A warm welcome to the Art of Lying Backlight Photo Festival Opening Seminar and the exhibition

"The Art of Lying" seminar and exhibitions explore the shifting relationships between photography and truth. A lie always arises in the shadow of the truth, and is shaped by the conditions of the surrounding social, technological and political realities. The meaning and evidential value of images are changing. Digital image processing, artificial intelligence and the ever-growing flow of images challenge our perceptions of what an image can tell us about reality and what we can trust in images. At the same time, a photograph can still reveal something we would not otherwise see, revealing the optical unconscious as part of our truth-finding techniques.

Backlight 2026 brings 12 international artists to Tampere, whose works explore these questions from different perspectives, through documentary imagery, fiction, manipulation, technology, memory and personal experience.

The opening day begins with a seminar at the University of Tampere, which will examine the evolving relationship between photography, truth and artificial intelligence, as well as how technological developments influence the interpretation of images and their evidential value. The seminar will be held in English. A warm welcome, no registration needed.

SEMINAR 4.9.2026

Tampere University (Väinö Linna -auditorium K104, Kalevantie 5) | 13:00–16:00

13.00–13.30 | Asko Lehmuskallio (Professor, Visual Studies, Tampere University)
Opening remarks and presentation Metamorphosis

13.30–14.10 | Maija Tammi (Visual Artist, DA)
The Artist’s Perspective: Where Does the Lie Lie?

14.10–14.30 | Coffee Break

14.30–15.00 | Markus Sjöberg (Postdoctoral Researcher, Tampere University)
It Had to Be Generated: How AI Turned Exceptional Photographs into Suspects

15.00–15.50 | Discussion between the artists and curators
Anna Ruth, Dana Benlakhdar, Joel Jimenez Jara

15.50–16.00 | Terhi Asumaniemi (Executive Director, Nykyaika Photography Centre & Backlight)
Acknowledgements and invitation to the opening

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 4.9.2026

Nykyaika Photography Centre & Galleria Koppelo | 18.00–20.00
Vooninki | 7.00 pm–9.00 pm

EXHIBITIONS

The festival’s main exhibition at Vooninki is open from 1 to 20 September 2026. The other festival exhibitions are open at different times, please see for more information and the whole festival programme https://backlight.fi/.

Organiser

Visual Studies Lab, Tampere University Backlight PhotoFestival

Further information

Asko Lehmuskallio Terhi Asumaniemi