The sixth Fast Forward: Women in Photography conference

Beyond The Canon: Exhibiting, Curating and Collecting Photography by Women 

October 10-12, 2025

Centre of Contemporary Art in Toruń, Poland 

The Key notes by:

Marie Robert, The Head Curator of Photography and Cinema at the Musée d’Orsay, France

Val Williams, Professor of History and Culture of Photography at London College of Communication, UAL, UK

The speakers:

Marta Ziętkiewicz, Catalina Pérez Meléndez, Alexandra Moschovi, Alexandra Gow, Nelly Ating, Clare Freestone, Federica Muzzarelli, Claudia Holgado Chacon, Charlene Heath, Linda Bertelli, Uta Hanusek, Sigrid Lien, Raffaella Perna, Antonina Gugała, Liana Ivete Žilde, Sonja Thomsen & Meg Jackson Fox, Candice Jansen, Cynthia Mavuso & Gille De Vlieg, Xiyue Yan, Susana Lourenço Marques, Jenny Brownrigg, Baiba Tetere and Katarzyna Gębarowska

Fast Forward: Women in Photography together with University of Nicolaus Copernicus in Toruń announced the Polish edition of the Fast Forward conference Beyond The Canon, which was organized in partnership with Vintage Photo Festival, and supported by UCA, Karen Knorr Studio and from the budget of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region.

The sixth Fast Forward conference that took place in Toruń, Poland explored the (hi)stories of women in photography with a particular reference to how women’s work is curated, exhibited and collected by museums, institutions, festivals, galleries and individuals. For years photography was considered as a mediocre medium by the art world, its museums and galleries. Towards the mid 1990s the position of photography in the art world started to change and today it has become the “hot topic” of the global art field with works being exhibited, bought and sold at the highest prices and shown in the most revered exhibition spaces. What place has women’s photographic work taken in this booming business? How have women provoked new discourses concerning the limitations/problems of the canon? How have women been exhibited, collected and conserved?

The conference was organized with the support of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, the Vintage Photo Festival, the British Council in Poland, the University for the Creative Arts and Karen Knorr London Studio.

Organizing Committee:

Professor Anna Fox (Fast Forward / University for the Creative Arts)

Maria Kapajeva (Fast Forward / University for the Creative Arts, Estonian Academy of Arts)

Dr Katarzyna Gębarowska (Vintage Photo Festival, University of Nicolaus Copernicus)