AN EXPERIMENTATION AND CREATIVE RESIDENCY SUPPORTED BY A NETWORK OF EXPERTS
PICTO LAB is a residency program that off ers each year an artist the opportunity to benefit from support in experimentation, creation, and production for a period of three months (May–June–July) in Paris, within the network of PICTO laboratories and production studios.
For this PICTO LAB program, Picto Foundation partners with various organizations that support and help promote the work of the arti st in residence. These partners include the a ppr oc he fair, Fujifilm, Nielsen, and rentingART.
PICTO LAB aims to facilitate the development of a new project, notably by giving a photographer the opportunity to test techniques and protocols, and to experiment with them in unexpected
configurations in order to push boundaries or explore new potential fields of the image and its formal expression.
PICTO LAB off ers photographers and artists in residence, in collaboration with the craftsmen of the PICTO laboratories, the chance to explore through experimentation the possibilities offered by the various available technical skills.
PICTO LAB also serves as a space for the photographer to meet and connect with professionals who may contribute to the development of their work or interact with the project undertaken during the residency.
TO ENSURE SUPPORT, PICTO LAB PROVIDES :
1- A A residency grant of 4,000 €
2- Technical funding of 10,000 €, dedicated to the experimentation phase and the production of works at PICTO laboratories. The laureate will be supported throughout their process by a mentor who can provide guidance and respond to production needs.
3- Support from Nielsen for the framing of works produced during the residency.
4- rentingART will host the photographer in residence at Espace Co42 in Clichy for a three-month period from May to July. This live-work studio will allow the artist to focus on their practice and, at their initiative, create synergies with actors in the photography world through open studios and meetings.
5- The winning project will be presented in November 2026 at the salon a ppr oc he. The works produced during the residency will be exhibited and sold by the artist. Production of the works must be completed within the residency period.
6- Production costs not covered during the experimental phase of the residency, as detailed above, remain the responsibility of the artist. If the winning artist is represented by a gallery, the gallery will commit to presenting the artist’s works at the salon; no commission will be taken by a ppr oc he. Otherwise, the works will be presented and sold by the salon organizers with the support of a dedicated professional trained specifically for their presentation and sale. In return, a 40% commission will be applied to sales made during the event.
PRODUCTION FACILITIES :
For reference, below is a list of production facilities that the artist could potentially have access to:
– Black-and-white and color analog laboratory (Picto Bastille, Paris, 11th arrondissement)
– Traditional black-and-white film development, L’ATELIER Filippo (Picto Bastille, Paris, 11th arrondissement)
– Services and materials available on the Picto Online platform (PictoOnline.fr)
– Access to the machinery available at the production sites of Picto Bastille (Paris, 11th arrondissement) and Picto Grand Paris (Gennevilliers, 93)
– Meetings with experts as required, depending on the production facilities identified
Overview of production facilities available at Picto Bastille and Picto Grand Paris: Lambda photographic imager, color and black-and-white developer for prints up to 127 cm wide, Frontier digital printer (APS format, 6×9, 9×12, 25×38 cm), pigment inkjet printer up to 160 cm wide, professional scanning, retouching, large-format printing up to 219 cm wide (indoor and outdoor printing on all types of flexible and rigid supports), laminator (for mounting, laminating, and encapsulating), cutting table and plotter (for all types of flexible and rigid media), etc.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
– The PICTO LAB residency is aimed at photographers who have been developing their practice for at least two years. The jury will pay particular attention to applications for which this opportunity could serve as a genuine springboard in their career.
– PICTO FOUNDATION and its partners will prioritize supporting a photographer who has not yet had the means to experiment, produce, and disseminate the project submitted in the application.
– The photographer must be presented by an organization (art center, institution, gallery, etc.) that commits to presenting an exhibition or installation of the work produced by the resident within the calendar year following the completion of the PICTO LAB residency. This presentation by the sponsoring organization can only take place after the a ppr oc he fair, or in agreement with it for any other planned date. The organization also commits to being present throughout the entire a ppr oc he fair (from November 9 to 15, 2026), alongside the photographer, to provide full support.
– A letter of commitment will be required from the sponsoring organization.
CONTENTS OF THE APPLICATION PACK
– A curriculum vitae (PDF) detailing the photographer’s artistic background (education, exhibitions, residencies, awards, etc.);
– A portrait
– An artistic portfolio (PDF – 20 pages maximum) presenting a set of works representative of the artistic approach and enabling the research topics to be identified, with any useful additional links to sound, audiovisual and multimedia elements;
– A statement of intent (PDF – maximum 4 pages) describing the motivations, the preliminary project, and the avenues of exploration and production envisaged;
– A letter from the structure sponsoring the application,specifying the reasons for supporting this project, the presentation plan proposed for its space, as well as its commitment to being present during the exhibition.
AGENDA
January 27, 2025 : Application deadline
February – March 2025 : Shortlist selection and jury meeting
Mid-March 2025 : Residency recipient announcement
May to July 2025 : Residency period
November 2025 : First presentation in conjunction with the A PPR OC HE Salon
Visuel de couverture : FRAGILE WARNING LIGHTS N°16, 2025. © Anna Katharina Scheidegger
