BRISTOL.- Drawing on the success of the second edition, which drew over 115,000 visitors, the third edition of Bristol Photo Festival, the international biennial of contemporary photography, will open this autumn with exhibitions and events staged across the Bristol’s major visual arts institutions as well as independent and unconventional spaces. Alongside the programme, the Festival will deliver a series of long-term engagement and education projects, working with local communities to explore overlooked aspects of the city’s story.

Entitled Time Machine, the third edition explores time as interwoven, where past, present and future fold into one another. Rooted in these understandings of time as cyclical, the Festival considers our present moment as a porous convergence — haunted and nourished by memory, imagination and anticipation. In this context, photography becomes more than documentation; it is an active entanglement with time itself. Images are spaces where memory and possibility coexist, and where time accumulates, loops and returns.

As Alejandro Acín, Festival Director, explains “This edition of the Festival explores how photography unsettles the idea of time as a single line. By bringing together international and local artists, the programme offers a constellation of fresh and thoughtful practices that engage with history, memory and dreams of the future in layered and unexpected ways. We cannot wait to announce the exhibition programme in July. At a moment when the arts and cultural sector is facing significant challenges across the UK, this edition required new ways of thinking, working and collaborating. We are especially excited to partner with outstanding local and international cultural organisations whose shared commitment and support make the Festival possible.”

Bristol Photo Festival is shaped by the movements, ideas and histories of Bristol. The festival includes exhibitions, talks and workshops, bringing together leading international photographic voices in dialogue with the city’s many communities.

The opening week of Bristol Photo Festival will take place from 14 – 18 October 2026, with a wide range of talks and events organised across the city. All exhibitions will be open until 15 November 2026, with presentations in the main partner institutions continuing beyond this date.