The first edition of Phodar biennial took place in 1999. Today, after 5 edition of the salon, with 700 participants and more than 9 000 submitted photographs it is clear that we have created a sustainable and yet evolving product of culture which keeps up with the world tendencies in the artistic use of the photographic media.
The International Photo Contest, as the main element of the biennial, affords an opportunity to both distinguished and young, not yet established artists to demonstrate their creative potential. The participants are mainly artists from Europe: Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Along the 5 editions of the festival we also had selected and award winning artists from: United States, Canada, Japan and South Korea.
The biennial is taking place in Pleven, the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria at on of the largest exhibition spaces in the country. Whit its 2000 square meters Ilija Bejkov gallery allowed us to present an accompanying exhibitions program which includes solo exhibition of approved photographers and exhibition organised in collaboration with the European culture institutes presented in Bulgaria.
As far as multicultural dialogue is concerned, the nature of photographic medium itself overcomes language barriers in a way that the communication takes place in the exhibition halls in the very presence of the viewers. The themes of the last two editions of the Salon – Your World (2005) and Identities (2007), as well as the forthcoming 6th edition’s Chance Encounters theme, presuppose that the artists relate to the cultural diversity of different nations and address the coexistence and interweave of different traditions in the global community. This tendency is best developed in the third module of the biennial , the Theoretical Seminar in which lecturers from different humanitarian disciplines give their opinion on the subject and express an attitude towards the works exhibited.
The creative criteria is what the Salon claims the most and what determines its prestige. Having set the purpose to fill the gap between the large amateur photography movement and the elite professional artists, we seek to accomplish that by means of the Photo Contest and the assessment criteria. The jury gives priority to new conceptual and visual decisions and encourages works that strike with their originality and deep personal engagement in the subject.
As a result of the growing popularity of the Phodar biennial , collections of its archives has been shown in Paris during the ‘’Month of the Photography’’ in 2008, the International Photo Salon in Adana, Turkey in 2005 , the Aspects of Balkan Photgraphy festival in Thessaloniki, Greece in 2001 and 2008, and at the international Photo Salon in Oradea, Romania.
