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Exposure International Open Call 2027 gives photographers and visual artists worldwide the chance to place a connected body of work inside a physical festival exhibition. Selected artists will exhibit at TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary, Canada, throughout February 2027, with additional work appearing on public digital billboards in the city. Submissions close on October 5, 2026.
There is no fixed theme. Exposure welcomes photography that incorporates, celebrates or challenges the medium, including experimental practices and collage. Applicants should submit at least five images from a strong, connected series, with up to ten images allowed. Selected artists receive a $456 CAD artist fee, a $50 production expense allocation, support preparing their exhibition work and promotion through Exposure’s website, social media and media releases. For photographers following Deartline’s photo contest calendar, the call is notable for combining a juried selection with both gallery and public-space presentation.
The standard submission fee is $45 CAD for up to five images, plus $5 CAD for each additional image. Exposure also provides ten hardship fee waivers and free entry for photographers based in a published list of eligible non-high-income countries.
Deartline Review
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Prizes
The Exposure 2027 International Open Call is structured around exhibition participation, artist fees and production support..
- Selected artists: participate in a group exhibition at TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary during February 2027.
- Artist fee: each exhibiting artist receives $456 CAD, calculated according to CARFAC guidelines.
- Production support: each exhibiting artist receives a $50 CAD production expense allocation and a 20% discount with Exposure’s local print partner, ABL Imaging Group.
- Public billboard exhibition: selected images from each exhibiting artist will appear on Pattison Outdoor digital billboards in Calgary.
- Artist promotion: exhibiting photographers receive an artist profile with their name and website on Exposure’s site, social media promotion and potential inclusion in print and media outreach.
Related Photo Contests
Categories or Themes
There are no separate categories and no prescribed theme. Jurors are looking for connected bodies of work with artistic strength, relevance, resonance and potential within a public exhibition.
Images may be made with any camera or format, and the call explicitly welcomes collage and experimental approaches. This makes the opportunity relevant to photographers working across fine art, conceptual and experimental photography, as well as other approaches that engage critically with the photographic medium.
Dates and Entry Fees
The selection process moves quickly after the October deadline, with artists notified before the end of that month.
| Submission deadline | October 5, 2026 |
| Notification of results | October 31, 2026 |
| Print deadline | December 2026 |
| Exhibition installation | Late January 2027 |
| Exhibition | February 1–28, 2027 |
Entry fees:
- Entry fee: $45 CAD for up to five images.
- Additional photographs: $5 CAD each, up to a maximum of ten images.
Ten fee waivers are available for artists facing economic hardship on a first-come, first-served basis. Photographers based in eligible non-high-income countries may apply free of charge.
How to Enter
Applicants should submit at least five images from one strong, connected series together with a short project statement. More than one body of work may be entered, but each requires a separate submission fee.
Files must be JPEGs no larger than 5MB. Image filenames should begin with their sequence number followed by the photographer’s last name, for example, “01_Smith.jpeg”.
About the Jury
The Exposure 2027 jury will include one international juror, one Exposure board member and the festival’s Festival Manager. Individual names have not yet been announced.
Jurors have an open mandate. They consider creativity, originality and clarity of vision; engagement with contemporary ideas and experiences; the potential to connect with audiences in a public exhibition; and the overall breadth of the final selection across practices, subjects, geographic contexts, cultures and career stages.
Why Enter Exposure International Open Call 2027?
The strongest feature of this Exposure International Open Call 2027 is the way it treats the submitted series as potential exhibition material from the beginning. Jurors are not simply choosing strong individual frames: they are considering whether a body of work can contribute to a coherent public exhibition. That favors photographers who already have a developed series and can communicate its visual direction clearly.
Selection also leads to two different forms of public presentation. The gallery exhibition at TRUCK Contemporary Art provides the conventional institutional setting, while the digital billboard component places photographs in Calgary’s public space. The artist fee and production allocation further distinguish the opportunity from open calls where selected photographers must absorb all exhibition costs themselves.
For photographers comparing the best photo contests to enter, Exposure 2027 is therefore better understood as a juried exhibition opportunity than a conventional prize competition. Its combination of a physical group show, billboard presentation, artist payment and production support is the clearest reason to consider the call.
Rules and Copyright
We reviewed the official rules of the Exposure International Open Call 2027 to summarize the key participation requirements, copyright terms and image usage conditions. Before entering, we recommend checking the complete rules published by the organizer.
Rules
Applicants must hold the rights to submitted photographs or have permission from the copyright owner. They are also responsible for obtaining any necessary model releases. Exposure recommends submitting one complete body of work per entry, with at least five images and no more than ten.
No specific policy on AI-generated images is published in the current open-call information.
Copyright and Image Usage
Artists retain copyright ownership of their photographs. By submitting, they give Exposure permission to display and promote their images in connection with the festival, including through the festival website, newsletters, press and social media.
The published wording states that this permission applies to festival-related display and promotion both now and in the future. It does not specify whether the license is exclusive or non-exclusive, nor does it state a defined end date.
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For more information and to participate in the contest, visit: the official website.
