The INTERFOTO Photography Biennale has been organized in Timișoara for over 10 years.

In the 2021 edition, we proposed to address exclusively the academic environment in Romania, and thus several events took place. In November, an analog photography workshop was held at the Faculty of Arts and Design, and at the Bastion Multifunctional Center, the department's students exhibited Plastic arts - Photography – computer video processing of the image. In December, the exhibition of teaching staff and doctoral students of the Timișoara Faculty of Arts and Design from the University of West Timișoara was held together with professors from the Faculty of Design Arad, the University of Arts and Design Cluj and the Faculty of Arts from Oradea.

It was a first event through which we want to start a long collaboration for the promotion of photography as a result of academic research. 

“…A constant feature of the exhibition was the area of ​​interest of the participants and the themes varied, examining both the academic side of photography and the unconventional side. But the novelty of this edition resides in the dialogue of the participants from the academic sphere of the Faculties of Arts in Romania, whose perspectives converge towards the same artistic preoccupation: photography as a tool of introspection and medium of communication. As in any collective exhibition, the points of view are different, illustrating the subjectivity and creativity of budding artists, alumni, artists who use photography as visual expression or teachers from the West University of Timișoara - Faculty of Arts and Design, Aurel Vlaicu University from Arad - Faculty of Design, University of Oradea - Faculty of Arts, University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca - Faculty of Fine Arts. Instead, all the photo frames show rigor and academic standard, whether by theme, subject, discourse or photographic technique. Through this set of values, the exhibition encourages intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogue in the sphere of photography as a tangible result of academic research. The motivation of the organizers lies precisely in the need to promote photography as a process of artistic investigation, based on scientific information or a scientific mode of action that strengthens and complements the artistic discourse.

A look at art history reinforces our belief that photography is an interdisciplinary tool used throughout time in fields such as history, anthropology, medicine, astronomy, chemistry, biology, geography, and the list goes on. Photography was born from the need to explore the human condition and especially from the personal need for introspection, facilitating the understanding of reality regardless of era. By aiming at photography to provide truthful documents through content, which generates analysis, but also interpretation, this field goes beyond the interdisciplinary sphere and reaches transdisciplinarity, but it makes us forget that photography is a stand-alone, independent and insufficiently explored discipline as such. The bridges that photography establishes between disciplines have been and continue to be exploited, but the research methodology through which photography could become a discussion panel at an academic conference is too little debated in Romania.

In conclusion, the Interfoto Biennale 2021 aims to broaden this horizon of knowledge through an honest dialogue, scientifically argued photographic projects, through photography as art, but also as a result of scientific research to outline an overview of this phenomenon." Dr. Claudia Bucsai

Along with these events, the catalog was also launched at the Publishing House of the Western University in Timișoara INTERFOTO 2021 edition which includes works by the participants.

The project is part of the La event series UVT Culture is Capital and was carried out with the support of the University of West Timișoara, co-financed by the Timiș County Council and in partnership with the Timișoara City Hall.

Coordinating professors: Prof. Univ. Dr. Habil. Acea Stelian, Univ. Lecturer. Dr. Gherman Ion, Lecturer Univ. Dr. Mădălin Mărienut

Project manager 2021 edition: Lecturer Univ. Dr. Mădălin Mărienut

Founder of INTERFOTO: Prof. Univ. Dr. Habil. Camil Mihaescu

Event photos: Benjamin Bledea

Univ. Lecturer Dr. Mădălin Mărienut