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Explore previous editions of Rotterdam Photo and discover how the festival has evolved through different themes, artists, and exhibitions. Each year, Rotterdam Photo invites photographers from around the world to engage with a central theme that reflects contemporary questions, cultural shifts, and new perspectives on image-making. Through exhibitions, installations, talks, and public programming, the festival transforms Rotterdam into a temporary platform for photography, dialogue, and exchange.

Rotterdam photo 2025
16-25 May 2025 | Museumplein, Rotterdam

Presented during Rotterdam Art Week, Rotterdam Photo 2025 explored the ways photography can reflect our increasingly interconnected world through the theme Shared/Connected. The festival brought together emerging photographers and image-makers examining freedom, culture, human connection, identity, and social and ecological engagement, while questioning how we live, share, and relate to one another in an age of constant connection.

The edition brought together more than 50 international photographers selected through an open call, presenting diverse perspectives on contemporary life and the changing role of photography in a highly connected society. Rotterdam Photo 2025 also highlighted the work of emerging photographic talent, creating a platform for new voices to explore the balance between subjective perspectives, ethics, aesthetics, and technological innovation.

Alongside exhibitions, visitors experienced talks, discussions, live music, and public programming within Rotterdam Photo’s signature container village at Museumpark, creating an open platform for dialogue, exchange, and contemporary photography.

Shared/Connected

How much are we truly willing to share, and what does it mean to be connected in an increasingly networked world? How can photography capture the ways we relate to one another, to our communities, and to the world around us?

In “Shared/Connected”, Rotterdam Photo 2025 explored the evolving relationship between individual and collective experience. At a time when digital technologies have made connection ubiquitous, the festival invited photographers to consider what meaningful togetherness might look like — from rediscovered family ties and questions of identity to social and ecological engagement, technological innovation, and the possibility of a shared common good.

The theme brought together a new wave of photographic talent: digital natives who have grown up in a culture dominated by images and who are redefining both the visual language and possibilities of photography. Their work navigated the delicate balance between subjective perspective and visual expression, offering critical, curious, and often experimental approaches to what it means to live together in a connected world.

Photo by Jacqueline Fuijkschot

Photo by Madelon van Vredendaal

Photo by Madelon van Vredendaal

Photo by Sönke C. Weiss

Photo by Madelon van Vredendaal

Photo by Bobbie van Leeuwen