Istituto Alcide Cervi Dopo un raccolto ne viene un altro 
Summer School «Emilio Sereni» 2025 – XVII Edition
XII European Photography Competition
Summer School «Emilio Sereni»
RURAL SHOTS
Deadline for submitting works: Sunday, June 15, 2025
Photography has the power to stop time, tell stories and preserve the memory of a world in constant transformation. Came at the twelfth edition of the National Photographic Competition, the idea was to open us to a new wind, giving us a breath of European character: for this reason the 2025 edition is going to welcome photographers coming not only from Italy, but from all over Europe.
With this contest we want to celebrate agricultural life in all its nuances, offering the opportunity to explore, through the objective, the peasant work and rural landscapes. Over the years, the territory has undergone significant changes, shaped by the evolution of agricultural techniques and the adaptation of crops. Tools and crafts of the past coexist today with new methodologies, creating a bridge between tradition and innovation.
The images will be able to tell the deep bond between man and earth, the struggle and mastery of daily gestures, the beauty of the tools of yesteryear and their use transformed by experience and progress. We invite photographers and enthusiasts to capture the essence of these scenarios and share their vision with us. Each shot will be a tribute to rural culture, a visual tale capable of transmitting timeless emotions and suggestions.
The TOPICS to be addressed by participants are:
• Working as a farmer. Tools and crafts: discover how the daily use of tools to work the land can become an artistic form. Tools and agricultural machinery to bring together tradition and modernity of “farming”.
• Landscapes and crops: geographical routes to document the landscapes of agricultural activities and moments of life lived, in the intimate link between human actions and natural times.
Submission Deadline
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Jury Results Announcement
By Sunday, July 20, 2025
Award Ceremony and Exhibition Opening
Tuesday, August 26, 2025, at the Biblioteca Archivio Emilio Sereni, Istituto Alcide Cervi, Via Fratelli Cervi 9 – Gattatico (RE), Italy
Exhibition Opening
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
The competition is open to all photographers, regardless of whether they are amateurs or professionals, provided that they are over 18 years old. To participate in the competition, please fill out the online entry form indicating:
- the chosen theme
- the description of the photographs proposed;
- the date and place where the photographs were taken.
Participation in only one of the themes is possible for a maximum of three photographs which must be relevant to the themes presented in the call. Three prizes will be awarded consisting of food and wine packages of local products of excellence and the winning photographs will be exhibited at the Biblioteca Archivio Emilio Sereni, at the Istituto Alcide Cervi in Gattatico (RE). The exhibition will be open to the public from 26 August 2025 according to the opening hours of the Museo Cervi.
Participation is free and open to all adults
Maximum of 3 photographs may be submitted
Each participant may only subscribe to one theme
To participate you must fill in the online entry form
Photos must be sent via the above-mentioned online entry form
Photographs may be in vertical or horizontal format; either in colour or B/N; at a resolution suitable for 30×45 cm print
The files must be named as: first three initials of the surname, first three initials of the name (e.g.: Rossi Mario: ROSMAR) and subsequent numbering of the file
The title of the work must be indicated only on the application form
Each author is responsible for the content of their images
If the photographs depict persons, it is necessary to submit the form of release signed by the subject; it is not allowed to present images of minors
We do not accept photographs with digital processing
Works received after the deadline will not be taken into account
JESSICA ANELLI
General Director of Ettore Guatelli Museum Foundation since 2024, graduated in Cultural Heritage at the University of Parma, orients its interests and subsequent studies towards the management and financial management of cultural and non-profit institutions. Has collaborated with public, private and cultural institutions on projects related to the management of cultural heritage. He was a member of the Scientific Committee of the MUPAC Museum in Colorno (PR) and of the Scientific Committee for the realization of the museological and museographic project of Natale G. Verdi (Roncole di Busseto, PR). is an ordinary member of ICOM Italia.
FEDERICA GUIDETTI
Graduated in Conservation of Cultural Heritage with specialization in History of Modern Art; since 2006 she has been curator of the Museo Civico Polironiano in San Benedetto Po (MN), one of the largest ethnographic museums in Lombardy and has followed all the stages of rearrangement, as well as subsequent restorations and extensions. He is responsible for the Tourist Services of the Municipality and deals with the cultural enhancement of the monastic complex in which the Museum is inserted. Among his fields of research appears the popular iconography with particular reference to symbolic and apotropaic elements.
JACOPO FERRARI
He studied architecture and later attended the studio of the Arch. Giancarlo De Carlo, an experience that will lead him to write for the magazine Area and to give lectures at the Faculties of Architecture in Parma and Milan. The photographer Stanislao Farri, met in 2007, is a reference point in his photographic representation. In 2011 he exhibited at the ParmaUrbanCenter a research that analyzes the agricultural landscape and spontaneous architecture in Parma (magazine IBS Istituto dei Beni Culturali- Emilia-Romagna). To remember: Il museo di Ettore, Giacomo Manzù.1938-1965 Gli anni della ricerca e Le sculture della collezione Federico Zeri.
ENRICO BEDOLO
Born in Soncino (CR) in 1975. His artistic research investigates the various aspects of contemporary landscape. Among his projects we can mention Alfabeto delle Pianure, exhibited in various venues, including Rome (MAXXI museum). Life in File, exhibited at the Festival di Fotografia Europea 2015 and In calce, winner of the New Post Photography award in 2023. Some of his photographs are present in various publications, among which: Che cosa intendiamo per/What do we by Food Valley? (2011) , Carlo Scarpa: uno sguardo contemporaneo (2012) and Geografie, storie, paesaggi per un’Italia da cambiare (2013). In 2018 he made the photographs for the Bergamo Guida all’architettura di Bergamo 1907>2017.
The jury has the task of selecting photographs that will compose the XII European photography competition Summer School «Emilio Sereni» rom the theme “Rural shots” and awarding the related prizes.
- The jury’s judgement is unquestionable
- All participants will be informed of the outcome of the jury by e-mail by Sunday, 14 July 2024
- The works considered by the jury according to the theme of the competition will be exhibited in the exhibition rooms of the Museo Cervi
- The photographs will be printed in 30×45 cm format
- Press by the organisers
- The AWARD will take place on the afternoon of Tuesday 27 August 2024 at the Emilio Sereni Library Archive of the Alcide Cervi Institute in via F.lli Cervi, 9 – Gattatico, RE
- All participants will receive invitation emails for the award ceremony
- The files will remain the property of the organizers who can dispose of them exclusively for promotional and cultural purposes of the Institute and the Emilio Sereni Archive Library. The organization undertakes to always mention the name of the author.
- The works awarded and those admitted to exhibit will be visible on the site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/istitutoalcidecervi
- Participation in the competition automatically implies full acceptance of these rules.
The photograph on the poster is by Jacopo Ferrari and is part of the photo project Il Museo di Ettore, taken at Ettore Guatelli Museum in Ozzano Taro (Parma).
