A festival born in Uruguay lands in Mendoza
The FOCUS international photography festival takes over Mendoza from Thursday, October 29 to Saturday, October 31, 2026. It is the fourth edition and the first held on Argentine soil, since the previous three took place in Uruguay, according to Infobae.
Argentine, Peruvian and Colombian creators and curators take part under the theme Cámera Veritas. The title plays on the Latin phrase in vino veritas and uses it to ask whether an image records reality or rather manufactures it.
There are three venues: the Huentala Wines winery, the Sheraton hotel in the provincial capital and Espacio Autiq Cars in Guaymallén. Along this circuit visitors can tour exhibitions, join talks and conferences and see outdoor installations. There will also be a photobook display and portfolio review sessions.
It is a first for Mendoza: Tupungato, Guaymallén and the provincial capital host activities of a gathering that until now had never left Uruguay. The focus of this fourth edition is photography understood as the construction of reality rather than neutral recording.
Photography in Mendoza: the program, day by day
Opening day is Thursday the 29th, starting at 6:30 pm, at Espacio Autiq Cars, with the group show El reverso de la postal. It features more than 15 photographers from the local scene, such as Cayetano Arcidiacono, Daniel Barraco and Lorena Mont, along with other Mendoza authors.
Friday the 30th is the busiest day. At midday, at Huentala Wines, the exhibition by the international guests opens, and they also lead a tour with the authors themselves: Adriana Lestido and Sofía López Mañán for Argentina, Musuk Nolte for Peru and Victor Galeano for Colombia.
Later in the afternoon, at 5:30 pm, Lestido gives a talk at the Sheraton alongside Nicolás Janowski, the artistic director. Two hours later, in that same place, the Archivo González Venzano opens, with curator Esteban Pastorino and architect Eliana Bormida present.
On Saturday the 31st the agenda starts at 10 am with portfolio reviews at the Sheraton, open only to those who passed an earlier call for entries. In the afternoon, at 4 pm, Pastorino and Bormida lead a session devoted to stereoscopic photography from Mendoza. The panel on contemporary Mendoza photography closes at 5:30 pm, with Paula Pino as moderator.
Photobooks and a question about the truth of the image
Among the photobooks are the 25 finalists of the SUR ArtexArte international prize for 2026. They are joined by a selection of Mendoza titles that the public can consult.
The curatorial text draws on Jean Baudrillard and Susan Sontag to argue that the camera does not merely record reality but produces it. According to Infobae, the chosen works take reconstruction, the archive and staging as raw material, without proposing an innocent image behind the manipulation.
The conceptual proposal starts from a simple idea: no photograph is an innocent record. That is why these tools appear in both the exhibitions and the talks of the program.
Production is handled by the Fundación Alfonso y Luz Castillo, which runs Espacio ArtexArte, together with Grupo Huentala and Espacio Autiq Cars. The curatorial team includes Janowski, Pastorino, Bormida and Pino.
If you go
The festival runs between October 29 and 31, with activities in Tupungato, Guaymallén and the Mendoza capital. Thursday's opening, planned for 6:30 pm, takes place in Guaymallén at the Autiq Cars venue. On Friday, from midday, you can visit the international guests' exhibition at Huentala Wines.
Adriana Lestido's talk is Friday afternoon at the Sheraton, and the panel on contemporary Mendoza photography closes the program on Saturday at the same time. Infobae's article does not give ticket prices or a sales channel, so it is worth confirming them with the organizers before you travel.
Source: Infobae
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