Pärnu PhotoFest 2026 “Timeless” OPENING MARATHON

You are warmly invited to the Pärnu PhotoFest opening marathon on 11 March, during which we will open nine photography exhibitions in succession! We begin at 3:00 PM at Nooruse Maja (the full schedule can be found at the end of this text).

 

Pärnu PhotoFest is an annual festival initiated by Pärnu City Gallery nine years ago, focusing on the diverse forms and meanings of photographic art.

 

Exhibition venues: Nooruse Maja, Pärnu Central Library, Endla Theatre Gallery, Pärnu Museum, Pärnu City Gallery Artists’ House, Vabaduse Park.

 

This year, the festival bears the title “Timeless”.

 

Timelessness can be interpreted as eternity, a state that does not conform to a linear perception of time. All moments are inevitably fleeting, yet photography has the power to make the transient endure, offering us a way to relate to time beyond its conventional flow.

 

Throughout history, the camera has served both as a vessel of memory and a witness to time, capturing and sometimes distorting reality. Each image exists simultaneously in the past, present, and future, functioning at once as both document and interpretation.

 

The festival exhibitions explore timeless themes such as identity, corporeality, nature, intimacy, and memory. They reveal different ways in which time is preserved, dispersed, or erased in photography, and how visual thinking enables us to travel through time, slow it down, or momentarily bring it to a standstill.
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* The schedule may shift slightly depending on the pace of audience movement.

 

3:00 PM – Nooruse Maja (Roheline 1B)
Pärnu Photo Club — “Measuring Time”

 

4:00 PM – Pärnu Central Library (Akadeemia 3)
First Floor Gallery: Kristel Schwede — “In Silence”

Staircase Gallery: Gallery 1826 group exhibition — “Silver Crowns”, curated by Jaanus Muruõis

 

4:30 PM – Endla Theatre Gallery (Keskväljak 1)
Column Hall: Luisa Greta Vilo — “A(r)mor”
Barn Gallery: Exhibition by students of Pärnu School of Arts — “Separated and United”, supervised by Andres Adamson

 

5:00 PM – Pärnu Museum (Aida 3)
Virginius Kinčinaitis (LT) & Pallas University of Applied Sciences photography students — “Tears in Rain”, curated by Andres Adamson

 

6:00 PM – Vabaduse Park
Robert Atwater — “Pictures in the Park”

 

6:30 PM – Pärnu City Gallery Artists’ House (Nikolai 27)
Pärnumaa Photo 2026 — “Time Does Not Stop”, curated by Alar Raudoja & Marko Toomast

 

7:00 PM – Project Space, Pärnu City Gallery Artists’ House (Nikolai 27)
Mirjam Varik — “Familiar Stranger”
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A FREE art bus will travel Tallinn–Pärnu–Tallinn for PhotoFest visitors. The bus departs Wednesday, 11 March at 2:00 PM from in front of the Mere Cultural Centre (Mere pst 5) and takes passengers to Pärnu, arriving at the parking area in front of Endla Theatre. The return trip to Tallinn departs from the same location at 8:00 PM. Seats are limited!

 

Please register here:
https://forms.gle/NsaFi17RThg8xMs58

 

More information:
https://linnagalerii.ee/parnu-fotofest-2026/