ERRAR — in Portuguese, the word has multiple meanings. On one hand, errar evokes wandering: an errant practice of photography that moves through territories, from the nineteenth-century figure of the flâneur described by Baudelaire—one who walks without destination, gathering impressions along the way—to the situationist dérive, and into contemporary forms of dispersed movement across digital and networked spaces. In this sense, wandering becomes a mode of assembling experiences, a subjective montage shaped by the contingencies of the path; it is exploratory and provisional: a movement whose destination is constantly shifting.
On the other hand, errar means to err—to misstep, to hesitate, to search through uncertainty. Here error is not failure but a generative condition: a way of circling a question, testing viewpoints, and approaching thought through images. Error can be understood as invention, a deviation from established norms and canons. It is an anti-canonical gesture that opens space for experimentation and performance.
This conference invites photographers and other practitioners working with photographic images to present visual essays, photobooks, and other photography-based works that respond to these twin meanings of errar: Projects that wander, drift, or deviate; works that embrace experimentation, doubt, and the productive potential of the mistake. We welcome proposals that explore the photographic as a practice of movement—through landscapes, archives, platforms, and ideas—and as a form of thinking that unfolds through approximation rather than resolution.
KEYNOTES
He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal for Artistic Research (JAR), co-editor of Intellectual Birdhouse. Artistic Practice as Research. (2012), co-editor of The Exposition of Artistic Research: Publishing Art in Academia (2013), editor of the book Experimental Systems. Future Knowledge in Artistic Research (2015) as well as the editor of Transpositions. Aesthetico-Epistemic Operators in Artistic Research (2018) and co-editor of Futures of the Contemporary. Contemporaneity, Untimeliness, and Artistic Research (2019).
Through a focus on experimentation and the exposition of practice as research, Schwab has developed a conceptual approach that links artistic freedom with academic criticality.
photo: ©Constantine Tsapaliras
Her work investigates how photographs, books, archives, bodies and landscapes co-produce one another through processes of walking, collecting, mapping and place-based inquiry. Working across photobooks, installations, workshops and collaborative projects, she develops methodologies that connect artistic research with ecological thinking, posthumanist perspectives and practices of care.
Recent projects include Liquid Memories, Follow Y/Our River and One Green Eye the Other Blue (Herbarium of the Anthropocene). Her work has been exhibited, published and presented internationally through exhibitions, artist books, conferences and participatory programmes. Based in Lisbon, she works internationally across artistic, editorial and research contexts.
>> Joan Fontcuberta is featured through a partnership between ERRAR and IMAGO Festival dedicated to promoting and celebrating the diversity of photographic practices.
He is scientific coordinator of the Laboratorio di Città Corviale and the Laboratorio CIRCO. Among his main publications: Constant. New Babylon, una città nomade, Torino 2001; Walkscapes. El andar como pràctica estética / Walking as an aesthetic practice, Barcellona 2002; Stalker /Savorengo Ker. Dal campo nomadi alla casa di tutti, Roma 2015; Pasear, detenerse, Barcelona 2016, Sao Paulo 2017; Stalker/Campus Rom, Matera 2017, con Lorenzo Romito; Nomadismo Architettura Ospitalità. Esperienze e azioni dal camminare al CIRCO, Roma 2020; Hospedar-se, Barcelona 2023; Camminare e Fermarsi, Mimesis, Milano 2025; Roma. Guida alla Selva, Nero Edizioni, Roma 2025 (con Dario Gentili e Serena Olcuire).
Louisa Boeszoermeny had her first solo exhibition at Weiss Berlin in 2019. Since 2016, her work has been part of national and international group exhibitions and film festivals. From 2018-2019 she was one of the selected artists of the international photography program Parallel Photo Platform.
Avetisjans has been shortlisted for the Les Rencontres d’Arles Photo-Text Book Award and the APhF:24 Book Program, and nominated for the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award, Magnum Foundation Heat Fellowship, and Vontobel Contemporary Photography Prize. His first photobook, Homeland. The Longest Village in the Country (2018), was named among the year’s best by The British Journal of Photography and The Calvert Journal. He has presented his work internationally and participated in residency and platform programs including PARALLEL, Docking Station, and Procurarte.
photo: ©Michael Harvey
Her work has been presented at international exhibitions and festivals in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, including: The Audiovisual Black & White Festival (Porto, 2013); the Yangon Photo Festival (Myanmar, 2015); the Bangkok Photo Biennale (Thailand, 2018); the Encontros de Imagem (Braga, 2022 – winner of the second Discovery Award); the Galerie Omnius (Arles, 2023); the Abla Ababou Galerie (Rabat, 2023–2024); and the Institut Français de Tétouan (Morocco, 2024). She is among the artists invited to the 2026 Bangkok Art Biennale.
PROGRAM
Detailed
program
here!
Detailed
program
here!
* public program
free entrance
limited to room
capacity
free entrance
limited to room
capacity
WED 7
16:00 – 16:15
Welcome & opening remarks
Cinema Fernando Lopes
Cinema Fernando Lopes
16:15 – 17:45
Michael Schwab
keynote *
keynote *
Cinema Fernando Lopes
17:45 – 20:00
Welcome Drinks Fo:RCE (F.0.1)
THU 8
09:30 – 11:00
Short presentations
PANEL 1. Productive failureZ.0.3
PANEL 2. Unreliable witnessesCinema Fernando Lopes
PANEL 3. The act of returning
PANEL 1. Productive failureZ.0.3
PANEL 2. Unreliable witnessesCinema Fernando Lopes
PANEL 3. The act of returning
Auditório FilmEU
11:00 – 11:30
Coffee break
11:30 – 13:00
OrientaLX
seminar *
Guest artists – Louisa Boeszoermeny, Georgs Avetisjans, Sonia Hamza
seminar *
Guest artists – Louisa Boeszoermeny, Georgs Avetisjans, Sonia Hamza
Cinema Fernando Lopes
14:30 – 16:00
Short presentations
PANEL 4. Photography, thy name is relationZ.0.3
PANEL 5. Through the machine: interference and noise Cinema Fernando Lopes
PANEL 6. Drifting through landscapes
PANEL 4. Photography, thy name is relationZ.0.3
PANEL 5. Through the machine: interference and noise Cinema Fernando Lopes
PANEL 6. Drifting through landscapes
Auditório FilmEU
16:00 – 16:15
Break
16:15 – 17:45
Short presentations
PANEL 7. On ESSAYISMCinema Fernando Lopes
PANEL 8. Wandering: the creation and exploration of placeAuditório FilmEU
PANEL 9. Rule, Repetition, Accumulation
PANEL 7. On ESSAYISMCinema Fernando Lopes
PANEL 8. Wandering: the creation and exploration of placeAuditório FilmEU
PANEL 9. Rule, Repetition, Accumulation
Z.0.3
17:45 – 18:30
Coffee break
FRI 9
09:30 – 11:30
DELLI (S.0.1)
11:30 – 12:00
Coffee break
12:00 – 13:00
Joan Fontcuberta
keynote *
keynote *
Cinema Fernando Lopes
14:30 – 16:00
Short presentations
PANEL 10. Approaching communitiesCinema Fernando Lopes
PANEL 11. Discourse and the foundation of meaningAuditório FilmEU
PANEL 12. A book not a book is a book
PANEL 10. Approaching communitiesCinema Fernando Lopes
PANEL 11. Discourse and the foundation of meaningAuditório FilmEU
PANEL 12. A book not a book is a book
Z.0.3
16:00 – 16:15
Break
16:15 – 17:45
Workshop
Errant Surfaces (...)Fo:RCE (F.0.1)
Short presentations
PANEL 13. Structures of power: image, representation and politics Auditório FilmEU
PANEL 14. Narrative sequences and montage
Errant Surfaces (...)Fo:RCE (F.0.1)
Short presentations
PANEL 13. Structures of power: image, representation and politics Auditório FilmEU
PANEL 14. Narrative sequences and montage
Cinema Fernando Lopes
17:45 – 18:30
Coffee Break
18:30 – 20:00
Francesco Careri
keynote *
keynote *
Cinema Fernando Lopes
SAT 10
10:30 – 12:30
12:30
Bus to marvila
Universidade Lusófona
Universidade Lusófona
13:00 – 14:30
Lunch
Sociedade Musical 3 de Agosto-Marvila
14:30 – 16:15
Psycho-geographic
walk *
Francesco Careri, Ana Catarino and Catarina Dente
Marvila
walk *
Francesco Careri, Ana Catarino and Catarina Dente
Marvila
16:15 – 18:30
OrientaLX
exhibition opening*
Guest Artists – Louisa Boeszoermeny, Georgs Avetisjans, Sonia Hamza
exhibition opening*
Guest Artists – Louisa Boeszoermeny, Georgs Avetisjans, Sonia Hamza
Marvila
CALL FOR WORKS
We welcome submissions presenting Photography, artistic and practice-based research projects that engage with the following themes, although proposals are not limited to these topics:
- Photography, wandering and the exploration of place: drifting through landscapes, and other forms of errant movement through territory;
- The photographic essay as a form of thinking: narrative sequences and montage in photobooks and visual essays;
- Error as method: experimentation, misstep, and productive failure in photographic practice;
- Photography between analogue and digital: movement across devices, surfaces, formats, materials/materialities, archives, and networked spaces;
- Deviations from photographic conventions: iconoclastic, anti-canonical practices and alternative image-making;
- Walking as photographic practice: movement, perception, printing and image-making;
Who can apply?
We welcome submissions from photographers, artists and other practitioners working with photographic images, researchers and students, both from FilmEU Alliance member institutions and other higher education and research institutions.
Presentation format:
We accept proposals for short presentations limited to 20 minutes; and long presentations limited to two hours (minimum 40 minutes).
Short presentations will be organized into panels and are intended for displaying and discussing projects.
Long presentations are intended for sharing sessions involving hands-on practice.
We encourage exploratory approaches from individuals and collectives. Presentations may include visual or audiovisual works, or performative actions, and can be delivered in English or Portuguese.
How to apply:
To submit a proposal, the submitter must be registered as a user of the Research Catalogue (RC) with a full account. This will enable you to access both the Application Form and create an Exposition to display your work. Please make sure to register on the RC as soon as possible to ensure that your registration can be processed in time.
Registering a full RC Account is free.
For more information about the RC registration process, you may consult the video tutorial,
Once you have a full account, you can log in and start working on your application by going to your profile page.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Title (max. 200 characters).
Abstract for Conference program (max. 2000 characters).
Short biographies of presenters (max. 600 characters).
Image for the Conference program.
Information on the presentation format (max. 1000 characters).
Spatial and/or technical requirements (max. 500 characters).
Previous iterations of the research (max.1000 characters)
RC Exposition: with the application form, we will also ask you to attach an RC Exposition of your project, in which you should provide more detailed information about the project you are submitting, including background, methodologies, processes, references, etc. — anything the authors consider relevant to ensuring that peer reviewers can understand the work. The RC platform ensures that this information can be conveyed through means other than written text; you may submit images, videos, audio, or include external links. The attached exposition should be made specifically for this submission purpose, and should not be previously published. As a guideline, the exposition should not demand more than 15 minutes to read/navigate. We recommend making yourself familiar with the RC requirements in advance of the submission deadline. See the quickstart guide for creating your first RC exposition.
N.B. Please do not "submit for review" the exposition to any of the RC portals (JAR, HUB, etc.) or self-publish it. You can attach the exposition to your application using the application form itself. Attaching it to the form will ensure that the reviewers will be able to view and assess the content once your application is made available to them. Tip: you can attach the exposition using the title, not the url/link.
Deadline for submissions: 15 July 2026
Applications will be reviewed by 31 July 2026
Evaluation criteria
All submissions to the ERRAR Conference will undergo peer review. Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
Relevance to the conference theme
The proposal should engage with photography in a strict or expanded sense and demonstrate a meaningful connection to the conference theme, including wandering, movement, error, experimentation, deviation, photographic essays, analogue–digital transitions, walking as photographic practice.
Formal, aesthetic and conceptual quality
Reviewers will assess the formal and aesthetic merit, conceptual coherence, and critical contribution of the project, including its capacity to challenge or expand established understandings of photography. As a conference dedicated to photography, artistic and practice-based research, proposals should articulate the processual dimension of the project/research.
Clarity and quality of presentation
Reviewers will consider the coherence of the proposal, the quality of the visual and written materials, and compliance with the submission guidelines.
Review Process
Reviewers will provide an overall recommendation and written feedback based on the criteria above. Final selection decisions will be made by the Conference Committee, taking into account both peer-review evaluations and the overall balance of the conference programme.
Authorship
We expect all submissions to be original work created by the proposing authors. An "original work" refers to an independent creation that originates from its author and has not been copied from pre-existing material. It demonstrates a person's or team's unique individuality and personal effort, rather than being based on another person's intellectual property.
REGISTRATION
AND FEES
AND FEES
Early bird paid by
Aug 28, 2026
Aug 28, 2026
Regular paid between
Aug 29 – 10 Sep 2026
Aug 29 – 10 Sep 2026
closed
closed
closed
closed
(non presenter)
25,00€
REGISTER
We are committed to making participation accessible to researchers, artists, students, independent practitioners, and community members. A limited number of fee waivers or reduced-fee registrations are available for participants who would otherwise face financial barriers to attending. Applicants should contact the conference organizers for details (via errar.conference@ulusofona.pt), requests will be considered confidentially and on the basis of demonstrated financial need.
VENUE
1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal
Nearest metro station: Campo Grande (yellow and green metro lines)
ACCOMODATION
The closest hotel is the Radisson (2 min. walk)
Other options near the conference venue:
ALIF hotel - Campo Pequeno
Ibis Styles Lisboa Centro Marquês de Pombal
Novotel
TEAM
Rodrigo Tavarela Peixoto
Soraya Vasconcelos
Nuno Ricou Salgado
Sara Morgado Santos
A Fo:RCE Fotografia: Reflexão, Criação e Ensino is a center for activity and critical thought with photography as its main focus. It integrates undergraduate and master’s degree programs in Photography, encompassing research, artistic expression, community engagement, and technical development.
Procur.Arte
Procur.arte is a cultural association based in Lisbon. It was founded in 2005 by a group of professionals interested in a critical and constructive approach to projects in the fields of the arts, culture, creativity, and innovation, and is aimed at individuals, organizations, and cultural and creative projects.
On ESSAYISM
The FilmEU dynamic cluster On ESSAYISM – Pedagogical Innovation through Essayism, aims to investigate the essay as a pedagogical and artistic method across disciplines such as film, visual arts, music, performance, theatre, and games.
CONTACT