Getxo open call 2024

There is nothing more serious than playing. During childhood, play is synonymous with freedom, a fantasy world beyond the power of adults where everything is possible and reality is suspended. A world without laws. But it is also by playing that we learn to respect the rules; those imposed from outside because that’s the way you play this game, or those that we invent because you can also play the game this way. We learn the basic rules of coexistence, how to play on a team or play alone, to lose or win, to obey others or negotiate with them. It is the great testing ground in which we rehearse what is to come.

As adults, we resign ourselves to the fact that the game is over. We convince ourselves that we no longer like it, or that we don’t need it. We only accept it covertly in other types of activities, such as some sports, in which we unleash ourselves without restraint, whether playing or watching others; or certain arts, where we allow ourselves brief forays into the fun side of life or beyond reality (and it is no coincidence that some languages preserve the synonymy between playing and acting). We also tolerate microdoses of board games, although always with an excuse (at Christmas or in cases of terrible boredom such as a trip without a phone or something that resembles the end of the world). There are games that survive in youth subcultures, such as role-playing games or cosplay, but, apparently, no one who does not want to see their maturity questioned enters these territories. And of course there are the so-called “games of chance”, although we wonder if they should not simply be called betting. Outside these limits, in the subdued world of adults, playfulness has no right to exist.

In Getxophoto 2024, we are looking for proposals from the field of image and photography that explore games and playing from these points of view and from many others that have not occurred to us.

Award: Exibition + 400 Euro

Deadline: 20th November 2023