The Fotofestival Lenzburg is a photography festival in Switzerland that showcases contemporary photographic works from a local and international context. Over several weeks, the festival presents international exhibitions, vernissages and encounters with artists. Here you will find the complete agenda with an overview of all events. The programme is continuously being updated.
May 2026
Friday, 8 May 2026
5:00 pm
Merker Areal, Baden
Included in the festival pass.
Opening weekend of the 7th edition of the Fotofestival Lenzburg
5:00 PM – 7:00PM
Opening reception of the Exhibition “So far, So good”
In cooperation with zB Foto and Galerie 94 Baden. A small apéro will be served.
© Kostas Maros
Saturday, 9 May 2026
10:00 am
Lenzburg
Included in the festival pass.
Opening weekend of the 7th edition of the Fotofestival Lenzburg
10:00 AM
Opening of all exhibitions
The official start of the Fotofestival Lenzburg. All exhibitions will be open to the public from this time onwards.
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Opening Reception at Schloss Lenzburg
1:00 – 4:00 PM
Guided Tour with artists & curators
Guided tours of selected exhibitions led by participating artists and curators of the festival. Starting at Schloss Lenzburg and ending at the Stapferhaus.
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Talk: “Happiness: A User Manual” (Englisch), Stapferhaus
With Paolo Woods (Photographer and Artist),
Dr. Barbara Studer (Neuroscientist and Founder of Hirncoach),
Giulietta Palumbo (Global Editorial Director of Magnum Photos),
Frieder Schaupp (Curation, Project Lead Stapferhaus),
Moderator: Dr. Greg Tiani (Curator and Art Historian)
6:00 PM
Vernissage, Stapferhaus
With Guided tour of “Happy Pills” with artist Paolo Woods
9:00 PM
“Everafter Party”, Club Tommasini
With a temporary exhibition by Laura Paloma and DJane Cotella.
© Paolo Woods
Sunday, 10 May 2026
11:00 am
Burghalden Haus, Lenzburg
Included in the festival pass.
Opening weekend of the 7th edition of the Fotofestival Lenzburg
11:00 AM
Prosecco Talk (german)
Mit Schweizer Fotografin des Jahres Anne Morgenstern
Moderatorin: Anna Konstantinova
Musik: Pianistin Daria Krutaja
© Anne Morgenstern
Sunday, 10 May 2026
2:30 pm
Aarau and Lenzburg
Included in the festival pass.
Opening weekend of the 7th edition of the Fotofestival Lenzburg
2.30 PM
Foto Espresso, Stadtmuseum Aarau
An informal gathering over coffee in the museum foyer, flowing naturally into a guided tour. Artists and curators share insights into their work firsthand.
3.00 PM
Guided Tour, Stadtmuseum Aarau
With artists Rodrigo Koraicho, Yael Martínez
The exhibitions on the guided tour are accessible free of charge. We encourage visitors to visit the museum’s ticketed exhibition beforehand.
5.00 PM
Happy Pills the Film – Screening, Stapferhaus Lenzburg
With the introduction of the artist Paolo Woods
© Rodrigo Koraicho
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
12:00 pm
Aarau
Lunch at the museum
12.00 PM
Lunch with a short guided tour,, Stadtmuseum Aarau
Interactive guided tour of the exhibitions ‘Beach epiphany’ by Rodrigo Koraicho and ‘Echoes of uncertain silence’ by Yael Martínez as part of ‘forever happy’, this year’s edition of the Fotofestival Lenzburg at Stadtmuseum Aarau. With Margherita Guerra, director of the Fotofestival Lenzburg, and Laura Aellig, curator at Stadtmuseum Aarau.
Lunch and guided tour: 19 francs
Lunch: 12–12:45 pm
Guided tour: until 1:15 pm
You can attend lunch only, without the guided tour, but the price remains the same. The local caterers will decide which vegetarian dish to cook and serve: vegetable curry, momos or cabbage rolls.
© Yael Martínez
Happy Hour with near.
Happy Hour in partnership with the near. association.
Talk with the winner of the near. Prize and author of the exhibition Kairos, Antigoni Papantoni.
Open to everyone.
No registration required. Just drop by and join the conversation.
© Antigoni Papantoni
Guided Tour
Guided tours of selected exhibitions led by participating artists and curators of the festival. Starting at Schloss Lenzburg and ending at the Stapferhaus.
Sofagespräche (German)
A sofa chat with Raphaela Pichler, photographer and co-founder of House of Change.
The event is open to everyone.
No registration required. Just drop by, listen and join in the discussion.
Cropping Reality: Guided Tour & Talk (EN) with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) at Stadtmuseum Aarau
The guided tour, led by curator Greg Tiani, takes visitors through selected exhibitions at the Stadtmuseum Aarau as part of the photography festival, with a particular focus on the work of Yael Martínez.
For this project, Martínez visited programmes and facilities run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) along the Latin American migration corridor and documented people who have been stranded in precarious situations as a result of restrictive migration and asylum policies.
In his work, Martínez explores violence, loss, trauma and memory. By treating the photographs with acids, inks and acrylics, the photographic image itself becomes a site of tension between the forgetting of trauma and memory as a source of strength.
In the subsequent talk, Maëlle L’Homme (researcher, Médecins Sans Frontières / MSF), Mirjam Brunner (curator, Stadtmuseum Aarau & Ringier Archive) and Bernard Vesco (picture editor, Aargauer Zeitung) will discuss the humanitarian and ethical dimensions of photography and photojournalism in times of current humanitarian crises.
Afterwards, the audience is invited to ask questions.
Friday, 22 May 2026
10.00 am – 7.00 pm
Biel/Lenzburg
Spectrum Day: Bieler Fototage – Fotofestival Lenzburg
With Directors Sarah Zürcher (Bieler Fototage) and Margherita Guerra (Fotofestival Lenzburg) Open to members of Spectrum – Photography in Switzerland.
Happy Hour with Spectrum
Informal gathering as part of the festival.
Further programme details will be announced soon.
Open to everyone. Just drop by.
Guided Tour
Guided tours of selected exhibitions led by participating artists and curators of the festival. Starting at Schloss Lenzburg and ending at the Stapferhaus.
Sofagespräche
With Francesco Pennacchio, photographer and author of the book *Unlike Flowers* (in English)
Unlike Flowers explores grief and the reconstruction of an absent memory through a dialogue between archival material and contemporary images. It investigates the role of images and landscapes in sustaining presence and memory, positioning photography as an act of love against forgetting.
Happy Hour
Informal gathering as part of the festival.
Further programme details will be announced soon.
Open to everyone. Just drop by.
Guided Tour
Guided tours of selected exhibitions led by participating artists and curators of the festival. Starting at Schloss Lenzburg and ending at the Stapferhaus.
Sofagespräche
A sofa chat with Isabelle Bitterli about her books “Hol dir jetzt dein Burn-out!” and “Wahre Gasthaus Geschichten”, exploring what it takes to be happy in life.
Lecture: ‘The Happiness of Frugality’ with philosopher Yves Bossart (in German)
Our times are characterised by the pursuit of ‘more and more’. But are we actually happier when we have more? Or, on the contrary, would we be happier with less? How much do we really need to lead a happy life? A philosophical evening with Yves Bossart.
Cost: CHF 30 / CHF 25 for vhl members or with a festival pass
Register at www.vhlenzburg.ch
Happy Hour with Lunax
Presentation of the Lunax magazine “Forever Happy”.
Open to everyone. Just drop by.
Saturday, 6 June 2026
starts from 12.00 PM
Lenzburg
Finissage
12:00 pm
Coffee and cake with Aline d’Aura, Schloss Lenzburg
Sponsored by near.association.
1:00 pm
Guided tour with artists and curators
Joint tours of selected exhibitions with participating artists and curators from the festival.
Starts at Schloss Lenzburg and ends at the Stapferhaus.
3.00 pm
Artist talk with Eva O’Leary at the Müllerhaus
5.00 pm
Presentation of the Audience Award at Café Nikolina
© Aline D’Auria
© Eva O Leary