We are once again living in a time in which the future feels anything but clear. It can no longer be planned, shows little promise, generates more fear than hope, is nebulous and, even worse, seems to be a terrain of countless uncertainties. We are at a crossroads. Demands for fundamental change are becoming ever more urgent and ever louder.

But what kind of new world do we want to create together? What other worlds are even possible? How do we want to live? What do we want? And how can we achieve this? What do we want to save from the past and present for the future or even rediscover? How can we rethink the seemingly unchangeable? What new forms of coexistence are worth striving for? And what future is there — in times of AI — for the medium of photography?

These are just some of the questions we are asking ourselves and which we want to address as an artistic theme as part of the Wiesbaden Photo Days 2025. In 2022, we have proclaimed “Turbulent Times” in Wiesbaden. In 2025, our theme is “Future? What future?!”. We see the new annual theme explicitly as a continuation and extension of the last Photo Days.