rencontres de la photographie marrakech + festival off arles

In 2026, we mark 200 years since the first permanent photograph — a gesture that transformed light into memory and changed the way we see the world.

Two Centuries of Light invites photographers and visual artists to explore light in its widest sense: as origin, medium, language, and possibility.

From the pioneering experiment of 1826 to today’s expanded practices, this open call welcomes diverse interpretations — intimate or political, abstract or documentary, conceptual or experimental.

Two hundred years later, light continues to shape how we perceive, record, question, and imagine.

What does light mean today?