IN COLORS PROJECT is LUMICROMA's international open call and a path to explore every year.
First, because it starts from a public invitation to professional and amateur photographers, renowned and emerging, of any nationality; second, because in this amplitude it is permeable to the proposals of those who explore photography as Art and Reflection.
The filters are few, declaredly comprehensive to serve an intention: to create a mosaic of stories, real and imagined, suggested by the work of several authors.

Through the convergence of experiences, aesthetics and visions, the IN COLORS PROJECT intends to underline, year after year, the importance of photography as a socio-cultural record and artistic intervention.
It is intended that each edition will result in a collective exhibition, which allows us to understand this initiative as a kaleidoscopic revelation, the image of a changing time and world.

The skin is both surface and territory—life’s first sculptural gesture. It is where light lingers, the world leaves its mark, and desire manifests itself.
LUMICROMA seeks images that transcend mere documentation and assert themselves as thought, provocation, and beauty. Photographs that approach the skin as a universal language and a place of intimacy; where the invisible takes shape and the visible transforms into an idea.
SKIN is an invitation to excellence and wonder. In this edition, photography celebrates fearlessness: the courage to create works that reclaim the body as a poetic and political act, reminding us that every creative gesture is, in essence, an exercise in freedom.

1. OPEN CALL

1.1. These Rules stipulate the terms and conditions of application and participation in the IN COLORS PROJECT, an initiative of Lumicroma aimed at recognized, emerging or still anonymous photographers.
1.2. An application refers to the submission of photographic artworks for the collective exhibition IN COLORS PROJECT, based on the theme SKIN, which is to be inaugurated on September 11 at the São João da Madeira Art Center and will be on permanent display at LUMICROMA, at www.lumicroma.com.
1.3. Participation in the IN COLORS PROJECT is completely free. As such, the formalization of the application is free of charge.
1.4. This is an independent initiative, separated from political and party ideologies, philosophies and religions. However, all themes can be approached as objects of Art and Reflection.
 

2. APPLICATION AND CALENDAR

2.1. The application to the IN COLORS PROJECT is open to anyone over the age of 18, of any nationality, who communicates through photography, regardless of their education or curriculum. As such, professional and amateur artists and photographers, recognized, emerging or totally unknown talents, are invited to participate.
2.2. The application cannot be made by anyone other than the author of the photographic work to be submitted to the IN COLORS PROJECT (hereafter referred to as the Applicant).
2.3. The application is made via the Photo Submission Form (hereafter referred to as Form) on the Lumicroma website. Applications made by any other means are not accepted.
2.4. The application deadline follows the schedule of the IN COLORS PROJECT Open Call (henceforth, the Call), starting on 14 April and ending on 31 May 2026.
2.5. The period of the Call may be extended for some exceptional reason. If it occurs, the extension will be announced on Lumicroma's communication channels (website and social media).
2.6. Outside the period of the Call for Proposals, no applications will be accepted.
2.7. Once the period of the Call is closed, the Lumicroma team will analyze if the applications received meet the formal requirements of the Rules. This verification does not include the technical and artistic assessment of the photographs received, which will be carried out by a panel of judges constituted for the IN COLORS PROJECT (hereinafter referred to as the Jury).
2.8. The effectiveness and validation of an application does not mean the integration of the respective photographic work in the Exhibition.
2.9. The Jury's decision will be transmitted to all candidates, in a communication sent to their e-mail address of registration at the time of application.
2.10. The schedule for this fourth edition is governed by the following phases:
Applications - April 14 to May 31, 2026
Voting (analysis, selection and curatorship) - June 1 to July 19, 2026
Announcement of the results to the applicants - July 20 to 24, 2026
Exhibition at the São João da Madeira Art Centre and at LUMICROMA, www.lumicroma.com - September 11 to October 24, 2026
Voting for the Public Award, at LUMICROMA, at www.lumicroma.com - September 11 to October 18, 2026
Public announcement of the awarded works - October 25, 2026, International Artist Day
 

3. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS, SUBMISSION AND SELECTION

3.1. The Applicant may propose between 1 and 10 photos of his/her own authorship, using the Form.
3.2. The Form will only be considered valid after it is completely filled out and at least one photographic work is uploaded.
3.3. Digital, color or black and white photographs are valid.
3.4. Only photographs that: 
       a) Are of the Authorship and belong to the Applicant;
       b) Are in JPEG format, with a resolution of 3000 pixels or more (largest side) and a maximum file size of 5 MB;
       c) They respect the copyrights and intellectual property rights enshrined in the Portuguese and European legislation;
       d) Have never been, are not and will not be commercialized in any physical or digital space until the results of the IN COLORS PROJECT are known;
       e) They are not associated with campaigns of corporations and institutions with public visibility;
3.5. Considering what is defined in point 3.4 (b), the authors whose work has been selected must, afterwards, provide it in high resolution, in order to allow fine art printing.
3.6. By participating in the IN COLORS PROJECT, the Applicant is assuming not to have any exclusivity contracts or any other contractual ties that prevent the presentation of his works on the Lumicroma website.
3.7. Failure to comply with points 3.4., 3.5. and 3.6. will result in the immediate exclusion of the work submitted.
 

4. EVALUATION

4.1. The Jury is composed of:
Alfredo Cunha – Photographer;
Ângela Berlinde – Photographer, Artist, Curator, and Researcher;
Aníbal Lemos – Photographer, Curator, Researcher, and Professor;
Carlos Cezanne – Photographer and Editor;
David Araújo – Photographer, Photojournalist, and Videographer;
Isabel Aboim Inglez – Filmmaker; Director of Photography; Designer; Photographer, Videographer; Professor;
João Porfírio – Photographer, Photo Editor, Photojournalist;
José Bacelar – Photographer, Professor;
José Manuel Rodrigues – Photographer, Visual Artist, and Professor;
Luís Filipe Ribeiro – Photographer, Professor, Researcher;
Maria João Cortesão – Professor of Photography and Film;
Mirian Nogueira Tavares – Professor and Researcher;
Nelson Marmelo – Physician, Photographer, Curator;
Olívia Marques da Silva – Photographer, Researcher, and Professor;
Suzana Lopes Dias – Architect and Curator;
Teresa Siza – Photographer, Photography Historian, and Professor.
4.2. In the evaluation and selection of the works for the Exhibition, the Jury will consider the quality, impact and pertinence of each photographic record per se, applying in its analysis the following criteria: technical and artistic quality; creativity; difference of vision; pertinence of the message; visual and emotional impact of the work; invitation to reflection and wonder.
4.3. The Jury will appreciate each work without knowing the identity and the biography of the author. For the sake of Art, equality of opportunity and the coexistence of more or less recognized talents is stimulated.
4.4. The Jury is sovereign in the selection of works for the Exhibition. Candidates to the IN COLORS PROJECT accept, in advance, the Jury's decision.
4.5. Lumicroma may at any time exclude a selected work if it is found to have committed irregularities and/or illegalities associated with it.
4.6. The storage by Lumicroma of a work submitted and not selected for the Exhibition, as well as of the information provided in the Form, depends on the consent of the Applicant. Without their permission, the records will be removed from Lumicroma's database.
 

5. AWARDS

5.1. The IN COLORS PROJECT is not just a competition. However, the stimulation of artistic creation and the exposure of talent, along with the creation of opportunities for photographers, justifies various forms of distinction:

IN COLORS PROJECT Award
- Award of €5,000.00 (five thousand euros).
- Publication of an article in Lumicroma Magazine about the "winner" and his/her work.
- Feature publication on social media.
- Author's Page in Lumicroma (see point 7.10 of this Rules).

Honorable Mention (up to two)
- Award of €1,000.00 (one thousand euros) 
- Publication of an article in Lumicroma Magazine about the "winner" and his/her work.
- Feature publication on social media.
- Author's Page in Lumicroma (see point 7.10 of this Rules).

Public Award
- Award of €500.00 (five hundred euros)
- Publication of an article in Lumicroma Magazine about the "winner" and his/her work.
- Feature publication on social media.
- Author's Page in Lumicroma (see point 7.10 of this Rules).

IN COLORS PROJECT Selection
Between 50 and 75 artworks will be selected for the IN COLORS PROJECT ED#4 SKIN exhibition.
- All authors with selected works will benefit from Lumicroma's promotion channels: visibility in the future digital platform, a trilingual website dedicated exclusively to Photography and Photographers; identification in contents (individual or as a whole) in social media; identification in institutional promotion dossiers and in the media.
- Author's Page in Lumicroma (see point 7.10 of this Rules).
- Commercialization of the selected works in the Lumicroma Gallery, in a limited edition, with fine art printing.
 

6. PUBLICATION OF RESULTS

6.1. The decision will be communicated to the applicants selected between 20 and 24 July 2026.
6.2. The public announcement of the winners will be made on 25 October 2026, International Artists’ Day. 
6.3. The selected photographers are not allowed to publicly announce the result before the organization.
 

7. EXHIBITION AND SALES

7.1. All works selected by the jury under this call for entries will be included in the various exhibitions to be organised as part of a national and international exhibition circuit;
7.2. The authors selected under this Call for Proposals will authorise the printing of their works for this exhibition, providing high-resolution digital files for large-format fine art printing. The printing and transport of the works, the mounting/dismounting of the exhibition and all the costs inherent in its realisation will be free of charge for the authors.
7.3. Each work exhibited will be presented with the author's name or artistic name; title (if any) and short framing text; place (city or region, country) and year in which it was made.
7.4. The information referred to in the previous point is provided by the Applicant in the Form. For the framing of the work, a text is requested. This information may be reviewed, corrected and edited by the Lumicroma team, without loss of original meaning.
7.5. During the first twenty-four months of the Exhibition, the works on show cannot be part of other exhibitions, other galleries catalogs or be sold in other spaces, physical or virtual, unless authorized by Lumicroma.
7.6. On the Lumicroma website, the EXHIBITIONS and PHOTOGRAPHERS spaces will be properly identified and distinguished. There may, however, be a correlation between them, as will be the case with the IN COLORS PROJECT, an initiative that aims, among other objectives, to create opportunities for photographers.
7.7. The works of the Exhibition will therefore integrate the Gallery space. By submitting the application to IN COLORS PROJECT, the Candidate accepts that his/her work – if selected – will be available for sale on Lumicroma's website.
7.8. There is the possibility that a photograph submitted but not selected for the Exhibition will be available in the Gallery space (outside the context of the IN COLORS PROJECT) if the Lumicroma curatorial team considers it artistically relevant and if that is the expressed wish of its author.
7.9. The Lumicroma team is responsible for deciding which works and authors it wishes to represent in the Gallery. That is, given the receptivity manifested by the Applicant in the submission of the Form, from the Lumicroma the initiative of future contact for the signing of a commercial contract.
7.10. Each author represented in the Gallery will have an Author Page on the Lumicroma website. It will be an individual page, accessible to the public, presentation of the artist, his career, dissemination and sale of their work.
7.11. The sale of works obeys the Lumicroma Conditions of Participation.
 

8. COPYRIGHT AND OTHER RIGHTS

8.1. The IN COLORS PROJECT obeys the Copyright and Related Rights Code of the Portuguese legislation, aligned with that of the European Union.
8.2. From the moment of applying to the IN COLORS PROJECT, the author takes responsibility for the authenticity of the work he is proposing, of which he declares to be the legitimate owner. He is also responsible for all the information he provides and for the declarations he accepts when filling out the Form.
8.3. Lumicroma shall not be held responsible for any illegality, untruth and/or damaging omission committed by the Applicant at any stage of the development of the IN COLORS PROJECT initiative.
8.4. If there is any serious fault committed by the Applicant, which violates the good name, seriousness and sustainability of Lumicroma, Lumicroma will act accordingly and by the legal means at its disposal.
8.5. Lumicroma guarantees the confidentiality of the information provided in each application. In these terms, only the names of the authors with work selected for the Exhibition will be disclosed. When filling out the Form, the author can decide to be presented with an artistic name or his own name.
8.6. Under no circumstances Lumicroma will present, promote or reproduce a photographic work without identifying its author (artistic name or given name). Moreover, it will do everything in all its activity, to protect the rights of the artist over his work.
8.7. With a view to promoting the Exhibition, the Photographers and the Lumicroma platform, the selected works may be reproduced on Lumicroma’s social media and communication platforms, in physical and digital catalogues, as well as in any information that Lumicroma may provide to partners, the media (print and digital), or other channels promoting photography and art.
8.8. In view of what is written in point 8.7, the author with work in the Exhibition and available in the Gallery allows it to be used, royalty-free, for the promotional purposes mentioned above.
8.9. Lumicroma will always seek to prevent, by technical and legal means at its disposal, the misuse by third parties, whether natural or legal persons, of the works of authorship that presents and disseminates. Despite the care applied, Lumicroma and the authors represented by it are aware of the possibility of unauthorized use of such works. Verifying any improper situation, Lumicroma will act accordingly if there is legal support.
8.10. To limit to the maximum extent possible the misuse of the works exhibited and/or represented by it, Lumicroma will share on its communication platforms (website and social networks) only low resolution images.
8.11. The works selected as part of the IN COLORS PROJECT and to be made available at the Gallery in limited editions, including the works awarded the cash prizes, are the property of their author. The author only assigns Lumicroma the exclusive commercialisation of the work(s) in question for a certain period of time (i.e. the aforementioned 24 months) from the time of insertion in the Gallery and the respective commissioning of the artworks.
 

9. WARNINGS AND FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

9.1. The Applicant must be aware of these Rules. The formalization of his/her application presupposes the reading and acceptance of these rules, as well as the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy of the website Lumicroma.
9.2. Failure by the Applicant to comply with the obligations and clauses set out in these Rules may result in their exclusion from the IN COLORS PROJECT or the Lumicroma platform. The Applicant may also incur civil liability if it violates points 3.6., 7.5., 7.7., 8.2. and 8.11. and in the case of breach of the exclusivity rights assumed, may have to compensate Lumicroma for damages and lost profits it may have caused.
9.3. In accordance with point 9.2, the Author may be stripped of any of the prizes received and the right to take part in the IN COLORS PROJECT exhibition if there is substantiated proof of violation and non-compliance with the rules of these Regulations.
9.4. Lumicroma may make changes to these Rules if they are absolutely essential and do not conflict with the legislation in force or with the ethical principles of transparency and integrity. If such a need arises, and if it occurs during the course of this Call, the candidates will be informed.
9.5. The Applicant may need to be contacted by Lumicroma for information about the work submitted. It is therefore important that in the Form he/she inserts correctly his/her personal and usual contacts (email and telephone number) and that, in case of changes of these, notifies the Lumicroma team to the address info@lumicroma.com.