Futures Workshops

AMAK MAHMOODIAN – HIDDEN FRAMES

Oct 4, 2025, from 15:00 to 17:30, Holešovice Market, Hall 13

A photography workshop exploring the unseen stories behind the image. What happens when a photograph is shaped not by what we see, but by what we remember, feel, or read through the social and political resources. In this workshop, participants are invited to bring a short piece of text: a line from a book, a family letter, a diary entry, or a news article.

Through discussion, reflection, and guided exercises, we will each create a photographic response to these words letting the invisible Image take visible form.

WHAT TO EXPECT
Collaboration, discussion, and reflection.

AMAK MAHMOODIAN

is a multidisciplinary artist and educator. She began her career as a research-based photographer in Iran in 2003. Since 2010, she has been living in the UK, unable to return to Iran. She is the author of Shenasnameh (2016) and Zanjirher practice explores gender, identity and displacement, bridging the personal and political. Her work has been shown internationally (Arnolfini, Rencontres d’Arles, Peckham 24) and is held in collections such as Tate and the British Library. She is the author of Shenasnameh (2016) and Zanjir (2019), the latter awarded Best Photo Text Book at Rencontres Arles 2020.

PETRA HŮLOVÁ – THE MEANING OF THE TITLE AND ANNOTATION

Oct 3, 2025, from 12:30 to 15:00, Holešovice Market, Hall 13
Oct 4, 2025, from 15:00 to 17:30, Holešovice Market, Hall 13

How to work with a title and annotation as a part of visual work? Why is it important? Why is it not? How a title changes the meaning. Why it doesn´t.

Let´s be aware of some basic rules, but let´s not necessarily respect them. During our 2.5-hour workshop we will explore some possibilities that text has as a medium that can confirm, question or add to your own visual work. I draw on my experience not only as writer of fiction and screenplays but also vizual/textual performer who combines medium of text with music and visual material.

WHAT TO EXPECT
– Learn strategies of combining text with visual material in order to create new meaning
– Gain knowledge about subversive potential of annotation vis-a-vis their photography/video/object
– New ways of how to reflect one´s own project
– Engaging critical discussion

PETRA HŮLOVÁ

Petra Hůlová´s novels, plays, and screenplays have won numerous awards and have been tranlated into 15 languages. She is a regular commentator on current events, scriptwriter and author of theater plays. in 2014 she founded Czech Writers´ Association. She also performs with collective Hůlová/Havrda/Vrba and lectures creative writing.  

TEREZA ZELENKOVÁ & PETER WATKINS CONSTRUCTING MEANING / DISRUPTING NARRATIVE

Oct 3, 2025, from 12:30 to 15:00, Holešovice Market, Hall 13
Oct 4, 2025, from 15:00 to 17:30, Holešovice Market, Hall 13

Photo books are sometimes described as “paper movies” because, unlike individual images or gallery exhibitions, the photographer controls the sequence in which the viewer encounters the work. This sequencing often follows a narrative or chronological arc. While single photographs can be unruly, ambiguous, and open to interpretation, a photobook – like cinema – shapes and refines that ambiguity through deliberate structure and pacing. In this two-part workshop, we will consider some of the conceptual and narrative strategies behind sequencing evocative photographic series and photobooks. 

Through a series of prompts and disruptions, you’ll be encouraged to explore different approaches to editing a photo book and to think outside the box, critically challenging preconceived ideas around authorial intention and viewer interpretation. We will examine the role of storytelling, context, materiality, and constraint through hands-on editing exercises, peer reviews, and active discussions. We will ask ourselves how we can challenge our expectations, and deepen our engagement – not only with our own work, but also with that of our peers – allowing the unexpected to evolve our conceptual thinking.

WHAT TO EXPECT
– Edit and re-edit your own photo series in response to prompts
– Explore unusual strategies for sequencing and narrative framing
– Participate in collaborative editing and group portfolio reviews

TEREZA ZELENKOVÁ

is an artist based in Prague. She works mainly with black and white medium format analogue photography. Her works reflect her interest in mysticism, often mixing documentary photographs with staged images. Many of her projects have been inspired by literature and local mythologies.

PETER WATKINS

is an artist, educator, and founder of Postcards for Palestine. His work explores themes of loss, trauma, and history, and is grounded in processes of archiving and remembering. While rooted in photography, his practice extends into spatial, and materially experiential forms, incorporating installation, object, and text.

The workshop is part of the FUTURES Annual Event program and are exclusively for FUTURES artists.

Futures Annual Event 2025 takes place within the Fotograf Zone festival in Prague. Futures is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.