based art and the history of photography, is pleased to announce the return of the FotoFocus Biennial with its eighth edition: The Long View. Taking place in October 2026, the month-long celebration of lens-based art will consider aspects of time and perspective in photography and film, as well as how these mediums shape our understanding of the world. The Opening Weekend Events will be held October 1–3, 2026.
Gathering international artists, curators, critics, educators, and visitors, the Biennial will kick off with exhibition programming including talks, tours, panel discussions, and receptions. With an anticipated Fall 2025 opening for the FotoFocus Center, this will be the first Biennial to host select Biennial events in the organization’s new space. Additional Biennial venues include museums, galleries, universities, and public spaces throughout Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Northern Kentucky.
“FotoFocus is pleased to announce its 2026 Biennial theme following the success of our most recent iteration,” says Katherine Ryckman Siegwarth, FotoFocus Executive Director. “Cumulatively, our Biennial exhibitions have welcomed over one million visitors, and we look forward to once again hosting a month-long celebration of photography in the Greater Cincinnati region.”
“The long view” is a phrase used to invoke a broader perspective. It suggests both distance and duration. As an attitude toward history, this idea suggests a wise and measured perspective, one that takes into consideration both the distant past while also considering the distant future. The long view also describes, in literal terms, two primary functions of photography: long-distance vision and long-duration viewing.
Considering photography as a metaphor for the attempt to grasp one’s place within the durational sweep of history, The Long View acknowledges next year as the semiquincentennial of the United States. This theme encourages a posture of reflection in regards to the country’s history, its past, present, and future. Photography can depict many moments from that long history, but it can also serve as a metric for how we understand our past and decide to shape it over time.
“Our country is undergoing a lot of turbulence as it approaches its 250th anniversary, and a lot of us are anxiously caught up in the moment, worried about what the future holds,” says FotoFocus Artistic Director and Curator, Kevin Moore. “The Long View suggests we might benefit from gaining a broader perspective, by looking to the past to better imagine a future.”
FotoFocus invites venues in Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Northern Kentucky to apply to the 2026 Biennial, and welcomes proposals addressing The Long View through the exploration of a range of topics including, but not limited to, bodies of work that:
- Address history and collective memory
- Imagine life in the near or distant future
- Address time and duration
- Explore the technical challenges of distance and perspective as factors contributing to the meaning of lens-based imagery
- Consider the present moment within a longer historical framework
Deadline: September 5, 2025
2026 FotoFocus Biennial Call For Entry
FotoFocus is giving curators and artists an opportunity to pitch an exhibition to be featured in the 2026 FotoFocus Biennial, awarding up to $10,000 in support for each selected project. The application link will go live August 1, 2025 with a deadline of September 5, 2025.
Press Release originally published on April 15, 2025.