MIPphest — Matera International Photography Festival

Matera through the lens

MIPphest, the Matera International Photography Festival, is the exhibition that transforms the city into a large, widespread gallery dedicated to photography and contemporary imagery every year. It is promoted by the MIP - Matera International Photography association, a Matera-based entity entirely devoted to the training and dissemination of photographic culture, which spreads exhibitions across prestigious spaces such as the Galleria Arti Visive, Palazzo Lanfranchi, and other symbolic locations in the Sassi.

Exhibitions, artists, and research

The festival's program alternates major solo exhibitions, collective projects, and research paths, featuring Italian and international artists. Reportage, documentary photography, landscape, and experimental languages intertwine in a calendar that spans several months, offering the public diverse interpretations of the relationship between image, territory, and identity.

A festival spread throughout the heart of the Sassi

MIPphest's strength lies in the relationship between the works and the locations: the halls of historic buildings, galleries, and exhibition spaces in the city become the backdrop for exhibitions that dialogue with Matera's layered history. In its tenth-anniversary edition, the festival accompanies the city throughout the year as Mediterranean Capital of Culture and Dialogue, with a particular focus on the themes of borders, horizons, and the Mediterranean.

Training and community

In addition to exhibitions, MIP carries out intense photographic training activities and engages the local community, including through projects with the area's youth. In collaboration with the Municipality of Matera and the city's museums, MIPphest consolidates the city's role as an international crossroads for imagery.