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panel discussion: working with galleries & selling your work

06/05/2025

Panel Discussion
6 May, 18:30
Location: Lullin + Ferrari Gallery, Limmatstrasse 214, Zurich
Open to near. members

 

Over the past years, many of the members have expressed interest in learning more about marketing your work, collaborating with galleries, and navigating the market. That’s why we’re hosting an informal evening dedicated to open conversation and practical insights. We’ll cover topics like editions, pricing, packaging, framing, insurance—and anything else that comes up.

 

Participants:
Anna Konstantinova – near. committee & gallerist at Lullin + Ferrari, moderating the discussion
Dominique Teufen – artist & near. member
Diego Brambilla – artist & near. member
Brigitte Lustenberger – artist & near. member
…and more to be confirmed!

 

Join us for an evening of sharing experiences and tips—followed by an apéro to continue the conversation!

 

We appreciate if you RSVP at info@near.li or in our direct messages on instagram so that we can plan the drinks!
The event will be held in English (but probably with a mix of French, German and everything in between)!

 

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near. x Mucho Love – Postcards Edition 2025

05/05/2025—15/05/2025

We’re excited to announce the launch of our next Postcard Edition, produced in collaboration with Mucho Love Editions.

This special set will feature 20 images — each selected from a different near. member. There’s no fixed theme, so feel free to submit up to 3 of your most eye-catching single images, and one of them could be featured in the postcard set!

This is the first in what we plan as a continuing series of postcard editions, each featuring a new collaboration.

All entries will be shown in a continuous loop* during our Apéro at the Rencontres in Arles on July 10. Final event details will follow soon.

The postcards will be printed and distributed free of charge to promote near. and its members.



 

**Submission Guidelines:**

– Submit only via the form that you received in the near. member mail

– Open to near. members exclusively

– Maximum 3 images per member

– Double-check all details (name, title, etc.) — we won’t be able to make corrections later

– Deadline: May 15, 2025



We’re looking forward to your submissions!



*Note: Depending on the venue’s electricity setup, the screening format may be adapted.

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Call for entries for the near. prize 2025

20/04/2025—02/06/2025

We are thrilled to announce the opening of the call for entries for the near. prize 2025!

The winner of the near. prize 2025 will have the opportunity to showcase their work at Fotofestival Lenzburg 2026, as well as being awarded 1000 CHF and a free one-year near. membership.

This year’s jury panel comprises the following photography experts:

Margherita Guerra, Director and Founder of the Fotofestival Lenzburg,

Manuel Sigrist, Head of Exhibitions, Programmes and Library, Photo Elysee;

the committee of near. counting as one vote.

The call for entries is open from April 20 to June 1, 2025. The winner will be revealed this June, with their exhibition featured in the 2026 edition of Fotofestival Lenzburg.

The theme of the upcoming edition of Fotofestival Lenzburg is Forever Happy: happiness that means everything and nothing nowadays. Please refer to the application form guidelines for comprehensive details.

We eagerly await the submission of your application!

→ Apply now (deadline: Wednesday June 1, 2025)

Download the application form: near-prize_rules_and_application-form – 2025

(*Please note that the near. prize is exclusively reserved for members of the association.)

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Booklette

14/09/2024—15/09/2024, Vevey

Images Vevey and Photo Elysée organize Booklette, a photobook fair bringing together Swiss and international publishers. The equation is simple and convivial: Books + Raclette = Booklette.

near. is taking part by offering members a guided tour of Biennale Images Vevey and the presentation of their publications at a table among the publishers.

Register to take part to the photobook fair and/or follow a guided tour of the biennial exhibitions on Saturday 14 at 11am: info@near.li

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Tiziana Amico, winner near. prize 2024, at Verzasca Foto Festival

30/08/2024, Verzasca

The jury of this year’s near. prize is happy to announce the winner of the edition – Tiziana Amico! Her work will be exhibited at the Verzasca Foto Festival 2024. Come and join us in beautiful Ticino for the opening days August 30 – 31.

Jury statement:
In the project “Nunca Fui Adolescente” (’I Never Was A Teenager’), Amico explores the personal stories of Argentine women who became mothers before adulthood, challenging stigmatized representations of adolescent motherhood, highlighting their resilience and individuality through intimate portrayals created in a collaboration with these young women.

The jury was convinced both by the choice of the author’s subject and the visual decisions taken in the project. The strong visual storytelling is combined with a very personal, almost gentle, approach of Amico to the experiences of these women and the desire to give them a voice and understand their perspective. Through a conscious use of portraiture mixed with images of private writings and symbolic objects, Tiziana Amico manages to create a memorable and powerful, yet very tender visual narrative.

Images credits:
From “Nunca Fui Adolescente” (’I Never Was A Teenager’) by Tiziana Amico

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Arles near. x Pool Collective

04/07/2024, Arles

We are very excited to inform you that the dates and location for our event during the opening week of the Rencontres d’Arles have been confirmed. We are collaborating with Pool collective to host an apéro and present our associations at the Librairie du Palais. Alongside this evening we are organising a DIY poster campaign throughout the city of Arles.

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near. x nuit des images BYOB

22/06/2024, Lausanne

near. photographers will be bringing their beamers and are presenting an abundance of images on the Plateforme 10 esplanade.

Mainly concerned with the themes of nature, artifacts and identity, discover the work of Tiziana Amico, Graziella Antonini, Yann Amstutz, Thomas Annaheim Lambert, Zoé Aubry, Rebecca Bowring, Aline Bovard Rudaz, Delphine Burtin, Margaux Corda, Marie-Pierre Cravedi, Matthieu Croizier, Ankita Das, Tomasz Fall, Matthias Forster, Anne Gabriel-Jürgens, Yann Haeberlin, Fabian Hugo, Emilien Itim, Khashayar Javanmardi, Stephen Kelly, Yann Laubscher, Arthur Lehmann, Samuel Matzig, Cécile Monnier Laurence Rasti, Nora Rupp, Roxana Savin and Mihai Sovaiala.

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near. prize 2024

29/05/2024

We are thrilled to announce the opening of the call for entries for the near. prize 2024!
The winner of the near. prize 2024 will have the opportunity to showcase their work at Verzasca Foto Festival 2024, as well as being awarded 1000 CHF and a free one-year near. membership.

This year’s jury panel comprises of the following fotography experts: Alfio Tommasini, Director and Curator of the Verzasca Foto Festival; Annette Amberg, Director of Coalmine – Raum für Fotografie (Winterthur); and the committee of near. counting as one vote.

The call for entries is open from April 22 to May 29, 2024. The winner will be revealed this June, with their exhibition featured in the 2024 edition of Verzasca Foto Festival.
There is no specific theme for this year’s prize, so please refer to the application form guidelines for comprehensive details.

We eagerly await the submission of your application!

→ Apply now (deadline: Wednesday, May 29, 2024)

(*Please note that the near. prize is exclusively reserved for members of the association.)

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Guided Tour near. prize Pedro Rodrigues

18/05/2024

Special guided tour of the Bieler Fototag/ Journées photographiques de Bienne with Pedro Rodrigues, Rebecca Bowring, Julien Heimann and Sarah Girard
near. is pleased to invite you and your near friend and family to join us for a guided tour of the shows in Bienne / Biel in the very special company of the photographers Pedro Rodrigues, winner of the near Prize 2023, Rebecca Bowring, winner of the near prize 2021, Julien Heimann photographer member of near and Sarah Girard, director of the festival.
The entrance is being taken care by us!
Saturday 18th of May, 2.15pm, meeting point 10 Juraplatz Biel / Bienne

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Created on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of near swiss association for contemporary photography, the “near photographic collection” aims to materialize in a tangible collection the association’s contribution to the Swiss contemporary photography scene since its inception. Its objective is to acquire, one key image for each of the hundred members the association had at its 10-year mark. Furthermore, it is intended to be preserved by a Swiss public institution or museum to endure over time, be showcased by both the association and the institution, serve as the subject of exhibitions and loans, and be accompanied by scholarly documentation.
To ensure the feasibility and sustainability of the collection, near allocates at least a tenth of its annual budget for the acquisition of new images. Fundraising efforts complement and expedite the pace of acquisitions.

Sandrine Lagnaz, Aïto au chat, 2019.

Anne-Sophie Aeby, Sans Titre, Habiter, Consommer, Divertir, 2006-2012

Graziella Antonini, Sapin blanc, 2019

see portfolio

Thomas Brasey, Guillaume Tell, BOAVENTURA, 2017

Sophie Brasey, Cervin, Artefact, 2008

Delphine Burtin, Sans titre, Fragments, 2018

see portfolio

Nicolas Delaroche, Meditation, First Seen, 2021

see portfolio

David Gagnebin de Bons, sans titre (7 bols), 2019

Julien Heimann, Sans titre, BA-40, 2009

see portfolio

Vincent Jendly, Anthropocène, 2021

Brigitte Lustenberger, Still Untiteled, 2014

see portfolio

Olivier Lovey, Paris, 2014

Murielle Michetti, sans titre n° 1, 2004

see portfolio

Virginie Rebetez, Untitled #3, Under Cover, 2013

Delphine Schacher, Arthur, Bois des frères, 2015

see portfolio

Anne-Sophie Aeby, Sans Titre, paille11_110922_15_04

Rebecca Bowring, KnowingThunder

Photographer membership

Applies to active photographers who have developed a personal body of work within the field of contemporary photography whether with a documentarian or an artistic approach.
All members get free access to all near. activities and the possibility to apply for free for the ‘near. prize’, as well as various benefits from our partners.

Become a member

Membership fee: CHF 100.– per year. Applicants for a photographer membership are selected by nears.’ committee based on their portfolio. Young photographers (also selected on the basis of their portfolio) benefit from a free one-year membership, as long as they are students or graduated within a year. Note that the near. membership only extends to Swiss nationals or people that live and work in Switzerland.

Selection Criteria

The acceptance of new members into the association is done by the committee following a series of selection criteria which include, among others, the originality of the submitted project and the artist’s vision, the body of work’s aesthetic quality, the coherence between the content and the form given to it, the integration of the submitted work into the author’s broader artistic project and, finally, the relevance of the project in relation to the current challenges faced by the photographic medium.

near. Network members

Art historians, art critics, curators, associations, institutions, publishers, museums, as well as key people in the field of photography are welcome to be part of our Network. Free of charge, this Network is intended to foster connections between our photographers and the photography world. We regularly invite Network members to be part of our jury’s, crit groups or events. Get in touch to be on our website.

Application

A single PDF document, with the following content (please do not exceed 20 MB) 1) 10–20 images (ideally at least two projects, no single images) 2) a written overview statement of the project(s) in english or french 3) a CV and/or Biography 4) full contact and site * Please note that applications not corresponding to the above guidelines will be rejected. Send to: info@near.li

Procedure

Please send us all content, as listed below. The committee gets together 2 times a year to consider applications and discuss the subscriptions. Deadlines to submit your portfolio: March 1st and September 1st of each year.

Expectations

— Do one Takeover of the near. Instagram account. — Be ready to participate in the ‘near. photographic collection’ which consists of a collection of one print per artist (production is paid by near. selection is done in chronological order of acceptance).— Pay each years membership in due time. — If possible participate to the General Assembly and of course to our events.

Français

near. a été fondée à Lausanne en 2009 et son but principal est de promouvoir la photographie contemporaine. L’association organise ses activités autour de quatre objectifs principaux: diffuser le trav… read more

Deutsch

near. wurde 2009 in Lausanne gegründet, um die zeitgenössische Fotografie zu fördern. Der Verein organisiert Aktivitäten, die sich auf vier Hauptziele konzentrieren: die Förderung und Verbreitung der … read more

English

near. was founded in Lausanne in 2009 and its principal aim is to promote contemporary photography. The association organizes activities set around four main objectives: to promote and disseminate the… read more

Italiano

near. è stata fondata a Losanna nel 2009 con l'obiettivo principale di promuovere la fotografia contemporanea. L'associazione organizza attività intorno a quattro obiettivi principali: promuovere e di… read more

Committee

Anna-Tia Buss

Ann Griffin

(*1981, Lugano, CH) works as a graphic designer specialised in editorial design. Based in Zürich, she collaborates with publishers, photographers and artists on different projects. Her main focus is book design with a particular interest in photography books. She has led numerous workshops in different art schools, as well as her own Photobook retreat in the mountains. Since 2017 she is a committee member of near. (Swiss association for contemporary photography).

Victoria Mühlig

Damien Sivier

Miriam Edmunds

Anna Konstantinova

(*1990, Samara, RU) is a Zurich-based curator specializing in contemporary photography, post-photography, and curating in digital spaces. She is the Curator and Gallery Manager at Lullin + Ferrari Gallery and is responsible for art and architecture projects at the Canton of Zurich. Anna is also part of the team at Screen Walks, a collaborative project by Fotomuseum Winterthur and The Photographers’ Gallery that investigates the evolving role of photographic images in networked and digital spaces. Additionally, she is a member of the pool collective, a self-organized group of artists and creatives in Zurich working in photography, and serves on the committee of near.association, which promotes contemporary Swiss photography and fosters critical discourse in the field.

Audrey Zimmerli

Thanks to: Nassim Daghighian (founder of near.), and all past committee members.

Contact

near. CH–1000 Lausanne info@near.li Instagram Subscribe to our newsletter

Partners

To be updated…

Support

near. is supported by:
  • Etat de Vaud
  • Ville de Lausanne
near. is a non-profit association with a legal tax-exempt status which allows deductible donations. IBAN: CH24 0900 0000 1025 5587 4 Bank: Swiss Post – PostFinance, CH-3030 Bern

Credits

Concept, Design and Code: UNSTATED Font: Everett by Nolan Paparelli Copyright © 2024, near., Lausanne, Switzerland. All rights reserved. No content may be reproduced or distributed without the written permission by near. and the photographers.

92 out of 92 results

near.

swiss association for contemporary photography

Jennifer Falk, From the series Violences Invisibles, 2019-20 ©Aline Bovard Rudaz
Alice Randegger, From the series Violences Invisibles, 2019-20 ©Aline Bovard Rudaz
Clara Hall, From the series Violences Invisibles, 2019-20 ©Aline Bovard Rudaz
Genève 1999, From the series Violences Invisibles, 2019-20 ©Aline Bovard Rudaz
Valais 2002, From the series Violences Invisibles, 2019-20 ©Aline Bovard Rudaz
Genève 2013, From the series Violences Invisibles, 2019-20 ©Aline Bovard Rudaz
Exhibition view from Violences Invisibles, Prix Photoforum 2020, Photoforum Pasquart Biel, 2021 Photo © Léonard Rossi
Edition of the Violences Invisibles project, self-published, 2020

Aline Bovard Rudaz

Overview

Information

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Cherche RADIUMINEUSE

Cherche RADIUMINEUSE is a photographic exploration of a little-known facet of Swiss industrial history: the contribution and fate of the female workers known as ‘Radiumineuses’.

Between the early 1920s and the late 1960s, hundreds of women workers applied radium-based phosphorescent paint to watch dials and hands, enabling them to tell the time in the dark. For years, they repeated the same meticulous gestures in factories or at home, handling the radioactive substance without adequate protection. The bodies of these women, and sometimes those of their loved ones, were thus exposed to serious and irreversible risks. Invisible, many of these workers saw their health sacrificed for the benefit of an industry that today remains a symbol of Swiss excellence.

Faced with a lack of visual representations in official archives, I chose to produce photographs that are both dreamlike and spectral, inspired by the testimonies and memories of those who knew or worked alongside these women.

The project combines cropped archive documents with contemporary, abstract images and photographs of objects found during the clean-up of contaminated buildings.

The work is both an investigation and a tribute. It questions the historical silence and indifference towards the fate of the little hands, while highlighting the existence and contribution of these women in the Swiss watchmaking industry. More broadly, Cherche RADIUMINEUSE invites reflection on resilience, justice and the recognition of people who are invisible in official narratives.

UN POIDS EN MOINS ? 2021-2022

In early 2021, Anaïs Virg, artist and anti-fatphobia activist, contacted me to begin a photographic collaboration. The initial aim was to document the everyday life of a fat person in her private life and her relationship with the outside world, while shedding light on the injunctions and difficulties that it implies. Then, in 2022, Anaïs decided to undergo bariatric surgery to alleviate her physical and mental suffering due to her weight. The collaboration thus took a new turn, focusing on Anaïs’ journey through the preparation, procedure and recovery of the surgery.

Combining portraits of Anais before and after the operation, medical documents, snapshots from Anaïs’s phone and sentences from a diary, this project gives an insight into what Anais experienced throughout the process. The highs and lows, the questioning of her legitimacy to fight and deconstruct the beauty canon and, more generally, the weight of the standards imposed on our bodies by society.

Invisible Violence, 2019-20

According to a survey by Amnesty International, one out of five women in Switzerland has been subjected to non-consensual sexual acts, and more than one out of ten has experiences sex against her will*. While asking the women in my inner circle if these statistics concerned them, it was sadly no big surprise to see that many of them experienced sexual violence, and I decided to dedicate a work to their stories.

As a photographer, in addition of being a women, I feel it is essential to adress this problematic and systemic social issue because, as the author, curtor and photography theorist Ariella Azoulay has said: The absence of visual imagery of violence against women has contributed for years to society’s ignorance – and even more so to its tolerance – of this type of violence.

The project is featured in a self published book, alterning portraits of sexual assault survivors, texts describing impossible images based on the suvivors testimonies, and images of objects related to the testimonies.

* Results of a representative survey conducted between 16 March and 15 April 2019 in Switzerland among some 4,500 women (aged 16 and over) by the research institute gfs.bern on behalf of Amnesty International.

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Aline Bovard Rudaz

Aline Bovard Rudaz (1995, CH) studied in CEPV/Centre d’enseignement professionnel de Vevey and is based in Geneva. She considers photography as a sensitive channel for conveying messages on social themes and for giving visibility to intimate and taboo issues. She is currently working on a photographic investigation into the era of the ‘Radiumineuses’ in Switzerland, the women who applied radioactive paint to watch hands and dials. Daily contact with this highly radioactive substance was not without risks for these women, who contributed behind the scenes to the renown of the Swiss watchmaking industry between the 20s and the 60s. This project is the winner of the City of Geneva’s Grant for a Documentary Photographic Project.

Location

Geneva, Geneva

Contact

  • https://www.alinebovardrudaz.com/
  • Instagram
  • Email

Awards

  • 2023Winner of the City of Geneva's Grant for a Documentary Photographic Project.

Exhibitions

  • 2025Cherche RADIUMINEUSE – Galerie Strates – Lausanne
  • 2024Quand les images prennent soin – Centre de la photographie Genève
  • 2023Du Nil au Léman. Regards contemporains – Musée d’art de Pully
  • 2022Vfg Prix Jeunes Talents de la photographie – Maison de la photographie (IPFO), Olten
  • 2021Prix photoforum 2020, Photoforum Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland
  • 2020reGeneration4, Les enjeux de la photographie et de son musée pour demain, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland

Publications

  • 2024Femmes – Violences – Editions Centre de la photographie Genève
  • 2023UN POIDS EN MOINS – Self-published
  • 2020Invisible Violence – Self-published
  • reGeneration4, Les enjeux de la photographie et de son musée pour demain – Le Musée de l’Elysée et Scheidegger & Spiess
  • 2019Se chama gentrificação – self-published
  • 2018Tupua – self-published

Awards

  • 2023Winner of the City of Geneva's Grant for a Documentary Photographic Project.

Exhibitions

  • 2025Cherche RADIUMINEUSE – Galerie Strates – Lausanne
  • 2024Quand les images prennent soin – Centre de la photographie Genève
  • 2023Du Nil au Léman. Regards contemporains – Musée d’art de Pully
  • 2022Vfg Prix Jeunes Talents de la photographie – Maison de la photographie (IPFO), Olten
  • 2021Prix photoforum 2020, Photoforum Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland
  • 2020reGeneration4, Les enjeux de la photographie et de son musée pour demain, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland

Publications

  • 2024Femmes – Violences – Editions Centre de la photographie Genève
  • 2023UN POIDS EN MOINS – Self-published
  • 2020Invisible Violence – Self-published
  • reGeneration4, Les enjeux de la photographie et de son musée pour demain – Le Musée de l’Elysée et Scheidegger & Spiess
  • 2019Se chama gentrificação – self-published
  • 2018Tupua – self-published