RULES
TALENT LATENT
2025
Photographs corresponding to the 11th edition of Talent Latent (2024)
OPEN CALL TO PHOTOGRAPHERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD
SCAN, the international photography festival organised by Tarragona City Council, has opened the call for entries for TALENT LATENT, aimed at creators from all over the world who use photography as an essential and preferred means of expression.
The projects and artists selected from this call will be part of the central exhibition of the SCAN festival. It will be held at Tinglado 2 at the Port of Tarragona, from 10 October to 7 December 2025
Theme of projects: AQUA
Water is vital to the survival of humans and all life on our planet, yet it is estimated that between 1.7 and 2.4 billion people will face water scarcity by 2050. Today, about 40% of the Earth’s surface is at risk of desertification.
Seas and oceans contain 97% of the planet’s total water supply. At the same time, human-induced changes in the oceans are affecting the climate, marine ecosystems and coastal communities. More than 3 billion people depend directly on the resources of the oceans for their livelihoods.
In addition, culture, spirituality, mythology and even leisure have been deeply linked to water: In religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism, water represents purification; in Native American cultures, it is a sacred element; in Greek mythology, the god Poseidon ruled the oceans; in some African cultures, water is a symbol of fertility and a dwelling place for spirits; in ancient Tarraco and throughout the Roman Empire, thermal baths were public baths with areas reserved for gymnastics or recreation; today, beaches, rivers, lakes and springs are areas of leisure and recreation virtually all over the world.
For all these reasons, and with the aim of insisting on the value and transcendence of water for our planet, for our survival and that of ecosystems, this year we are dedicating the programme of the twelfth edition of TALENT LATENT to exploring the theme of water.
TALENT LATENT RULES
Deadline for project submission
Until 31 March 2025 at 23:59.
Who can participate
Artists over the age of 18 of any nationality.
Theme
Water.
What kind of projects can be submitted?
Photographic projects.
Projects or series that hybridise photography with other creative languages will be accepted.
How to submit a project Registration Form
It must be submitted using the registration form .
The sheet will include:
1. Personal contact details.
2. Brief biography.
3. Project title.
4. Brief explanation (250 words).
5. A zip file (max. 25 MB) with a maximum of 18 photographs from the same series. The photographs must have a minimum of 1,600 pixels on the shortest side, must be in jpg format and have an embedded RGB color profile. If deemed appropriate, and in order to facilitate the jury’s understanding of the project, a PDF with complementary information can be attached.
Projects in Catalan, Spanish or English are accepted.
Cost of participation in the call
There is no fee for submitting projects.
Curation and selection of projects
Diana Padrón, an independent curator who has been invited to TALENT LATENT 2025, will select the nine projects and artists that will make up the exhibition. Her decision will be final.
Apart from aesthetic criteria, the conceptual integrity of the project, the level of knowledge the author demonstrates on the subject, and the author’s willingness to reflect critically will be evaluated.
When will selected artists be informed of the jury’s decision?
The festival organisers will contact the selected authors. The final list of artists participating in Talent Latent will be published on the SCAN festival website in May 2025.
Production of works for the exhibition
SCAN will produce the photographic prints in a reliable professional laboratory.
The organisation will ask the selected authors for the photographic originals to produce the prints (they must be in digital format and of the highest possible quality).
The SCAN curatorial team will decide on the production of the prints, their number, size and materials, and how they will be installed in the exhibition spaces.
At the end of the exhibition, if the author has not informed the organisation of his/her wish to retrieve the copies produced, they will be destroyed. If they wish to retrieve them, the authors will bear the cost of shipping or collecting the works.
Catalogue
The SCAN organisation will publish the exhibition catalogue.
Payment for participating artists
For each photographic series exhibited at TALENT LATENT, the author or individual responsible for joint projects will receive a one-time payment of €500, including taxes, for copyright and exhibition fees.
In order for Tarragona City Council to make the payment, each artist must present the documentation required by the SCAN organisation.
All invoicing procedures will be carried out in accordance with the legislation applicable to Spanish administrations.
Selected artists
SCAN will invite the selected artists to the opening weekend of the Festival: 10-12 October 2025.
The invitation will include:
— 2 nights’ accommodation in the festival hotel, breakfast included
— Admission ticket for the catered opening event (10 October 2025).
— Admission to Full Contact professional meeting (11 October 2025).
— Lunch at the Teatret del Serrallo (11/10/2025).
The selected works and artists will be given visibility and promoted through the festival’s digital channels (SCAN website and social networks).
Each participating artist will receive three exhibition catalogues.
Each artist will receive the appropriate copyright and exhibition fees (see point 11).
*Attendance at the opening event is encouraged but not required.
*Travel costs are the responsibility of each participant.
Copyright and communication rights
Artists must exclusively own all the rights to their work.
The rights of the exhibited works belong to their authors, who temporarily cede to the SCAN organisation the rights of public communication, with the aim of promoting the exhibition through all official communication channels of the Festival or the press, as well as for the catalogue that we will publish.
Venue and dates of the TALENT LATENT exhibition
Venue: Tinglado 2. Port de Tarragona
Opening date: 10 October 2025
Dates of the exhibition: 10 October to 7 December
Note
SCAN will resolve any matter not addressed in these rules. Its decisions will be final.
All artists who apply to take part in the TALENT LATENT call for entries must accept these rules.
Biography of the curator of TALENT LATENT
Diana Padrón has a doctorate in society and culture: History, Anthropology, Arts, Heritage and Cultural Management. She works as a researcher, teacher and curator. She is a professor at the University of Barcelona and a member of the management team of the Sant Andreu Contemporani – ICUB / Ajuntament de Barcelona programme. She has been a member of various R&D research groups (Universitat de Barcelona, Universidad Complutense de Madrid) and a guest lecturer at the Università di Padova, Université de Lille and Goldsmiths, University of London. She was coordinator of the platform On Mediation. Platform on Curatorship and Research and co-editor of REG|AC (Journal of Global Studies and Contemporary Art). As an independent curator, she has organised exhibitions for institutions such as San Martín Centro de Cultura Contemporánea, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Museu Picasso de Barcelona, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Centro de Arte La Regenta, Casal Solleric – Ajuntament de Palma, Museo Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo de Lanzarote and Museo de Teruel, in international events such as the Loop Barcelona Festival, the 17th Bienal Internacional de Fotografía Fotonoviembre – TEA, the 13th Bienal de La Habana and Something Else III / OFF Biennale Cairo, as well as in various galleries and independent spaces.
