Summary
- Photometria Festival 2026 takes place in Ioannina from September 26 to November 29
- The 18th edition presents 14 exhibitions across 10 locations with more than 50 artists
- Coming of Age links the festival’s 18th year with the theme of the Photometria Awards
- The PPC inaugurates a permanent exhibition dedicated to Kostas Balafas
- Admission is free at all exhibition venues
- The Coming of Age theme and the Photometria Awards
- A permanent exhibition for Kostas Balafas
- From Elli Papadimitriou to Byker
- The contemporary solo exhibitions
- Group exhibitions and emerging voices
- Talks, screenings and the first Photobook Fair
- Venues, dates and opening hours
- What we think
- Frequently asked questions
Event Details
The Photometria International Photography Festival returns to Ioannina from September 26 to November 29, 2026, with 14 exhibitions, more than 50 artists, events across 10 city locations and free admission.
The 18th edition officially opens on Saturday, September 26 at 9:00 p.m. at the Dimitris Hatzis Cultural Centre Theatre, with a live performance and DJ set by Orestais. The programme includes eight solo and six group exhibitions, artist talks, six documentary screenings and the festival’s first two-day Photobook Fair.
This edition carries particular weight because it links the festival’s own coming of age with the theme “Coming of Age (18+),” while also inaugurating a permanent exhibition dedicated to Kostas Balafas at the upgraded Photometria Photography Center. Following last year’s Photometria festival, the event again extends into Ioannina’s urban fabric, bringing together historical archives, international documentary work, experimental practices and emerging voices.
The Coming of Age theme and the Photometria Awards
“Coming of Age (18+)” approaches adulthood not as a simple legal or chronological threshold but as a complex transition. The images explore autonomy, the body, identity, social expectations, responsibility and the ruptures that shape an adult self.
The theme finds its most direct expression in the outdoor Photometria Awards 2026 exhibition on Ioannina City Hall’s perimeter fence. Magnum Photos member Alec Soth selected 25 photographs by artists from Greece and abroad. Nikon sponsors the competition, while PTTL has already presented the selected Photometria Awards 2026 works.
A permanent exhibition for Kostas Balafas
The first floor of the Photometria Photography Center hosts the new permanent exhibition “On the Thread of Time: People and Landscapes of the Land of Epirus,” curated by Chara Sklika. It presents a selection of original prints loaned to the PPC by the photographer’s son, Giorgos Balafas, focusing on life in Ioannina and the pastoral landscapes of Epirus.
The centre digitised the material, which will remain accessible after the festival ends. The initiative complements the journey of Balafas’s archive: the photographer donated his body of work to the Benaki Museum in 2008, and the new permanent display creates a lasting point of contact with it in Epirus itself.
From Elli Papadimitriou to Byker
“The Rough Substance of Things” brings to the Silversmithing Museum photographs made by Elli Papadimitriou in Epirus and Macedonia between 1928 and 1931. She documented rural and refugee communities without folkloric idealisation, building a visual archive of ethnographic and social precision. Curated by Ioanna Petropoulou, the exhibition is co-produced with the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation and the Benaki Museum.
The first floor of the Municipal Art Gallery presents Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s “Byker” and “Byker Revisited” together. The first series, made from 1969 to 1981, records a close-knit Newcastle working-class community before demolition and urban redevelopment. The second, produced from 2003 to 2009, returns to the same place and observes the new multicultural life around the Byker Wall. The dialogue between the two periods turns the exhibition into a study of lost communities, memory and the possibility of rebuilding neighbourhood ties.
The contemporary solo exhibitions
On the PPC ground floor, Dimitris Mougos presents “A Couple of Photos,” a long-term record of friends and artists moving between everyday life in Thessaloniki, music production and concerts. The series becomes a narrative about collective memory and companionship. Because of its connection to the artist LEX, it opens ahead of the main festival on September 18, one day before his Ioannina concert.
In the PPC basement, Alastair Philip Wiper’s “Pleasure Points” investigates California’s adult-products industry, from manufacturing lines and specialist workshops to remote-control and virtual-reality technology. The series looks beyond the unusual machinery to consider how technology intersects with autonomy, desire and control over sexual identity.
In the arcades of the Castle’s central gate, Javier Talavera presents “Blueprints,” an experimental study of the body through life-size cyanotypes. The human figure is detached from traditional portraiture and becomes a trace, a shape and a site of collective memory.
At Gallery 3PORTES, Hanno Ketterer’s “Love Letters from the War” begins with nearly one thousand letters written by his grandfather, a German soldier on the Eastern Front. The work combines letters, drawings and family photographs with new AI-generated images that were manually edited, alongside a nine-minute film. It examines personal ethics and memory without concealing the artificial nature of its reconstructed scenes.
At the Dimitris Hatzis Cultural Centre, Christos Sotiropoulos’s “Alone, Between Sky and Earth” brings photographs, texts, archival traces and book-objects into a narrative centred on Ilia. The images move from places of worship and social scenes to portraits, labour, water and roads, approaching a specific region through its transformations and memories.
Group exhibitions and emerging voices
On the ground floor of the Municipal Art Gallery, “Biogeographies” by Stratis Vogiatzis, Vasilis Nebegleriotis and Vicky Georgiou links geography, personal identity and collective memory through three long-term projects. Curated by Iraklis Papaioannou, the exhibition is organised in collaboration with MOMus – Thessaloniki Museum of Photography.
At the open-air Tower of Thomas, “Parallel Voices” brings together nine series by Alex Bex, Giuseppe Cardoni, Vladimir Karamazov, Sveta Kaverina, Sarah Malakoff, Kirill Muniabin, Stefanos Paikos, Danae Panagiotidi and Giorgos Stergiopoulos. The projects range from masculinity and imprisonment to migration, memory and social isolation.
The Photometria Youth Collective 2026 exhibition, mounted on the outside fence of Hotel Olympic, presents nine artists aged 18 to 25: Anastasia Nakou, Anna Pournara, Archontoula Petraki, Cristian Iacono, Efthymia Athanasiou, Iara Silva Sanchez, Jeremy Mosniagka, Konstantinos Zontanos and Lida Theodora Veniamin. PTTL has already introduced the nine emerging photographers selected for the exhibition. It maps contemporary young visual culture, focusing on experimentation and the new generation’s social and existential concerns.
On the first floor of the PPC, “Photometria Photobooks” brings together the 25 books selected through the international competition, presenting independent publications, zines and self-published books as autonomous narrative works. At Glykyδων Square, the Entefxis Photography Network presents photography collectives from across Greece, creating an open picture of collaborative photographic activity in the country.
Talks, screenings and the first Photobook Fair
On Sunday, September 27 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., artists and curators present their work at the Dimitris Hatzis Cultural Centre Theatre. Speakers include Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Alastair Philip Wiper, Dimitris Mougos, Javier Talavera, Christos Sotiropoulos, Iraklis Papaioannou and Vladimir Karamazov. At 8:00 p.m., cinematographer Giorgos Arvanitis follows with the talk “Photography in Cinema.”
The same venue screens the documentaries “Mary,” “The Greek Experiment,” “Born Twice” and “Your Multiple Reflection” on October 2 and 3, in collaboration with the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival and its Destination Journey programme. On October 4, the focus moves to Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen with “Byker” and “Today I’m with you.” Admission to all screenings is free.
On October 10 and 11, Photometria’s first Photobook Fair hosts 15 selected projects from Greece and abroad at WOW Branding & Web Design. The two-day event includes book presentations by artists and publishers and aims to strengthen networks around the photobook scene.
Venues, dates and opening hours
- Kostas Balafas: PPC, first floor, from September 26 and permanently after the festival.
- Elli Papadimitriou: Silversmithing Museum, September 26–November 30. Daily except Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. through October 15 and 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. from October 16.
- Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen: Municipal Art Gallery, first floor, September 26–November 27. Monday–Friday 9:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.; Sunday 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. and 6:00–9:00 p.m.
- Dimitris Mougos: PPC, ground floor, September 18–November 27. Wednesday–Friday 5:00–9:00 p.m.; Saturday 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
- Alastair Philip Wiper: PPC, basement, September 26–November 28. Wednesday–Friday 5:00–9:00 p.m.; Saturday 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
- Javier Talavera: Castle central gate arcades, September 26–October 11. Monday–Friday 6:00–10:00 p.m.; weekends 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. and 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- Hanno Ketterer: Gallery 3PORTES, September 26–October 10. Monday–Friday 10:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., with additional hours Tuesday and Friday 6:00–8:00 p.m.; Saturday 1:00–3:00 p.m.
- Christos Sotiropoulos: Dimitris Hatzis Cultural Centre, September 26–October 11. Monday–Friday 6:00–10:00 p.m.; weekends 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. and 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- Biogeographies: Municipal Art Gallery, ground floor, September 26–November 27. Monday–Friday 9:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.; Sunday 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. and 6:00–9:00 p.m.
- Photometria Awards: Ioannina City Hall perimeter fence, September 26–November 29, outdoors and accessible 24/7.
- Parallel Voices: Tower of Thomas, September 26–November 29, outdoors and accessible 24/7.
- Photometria Photobooks: PPC, first floor, September 26–November 27.
- Youth Collective 2026: Hotel Olympic exterior fence, September 26–November 29, accessible 24/7.
- Entefxis Photography Network: Glykyδων Square, September 26–November 29, accessible 24/7.
The full programme and any updates are available on the official Photometria exhibitions page. Admission is free at all exhibition venues and announced screenings.
What we think
The significance of this edition lies not only in the number of exhibitions but in the coexistence of different periods and forms of photography: from the historical archives of Kostas Balafas and Elli Papadimitriou to participatory documentary work, cyanotype, photobooks and contemporary debate around artificial intelligence. Making Balafas’s work permanently accessible in Ioannina is the programme’s most enduring move, while free entry and outdoor exhibitions keep the festival genuinely open to the city.
Frequently asked questions
When does Photometria Festival 2026 take place?
The main festival runs from September 26 to November 29, 2026. Dimitris Mougos’s exhibition opens earlier, on September 18, while Elli Papadimitriou’s exhibition ends on November 30.
Where is the official opening?
The official opening takes place on Saturday, September 26 at 9:00 p.m. at the Dimitris Hatzis Cultural Centre Theatre, with a live performance and DJ set by Orestais.
Is there an admission fee?
No. Admission is free at all festival exhibition venues and at the announced documentary screenings.
Which exhibition will remain after the festival?
Kostas Balafas’s “On the Thread of Time: People and Landscapes of the Land of Epirus” will remain as a permanent installation on the first floor of the Photometria Photography Center.
When is the Photobook Fair?
The Photobook Fair takes place on October 10 and 11 at WOW Branding & Web Design, from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
