Photoszene-Festival
loves the Circular
The Internationale Photoszene Köln is continuing on its path towards a sustainable photo festival. The Foundation for Environment and Development of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia is supporting the festival organization in the implementation of an online campaign for more sustainability in cultural work.
For the 2025 edition of the festival, the Internationale Photoszene Köln has set itself the goal of minimizing the environmental impact of its exhibition practice, festival organization and audience and raising awareness of the idea of a circular economy for culture.
In the coming weeks, Photoszene's online presence will report on various practices of sustainable cultural creation via the website and social media, meet project operators and “green” initiatives from Cologne and present them:
Local production on sustainable papers
kontrastlabor
The Cologne-based photo lab kontrast has been working in the field of analog and digital photography since 1987.
We would like to encourage artists to produce on site for the 2025 edition of the festival and are continuing our cooperation with Kontrastlabor. This time with a focus on sustainable materials!
Fine art and sustainability - Three ideas
For the International Photoscene 2025, kontrastlabor offers discounts for fine art printing on 3 sustainable paper types - with the support of the German manufacturer Hahnemühle - and an alternative lamination on honeycomb core boards for framed pictures, as well as a deposit system for packaging material to reduce waste.
- Hahnemühle Sustainable Photo Satin 220: 100% α-cellulose paper
- Hahnemühle Hemp: hemp cotton
- Hahnemühle Bamboo Gloss Baryta: bamboo fibers, cotton
- Reusable folders made from paper plates
- Packaging costs will be credited if corrugated cardboard and edge protection foam profiles are returned
The test motif is from the series “The New Colonist” by the artist Monica Alcazar-Duarte, who deals with the current efforts of space exploration in this work.
Thinking mobility
Festival logistics
On the way to a sustainable festival, we naturally take mobility into account. We strive to give preference to local productions - to save on transportation - and also support and encourage artists to do so. We equip our team with cargo bikes and try to reduce or avoid emissions when setting up and dismantling the exhibitions. How often do we have to travel back and forth by cargo bike?
Raising awareness among visitors
We also want to sensitize our audience to the topic and win them over! We are looking to cooperate with bike sharing and rickshaw providers. We would like to establish a bonus system for deposited kilometers during the festival - for example with the “Radbonus” app.
Festival and Recycling
One festival, many events
In 2023, 125,000 visitors attended the 83 photography exhibitions of the International Photoscene Cologne. We want to use resources more sustainably not only in the preparation but also in the implementation of the festival. This includes avoiding waste and recycling materials correctly. What concrete contribution can we make?
One example: crown corks
A large proportion of crown caps are made of tinplate. They are often disposed of carelessly or end up in nature. If they are recycled, the material can be melted down again. Recycling tinplate consumes only a fraction of the energy that would be required to extract it from primary raw materials.
BlechWech
The Cologne-based “BlechWech” foundation has been collecting bottle caps since 2018 to support aid organizations, and for the 2025 edition of the festival, we want to use BlechWech to encourage exhibition venues to collect the bottle caps with us at the many festival events.
Handprint - Inspiration statt Frustration
The concept of the so-called “handprint” was developed in 2007 by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) in India. The ClimateHandprint shows and measures what we can do to keep our carbon footprint small.
The second Cologne Climate Week, which takes place from 23.09. - 29.09., also shows this. The program is super interesting and varied.
We would particularly like to draw your attention to the guided tour of the first climate-neutral exhibition at Museum Ludwig on Friday, September 27 at 4 pm with curator Dr. Miriam Szwast.
The number of participants is limited to 25 people and the meeting point is at the information desk. The tour is free of charge, only the museum entrance fee is charged.
What does the Handprint mean for us as a photo festival?
When developing the sustainability concept for the Photoszene Festival, we identified the following areas for the Handprint. These are the areas that we can positively influence together despite the participatory concept:
-production of the exhibits
-Production and reduction of the print products
-mobility of the artists and speakers
-mobility of the festival visitors
-Transport routes for exhibition set-up
-Catering and drinks for openings, artist talks and other events
-Conversion from conventional electricity to green electricity, if possible
At the first meet-ups, we already received positive feedback from the 50 or so participants on the topic of sustainability and the upcoming changes. Let's continue at this point!
Save the Date: Monday, October 07 or Tuesday, October 08, 7 - 9 p.m.
The next Meet Ups will focus on sustainability.
An invitation will follow shortly. We look forward to seeing you there!
Borrowing instead of buying
There are so many options available to us in Cologne for borrowing or renting everyday objects, tools, furniture, clothing, vehicles and much more.
In addition to the well-known DIY stores, we can certainly ask private circles or visit the Dingfabrik's open workshop with a specific project. The association, which has existed in Cologne since 2010, sees itself as a combination of open workshop, maker/hacker space and FabLab. The Dingfabrik offers rooms and machines for members and the public.
Another young initiative is LeihBar. The association was founded in December 2022 with the conviction that lending items can create added value for society.
Around 10 people are currently involved in the LeihBar on a voluntary basis. In order to be able to offer more opening days, the LeihBar is looking for more people who would like to volunteer.
Tools can be borrowed twice a week at the Schmitzundkunzt - so geht Nachbarschaft e.V., centrally located in the Belgian Quarter. The association also offers other sustainability-related activities such as repair cafés, (clothes) swap meets, bicycle workshops, etc.
On a small scale and temporarily, we would also like to set up a lending circle internally with the participating exhibitions and establish it for the festival preparations. We are working on this together with the community at the next Meet Ups and look forward to taking on this logistical and organizational challenge. After all, there are certainly many items that were obtained for one or other past exhibition and are no longer needed, but could be useful for others.
Tap water instead of bottled water
In preparation for the Photoszene Festival 2025, we want to think more in cycles and reduce and avoid waste, intensify the use of resources and materials and reuse them after they have been used.
Why tap water?
If we switch to tap water for the event catering for visitors and our own consumption and do without bottled water, we not only reduce waste, but also CO2, as the transport of distribution channels and production is eliminated.
The Photoszene-Festival, a biennial event in Cologne, celebrates not only the art of photography, but also the diversity and openness of the city. With a rich history that has shaped Cologne's artistic aura for decades, the festival provides a platform for photographers from all over the world to exhibit their work and enter into a dialogue with the urban space. This event creates encounters that reflect both the diversity of the participating artists and the heterogeneous urban landscape of Cologne. The festival sees itself not only as an exhibition, but also as a place of exchange and reflection that encourages visitors to scrutinise the interactions between art, society and history. In a city known for its creativity and authenticity, the Photoszene-Festival shows how art and social awareness can intertwine. The focus on sustainability and ethical practices takes the event to a level that goes far beyond the purely aesthetic and contributes to the ongoing discussion about the responsibility of art in today's world. Cologne, with its unmistakable blend of joie de vivre and intellectual sophistication, provides the ideal backdrop for a festival that is characterised as much by inclusivity as it is by artistic innovation.
Köln Tourismus
Stiftung Umwelt und Entwicklung Nordrhein-Westfalen