From April 17 to 19, 2026, Liquida Photofestival returns with its fifth edition, opening a new chapter for the project. After announcing the dates, theme, and new venue, the independent festival dedicated to emerging contemporary photography reveals the first elements of the program that will animate the spaces of the Real Collegio Carlo Alberto in Moncalieri. Here, this year’s concept, Learning and Unlearning – (re)writing the rules, takes shape through exhibitions, publishing, talks, and professional exchange, confirming Liquida as a platform for research into new voices in contemporary photography.
At the heart of the festival is the group exhibition Fuori traccia. Stories of rebellion, identity, and new possibilities, curated by Laura Tota, which brings together ten projects selected through the Grant One Shot and Full Project open calls. The works of Tiziana Amico, Gabriela De Giacomo, Benedetta Di Ruggiero, Maria Di Stefano, Tim Gassauer & Manu Grueber, Alex Huda, Giulio Longo, Niccolò Quaresima, Jesús Umbría Brito, and Greta Valente explore themes such as adolescence, dissent, identity, and the relationship with landscape, building a choral narrative around deviation and self-determination.
Alongside the group exhibition, the Full Project section features Victoria Ruiz, a Venezuelan multidisciplinary artist who intertwines photography, performance, and sculptural garments, while the One Shot section broadens the picture with heterogeneous projects by, among others, Alice Muratore, Alicia Nieto, André Ramos-Woodard, Chiara Bonetti, Danae Panagiotidi, Su Cassiano, and Vincent Karcher.
Completing the exhibition program is Liquida Exhibition 2026, with 31 selected artists, alongside the fifth edition’s awards, which open up new opportunities: Annemarie Deckers wins the ImageNation Paris Prize, Hyunmin Ryu receives the Artphilein Edition Prize, while Vincent Karcher and Danae Panagiotidi are selected for the Discarded Magazine Prize.
The program also extends into publishing with the return of EdiTable, curated by Vittoria Fragapane, as well as talks and conversations, including the April 18 appointments with Veronica Barbato and Angelo Leonardo. Also returning are the One to One portfolio review sessions, which over the years have become one of the festival’s key moments for professional exchange.
The fifth edition also marks the beginning of a new season for the Real Collegio Carlo Alberto in Moncalieri, which reopens to the public with a rich cultural program. During the festival, visitors will be able to explore historic classrooms and inner courtyards through guided tours included in the ticket, turning the exhibition experience into a dialogue between architecture, memory, and contemporary photography. With this new edition, Liquida Photofestival continues to establish itself as a space for exchange and experimentation, where emerging photography becomes a tool for re-reading the present and imagining new possibilities.
Cover image: Jesús Umbría Brito, Coco, Sofía y Nico
