Nenad Martić is the winner of the photography competition "Framing the City"

The fourth edition of Split Format, a photography festival organized by the Photo Club Split, was opened in front of numerous visitors. The festival began in 2018 on the initiative of the then president of the association, Maja Prgomet. Each year, the festival opens with an exhibition of finalists from a photography competition on a different theme, and this year’s theme was FRAMING THE CITY, within the overarching festival theme diSTopia City . A five-member expert jury composed of Ivana Bošnjak, the jury president and art historian and program director of Photo Club Split; Sandi Bulimbašić, art historian; and photographers Aleksandar Tomulić, Rudi Uran, and Pierpaolo Mittica, decided on the finalists. Their votes determined that this year’s winner is Nenad Martić, an award-winning photographer and long-time member of Fotoklub Zagreb, whose winning series Deerstopia was inspired by the dystopian vision of an unrealized university hospital in Blato.

Second place went to young Mostar photographer Marin Margeta, a member of Fotoklub Mostar, whose photographs capture the classic story of this region—the post-transition and post-privatization decline of the aluminum factory in Mostar. His parents, along with many other Mostarians, spent their working lives there, as the factory once employed several thousand workers in its heyday, before the war of the nineties and political entanglements changed everything—a continuation of the story we all know.

Third place was awarded to Zagreb photographer Tomislav Petković for his intriguing series Centrifuge, which addresses the issue of human alienation in contemporary times. Fourth place went to the only woman among the finalists, young photographer Zoe Šarlija, who has already received numerous awards and recognitions. In her series Lost in Amsterdam—Reading the City, she interprets the city from the perspective of a society of spectacle, a visual backdrop intended for consumerist consumption and exploitation. In fifth place was Damir Borčić, a member of Photo Club Split, with his series of photographs ST Alone. In the empty city streets and subdued atmosphere, human loneliness reveals itself as the greatest pandemic of our time.

The exhibition of finalists was opened by Ana Žanko, president of Photo Club Split, and Ivana Bošnjak, jury president and program director. Monetary prizes were also awarded for the top three places—€500 for first place, €300 for second, and €200 for third.

The president of Fotoklub announced the rest of the rich festival program, which includes free workshops, photo safaris, a photography equipment fair, presentations of photographers, and numerous interesting lectures. One such lecture is already scheduled for Thursday, October 17, at 7:30 PM, where Split architect Mariana Bucat and urban planner Jelena Borota will give a talk on the topic "Common People and the City."

PHOTO: Milan Šabić