We are once again living in a time when the future seems anything but clear. It is unplannable, unpromising, more fearful than hopeful, ambiguous and, worse, seems to be a terrain of countless uncertainties. We are at a crossroads. The calls for fundamental change are growing louder and more urgent.

But what should it look like? What kind of new world do we want to create together? What other worlds are possible? How do we want to live? What do we dream of? What do we wish for? What do we want to save or even rediscover from the past and present for the future? What can we learn from other societies? How can we rethink the seemingly unchangeable? What new forms of coexistence are worth striving for? And how can we achieve them? And what is the future of the medium of photography in the age of AI?

A key term in the current discussion about the future is “transformation”. Change, transformation: this is one way into the future. The Photo Days will also focus on the transformative forces that are already giving us a glimpse of the future. To name just a few current aspects of transformation: Digitalization, the economy, climate, mobility, work, identity, diversity and sustainability — these are also areas in which we are imagining “the future”.

These are just a few of the questions and topics that the 13th Wiesbadener Fototage (Wiesbaden Photo Days) would like to address. As difficult as it is to look into the future, the attempt is worthwhile. The works submitted are intended to question supposed certainties, to provoke thought, to raise hopes and to open up new horizons.

And finally, with the final exclamation mark in the theme’s title, we want to express that there can be a future that is anything but bleak or dystopian: Future? What future?!