bpf.conference brings together a dynamic mix of voices across photography and visual culture. From award-winning photographers and internationally acclaimed curators to emerging talents and sharp thinkers, this full-day program features lectures, artist talks, panel discussions, and debates.
FREE ENTRY
Moderator:
Ioana Cobzaru (The Netherlands / Romania)
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11:00 Lecture
"Current state of the Photography Festivals around the world"
Pablo Giori (SP), International Photography Festivals Association (IPFA)
12:00 Panel discussion
"On Festivals"
w / Laura Tota (IT, Liquida Photofestival, PhEST) and Pablo Giori (SP, IPFA)
13:00 LUNCH BREAK
14:00 Lecture
"Legacy. Stories. Photojournalism"
w / Dean C.K. Cox ( SE, editorial photojournalist)
15:00 Panel discussion
"On Emerging Artists"
w / Andrea Bonderup (DK/NL), Daria Radu (RO), Andrei Mateescu (RO) and Luuk van Raamsdonk (NL)
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About our speakers:
Dean C.K. Cox is an award-winning journalist, documentary photographer, and media trainer with over 30 years of international experience. He has worked in more than 50 countries across Europe, Asia, and the United States, covering post-conflict zones, humanitarian crises, and social transformations for leading outlets such as The New York Times, BBC, Bloomberg, Vogue Italia, and Le Monde.
Formerly a senior lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University, Dean has shaped future generations of journalists through courses in multimedia storytelling, ethics, and digital media innovation. His work blends field experience, academic insight, and a deep commitment to journalistic integrity — exploring the intersection of truth, image, and human resilience.
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Luuk van Raamsdonk is a lens-based artist and researcher based in Breda (NL): His work explores themes of history, identity, trauma and the human-nature relationship using photography, moving images and installation to question established narratives and reveal hidden histories. With a deep curiosity for the unknown, he investigates cycles of absence, memory and reconstruction, often drawing from archival material.
His practice is research-driven, relying on repetition, experimentation, deconstruction and a blend of historical and contemporary visual strategies. By merging the archival qualities of photography with a conceptual approach, he constructs multidisciplinary installations characterised by stark (black-and-white) imagery and layered storytelling.
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Laura Tota is an independent curator specializing in photography and contemporary art, serving as Artistic Director of Liquida Photofestival and Exhibition Coordinator for festivals including EXPOSED Torino, Photolux, and PhEST. Her practice spans solo and group exhibitions across public and private institutions, weaving together emerging and established voices while fostering dialogues between artists, audiences, and territories.
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Daria Radu is a Romanian artist who investigates untold stories, cultural identity, post-memory, and the boundaries between reality and fiction through photography, sound, book-making and research. Her practice focuses on the past, preserving stories at risk of being forgotten while questioning media representations and truth in photography. Critical yet gentle, her work layers political concern beneath emotional foreground, creating space for healing conversations and stitching open cultural wounds within the safe environment of art.
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Andrei Mateescu - A native of the notorious grey apartment blocks, Andrei Mateescu’s (b. 1988, Bucharest) preoccupations have taken shape around delicate relationships making up the contemporary urban landscape. His fascination with the limits of the photographic medium likewise manifested early, examples being the series Multilateral, HYPER, and Residential. His current practice often addresses the inherent transitory character of the City, as a vessel for human dynamism. In exhibition contexts, he frequently opts for conceptual installation, positioning himself within the field of expanded photography. Since 2022, he has also contributed to the development and promotion of contemporary Romanian photography through writing, curating, creating the www.photographyinflux.ro platform, and running an artist-run space in Bucharest – CAV Multimedia.
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Andrea Bonderup (she/her) is a multidisciplinary Danish artist based in The Hague, working primarily with photography, ceramics, and installation. At the heart of her practice lies storytelling - weaving together personal, generational, and universal narratives.
Instinctively responsive and critically observant, Andrea explores the world around her through a lens of empathy, activism, and playfulness. Her work often revolves around womanhood and gender-based discrimination, challenging patriarchal structures with directness and a disarming sense of humour.
Accessibility is central to her artistic approach. By engaging multiple senses - through the skin-like texture of latex, the sound of flowing water, or the shimmer of reflective materials - she creates immersive experiences that connect with viewers on both emotional and physical levels.
Blending the everyday with the abstract, Andrea’s work reveals how meaning and conflict can emerge from the ordinary, encouraging us to look closer and see wider.
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bpf.conference is a direct expression of Bucharest Photofest’s mission: to foster a deeper understanding of photography as both an individual and collective act.
#LetsGetVisual
#BucharestPhotofest
📲bucharestphotofest.ro
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The event is part of the 10th edition of the Bucharest Photofest international photography festival, that takes place between OCT 10-19, 2025 in Bucharest and has as its central theme LEGACY.
You may also like the following events from Bucharest Photofest:
- This month, 10th October, 07:00 pm, Bucharest Photofest 2025 | the 10th edition in Bucharest
- This Friday, 17th October, 06:30 pm, Parallel Hungary | Exhibition by Streetphoto Hungary, Bucharest Photofest 2025 in Bucharest
- This Sunday, 19th October, 10:00 pm, Drew McDowall (SCT/USA) Live w/ Pedro Maia (PT) A/V • Closing Night | Bucharest Photofest 2025 in Bucharest
Also check out other
Arts events in Bucharest,
Festivals in Bucharest,
Exhibitions in Bucharest.
