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Special event

Special event: What Have We Done? Amsterdam, the Netherlands

07 November 2025
De Balie, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Celebrating World Press Photo’s 70th anniversary and the future of photojournalism

Join us as we mark World Press Photo’s 70th anniversary with a special event to reflect on our rich legacy and to look ahead at its role in shaping visual storytelling.

This public program invites you to engage with how photographic images communicate and influence understanding, and spark dialogue and reflection. The event will bring together photographers and critical thinkers, and will include the final project presentations of the 2025 Joop Swart Masterclass. The event will take place at De Balie in Amsterdam, with the option to join online via livestream. 

Program

13:00-16:00
World Press Photo at 70: What Have We Done?

The day program will reflect critically on questions such as: How has the organization shaped our collective visual memory? What role do photographers have as custodians of visual history? And what makes a powerful image in the 21st century?

What Makes a Powerful Image in the 21st Century?
Keynote by Fred Ritchin
Writer, editor, educator, curator, and software developer. Dean Emeritus of the International Center of Photography (ICP) School.

Photojournalism is at a crossroads. The media that funded it historically is struggling, while AI technologies are eroding consensus reality. Where do visual storytellers go from here? Do images still have the power to cause change? What are the powers and responsibilities of contemporary audiences?

Photographer talk
By Hannah Reyes Morales
Photographer and multidisciplinary storyteller

The World Press Photo Effect
By Marco Solaroli
Associate Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication

Photographers as custodians of our collective visual history
Speakers TBC
As image-makers and storytellers, photographers play a vital role in shaping how we see and remember the world. This panel explores photography’s evolving social function in the 21st century—whether as activism, visibility, or historical record.

More information coming soon.


17:00-19:00
2025 Joop Swart Masterclass presentations

The 2025 Joop Swart Masterclass cohort will take the stage to share their developing projects. Addressing urgent themes – from war and displacement to gender-based violence, racial discrimination, exploitation and corruption, and environmental destruction – their projects form a collective resistance to erasure, telling complex, often overlooked stories from within.

Participants: Ameen Abo Kaseem (Palestine/Syria), Amina Kadous (Egypt), Andrés Pérez (Venezuela), Chiara Wettmann (Germany), Gabriel Ferneini (Lebanon), Imane Djamil (Morocco), Luis Antonio Rojas (Mexico), Maen Hammad (Palestine), Masoumeh Bahrami (Iran), Natthaya Thaidecha (Thailand), Saher Alghorra (Palestine), Sumi Anjuman (Bangladesh), Thero Makepe (Botswana).

Mentors: Alejandro León Cannock, Hannah Reyes Morales, Laura El-Tantawy, and Noelle Théard.

Event information

Date and time

Friday 7 November 2025, 13:00 - 19.00 CET

Location

Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10
1017 RR Amsterdam

Livestreamed online.

Tickets

Available soon.

Image credit: Maarten Nauw

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