FORMAT27

FORMAT27 runs from 11 March to 11 April 2027, with Derby QUAD & Cinema at Market Place Cathedral Quarter as its main hub. It's the latest edition of the international photography festival that's been running since 2004, led by the team at QUAD. Over the month, the festival spreads across the city, with exhibitions and events also at the University of Derby, Derby Museum & Art Gallery, and the historic Derby Market Hall.

This edition centres on the theme of 'PLAY'. The organisers describe it as framing experimentation, trial and error, and the act of exploration as the very essence of photography. That idea runs through a few different directions: camera play and new technologies, including AI; play as sport; the politics of play; and a search for the tactile, analogue side of the image. It draws on a long history, from Niépce's first image through to the albumen print, photogram, cyanotype and collage.

The programme is built around exhibitions, commissions, residencies, talks and open calls across Derby and partner cities, with fringe activities and satellite venues in Leicester, Nottingham and beyond. Part of that is an open call: up to five projects will be selected from the entries, and a group exhibition of selected works will follow at Photofusion Gallery in London in May 2027. The advisory jury for that call includes Jean-Christophe Godet, Diane Smyth, Caroline Hunter, Alex Kahl, João Kulcsár, Jenni Grainger, Yining He and Wang Peiquan.

FORMAT is the UK's leading international contemporary festival of photography and related media, and it usually draws more than 100,000 visitors each year. Each edition takes a different theme, and this one will be spread across Derby from 11 March to 11 April 2027.