The ENAIRE Foundation takes the Photography Awards to Santander for the first time as part of PHotoESPAÑA

The ENAIRE Foundation's Photography Awards and Lifetime Achievement Award exhibitions will be inaugurated on 26 June as part of the PHotoESPAÑA Festival in Santander.  This was officially announced by the directors of the ENAIRE Foundation and PHotoEspaña at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid during the presentation of Spain's most important international photography festival. With this decision, the ENAIRE Foundation and PHotoEspaña strengthen their strategy of mutual collaboration and their commitment to expanding access to culture.

The ENAIRE Foundation and PHotoESPAÑA consolidate their collaboration and commitment to photography 

The Naves de Gamazo Art Centre in Santander will host a major exhibition by Joan Fontcuberta, the 2025 Photography Lifetime Achievement Award winner, as well as a large collective display of the winning works and 15 finalists of the ENAIRE Foundation Photography Awards as part of PHotoEspaña 2025 celebrations.

This is the first time the ENAIRE Foundation will hold the collective exhibition of the Photography Awards outside Madrid. It is also the first time that the ENAIRE Foundation will initially bring the Lifetime Achievement Award exhibition to Naves de Gamazo, which traditionally began in Madrid.

The Managing Director of the ENAIRE Foundation, Margarita Asuar, explained that the decision to bring the Photography Awards to Santander for the first time is part of "our commitment to promote the Naves de Gamazo Art Centre" within the broader national museum and artistic landscape. "This year, we are also celebrating the 30th anniversary of the ENAIRE Foundation in Santander, bringing the exclusive exhibitions of the Photography and Lifetime Achievement Awards, with the aim of decentralising culture and supporting regional areas and their development through art", she added.

María Santoyo, director of PHotoEspaña, noted the strength of the collaboration with ENAIRE Foundation and its commitment to photography, “the most democratic art form today”, in the words of Margarita Asuar, Managing Director of the ENAIRE Foundation.

[ENAIRE Foundation and PhotoESPAÑA strengthen their collaboration and commitment to photograpy]. 

The Photography Awards

The ENAIRE Foundation has been organising the Photography Award since 2005. Since then, it has cemented itself in the Spanish artistic scene as a platform for advancing the careers of photography professionals. 

The 2025 edition, the 18th, was open from 25 February to 7 April, and offers prizes of €12,000, €8,000 and €5,000 for the top three winners. The results will be announced at the end of May. 

Joan Fontcuberta, 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award

The exhibition project that Joan Fontcuberta (Barcelona, 1955) will present at Naves de Gamazo, curated by Sema D'Acosta, will feature a selection of his recent works, several of which are unpublished.  These include DeRerumNatura (2023-24), Orquídeas y Macarras (2024), Génesis-IA(2025), Viajes extraordinarios(2025) and Dinosauriosen Palacio(2025).      

 The proposal focuses on his work with Artificial Intelligence over the last two years, visual narratives in which the representation of nature serves as a central theme. This territory brings together poetic experience and conceptual reflection, spiced with constant allusions to fiction.             

‘Retrátate’, by Estela de Castro

Meanwhile, Estela de Castro, second-place winner of the ENAIRE Foundation Photography Award in 2021, will host the participatory activity ‘Retrátate’ at Naves de Gamazo.  This activity is sure to attract public interest, offering the chance to be photographed by the photographer who, in 2019, was commissioned to renew the official portraits of the Spanish Royal Family. Estela de Castro is a photographer and educator specialising in portraiture. She is also an activist advocating for the human rights of the most vulnerable and migrants, as well as a strong defender of animal rights.

[Alberto Fesser, co-founder of PHotoESPAÑA with Margarita Asuar (ENAIRE Foundation)]

About ENAIRE Foundation

Is a cultural institution of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility that, in addition to managing, preserving and exhibiting the ENAIRE Collection of Contemporary Art, engages in a comprehensive annual programme of activities that focus on aeronautical art and culture. Notably, it is one of the institutions that currently provides the most support to photography through its annual prizes - which have become a benchmark for professional photographers - and by hosting exhibits.

It is the only foundation in Spain that combines the two seemingly disparate themes of art and aeronautical culture, bringing them together by undertaking a programme of activities that promote the study, research, knowledge and dissemination of aeronautical culture, integrating history and modernity to raise awareness of the world of aviation in our country.

The Naves de Gamazo are the first permanent home of the ENAIRE Collection of Contemporary Art, an example of collaboration between government agencies that was made possible thanks to the partnership and joint efforts of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, the Government of Cantabria, through the Office for Culture, Tourism and Sport, and the Port Authority of Santander, which share the operating expenses of the centre in order to ensure the present and future viability of this cultural project.

ENAIRE Foundation is implementing digital museum resources to boost the democratisation of art and make it accessible from anywhere in the world. These new museum resources are now available on the Foundation's website.

Acerca de ENAIRE

ENAIRE es el gestor nacional de la navegación aérea en España.

Como empresa del Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible, presta servicios de control de tránsito aéreo en las fases de Ruta y Aproximación de todos los vuelos con origen/destino nacional y sobrevuelos. Además, gestiona los servicios de comunicaciones, navegación y vigilancia de ENAIRE en el conjunto del espacio aéreo y en toda la red de aeropuertos de Aena en España y proporciona los servicios de control de tráfico aéreo de aeródromo en 21 aeropuertos, entre ellos los de mayor tráfico.

ENAIRE es el cuarto gestor europeo de tráfico aéreo y es miembro de las alianzas internacionales Alianza A6, SESAR Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, iTEC, CANSO y tiene una intensa colaboración con OACI.

ENAIRE ha obtenido la mayor calificación en el indicador clave de rendimiento en seguridad aérea a escala europea por cuatro anualidades consecutivas. Además, cuenta con el Sello EFQM 600 por su gestión segura, eficiente, innovadora y sostenible de los servicios de navegación aérea.