Bodies as landscapes, images as footprints: Der Greif and FUTURES public programmes in Paris

Join us during Paris Photo 2026

Celebrating the bicentenary of photography, Paris Photo 2026 provides a platform to evaluate where the medium has been, where it stands, and where its responsibilities lie going forward. Two initiatives at the centre of this year’s discussions outside the fair are the release of Der Greif Issue 19 and an extensive public programme organised by FUTURES in the frame of “The Ecology of Movement” exhibition, both of which confront the medium’s obligations toward the physical world it records.

Guest-edited by visual activist Zanele Muholi under the guiding framework “I Am Because of You, Mother Earth,” Issue 19 asks us to reconsider the division between human subjects and their surroundings. Muholi frames the body itself as a landscape and redefines the environment not as scenery or territory existing outside of ourselves, but as the sum of everything that lives within it. In their curatorial statement, Muholi outlines this intent: “I really want to push people and challenge them. People are limited, and we keep on limiting ourselves. I want us to look at the environment way beyond just the physical space. I want people to think of the environment as everything that lives in it.” Rather than treating landscape as passive backdrop or subject matter to be captured, the issue examines image-making as an embodied, relational act where human presence and ecological systems intersect directly. The official launch takes place at the Grand Palais on Thursday, November 12, followed that evening by a community get-together co-hosted with FUTURES at Atelier 13.

FUTURES presents a three-day programme and week-long exhibition both titled “The Ecology of Movement”, which shifts attention from what images depict to how they are produced, distributed, and consumed. Curated by Julia Rajacic, the exhibition at the heart of The Ecology of Movement brings together five photographers – Alexandra Baumgartner, Benedetta Casagrande, Diana Lelonek, Santiago Martinez Benedetti and Laure Winants – whose practices embrace ecological limits as a creative force. The accompanying programme asks what occurs when practitioners stop treating climate change solely as a visual subject and start confronting photography’s own material footprint, from energy expenditure and resource extraction to print manufacturing and digital storage. Proceedings open on November 12 with “Climate Conscious: What Can Art Do About Climate Change?”, a panel organised with the European Photography Platform and FEDORA that debates art's specific function in climate debates where scientific reports and policy measures often fail to shift public awareness. Magnum Photos member Zied Ben Romdhane follows with his lecture “Opening Up Reality,” examining how documentary frameworks must adjust when recording long-term environmental degradation rather than isolated events. The evening concludes with the launch of the FUTURES edition of Fotograf magazine by Fotograf Zone and the joint reception alongside our community get-together to celebrate Issue 19 launch.

On Friday, November 13, the focus moves toward institutional structures and platforms. Haus der Photographie at Deichtorhallen Hamburg leads a conversation featuring curators from Deichtorhallen, Fotomuseum Winterthur, and FOTO ARSENAL WIEN alongside artist Sheung Yiu, evaluating how museums and galleries structure curatorial and learning programmes in an era shaped by algorithmic feeds, automated distribution, and platform attention economies. Sheung Yiu follows this discussion with a live desktop lecture performance demonstrating these mechanics on screen. Later in the day, FOTODOK hosts an open discussion bringing photographers, graphic designers, and publishers together to discuss the realities of photobook production, while the organisers of Bienal Fotografia do Porto present SUSTENTAR, an initiative led by Virgílio Ferreira and four artists that tests methods for integrating fieldwork, community participation, and scientific data into visual practice.

The programme finishes on Saturday, November 14, as curator Julia Rajacic and artists from the FUTURES exhibition debate the practicalities of making work within material and ecological constraints, ending with the our collective editing workshop “Braiding Indigeneity”, facilitated by Dr. Caroline von Courten (Artistic Director, Der Greif) and Ilaria Sponda (Managing Editor, Der Greif) to reflect on relational ethics when reshaping photo editing into a communal, site-responsive process.