Where Photography Inspires Photography: The Festival La Gacilly in Baden bei Wien

Festival Photo La Gacilly was born in the midst of France, and every summer around 400.000 people visit this small village to take a look at top photographers and their work.

This year the festival decided that it should pack its bags and embark on a small tour. The destination would be in Austria, but not Vienna, Graz or Innsbruck. Instead it wanted to to Baden bei Wien - a 26.000 population town to the south of Vienna; the capital city of the district of Baden and the placed where the license plates with "BN" are allegedly printed.

The Festival La Gacilly was only there for a summer holiday, as it lasted form 8th of June until the 30th of September. What made this exhibition different from a museum was that instead of hiding all the pictures in dark corners, they were hung up all through the city. Photos were spread across parks ...

... when another series of photos was swimming on the small lake in the middle of the Rosarium.

Nature and parks were not the only places used. larger photos and photo-series were even hung up at the side of buildings. Most notably was a huge print of the African Savanna with a lion in the foreground and a modern city in the background, this image was put on the side of the coffee and cake shop Ullmann. I can confirm that the coffee and cakes are indeed very tasty.

After a minute walk, I was met with even more photographs in the pedestrian area. The focus of this Festival La Gacilly was "I love Africa" - portraying animal and people typical for the continent.

Best of all, is that this photo exhibition is not an one time event. The small village of Baden decided to work together with the small village of La Gacilly to make this into a yearly event. Every summer, Baden is set to show the best and brightest photographers of the world - what had been on display in La Gacilly is going to be on display in Baden a year later.

Overall the festival provides a great atmosphere with fascinating photos. There are monochrome, candid and set photos. I really enjoyed the difference and the set up of the whole exhibition. It gave everything a more natural and charming feeling.

In fact, I already intend to pay next year's Festival La Gacilly in Baden a visit and, if I am ever around, the city of La Gacilly in France an additional visit.

More information about the Festival La Gacilly in Baden bei Wien can be found here: 

http://festival-lagacilly-baden.photo/ [DEU]

For information about the Festival Photo La Gacilly in France is available here:

https://www.festivalphoto-lagacilly.com/ [FR]