Munich/Leipzig. The new BMW Photo Award Leipzig will assist artists each two years who both have a biographical connection to Leipzig and the area or who consciously interact with town and its environment of their creative work. The prerequisite is figure within the medium of pictures or associated visible media. The three winners are chosen by a altering, worldwide jury consisting of artists, curators, artwork academy professors and different consultants. Each jury member proposes three positions. The prize is endowed with €5,000 per artist and is linked to a joint exhibition together with a list on the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig (MdbK). The BMW Niederlassung Leipzig and the BMW Group have recurrently supported the MdbK with purchases and exhibitions since 2005.
BMW and the MdbK pursue a number of goals with the awarding of the prize. Firstly, it’s a few basic strengthening of Leipzig as a centre for pictures and the photographers working there. Particularly younger positions and people which, within the jury’s view, haven’t but been adequately recognised in public, ought to be highlighted. In addition, the award is an expression of the excessive worth positioned on pictures on the MdbK and the museum’s collaboration with BMW on this subject, which has been ongoing for over 20 years. Finally, the exhibition of the prize-winning works is meant to make a creative contribution to social self-assurance concerning the historical past and current of town and potential views for its future.
The award ceremony will happen on 6 June 2024 as a part of the opening of the exhibition (7. June – 15. September 2024).
The jury
The jury for the primary BMW Photo Award Leipzig met on the MdbK in early December. Its members consisted of Ines Schaber (Professor of Photography and Media, Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig), Inka Schube (Curator of Photography, Sprengel Museum Hannover), Andrzej Steinbach (artist, Berlin), Christoph Wiesner (Director of Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles) and Philipp Freytag (Curator of Photography and Media Art on the MdbK). The three prize winners have been chosen by the jury with a unanimous vote.
Award winner 2024
Margit Emmrich: Born in Chemnitz in 1949, grew up in Leipzig | 1969-1974 studied pictures on the HGB underneath Heinz Föppel and Joachim Jansong | 1976-1978 trainee on the HGB | 1974-1979 labored as a freelancer in Leipzig and Berlin | 1979-1980 political imprisonment | 1981-1987 employed in Freiburg/Breisgau | 1987-1994 household work in Erlangen | 1994 returned to Leipzig and has labored there as a freelancer ever since.
“Margit Emmrich’s work has a considerable significance for the visual memory of the city of Leipzig as well as East Germany and united Germany as a whole. This applies to the social conditions and developmental psychological circumstances she has documented as well as to her photographic approach. Her humanistic social documentary photography combines high artistic standards with concrete sociological questions. This makes her exemplary for the tradition of Leipzig photography in the last third of the 20th century.” (Philipp Freytag, curator for pictures and media artwork on the MdbK)
Susanne Keichel: Born 1981 in Dresden | 2000-2003 coaching as a photographer with Stefan Thurmann in Hamburg | 2003-2005 freelance picture assistant in Hamburg | 2006/2007 visitor scholar in Jitka Hanzlová’s seminar on the HFBK Hamburg | 2013 diploma in pictures on the HGB | 2016 grasp scholar graduate with Tina Bara. Susanne Keichel lives and works in Dresden.
“In her work, Susanne Keichel deals with questions of racism, classism and social justice. In doing so, she creates pictorial spaces that question stereotypes and test visualisation.” (Ines Schaber, Professor of Photography and Media, Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig)
Stephan Takkides: Born 1981 in Canterbury | 1999-2000 Foundation Studies, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London | 2002 Universität der Künste Berlin | 2000-2003 BA, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts, London | 2010-2012 MFA, Transart Institute, University of Plymouth, USA/UK | 2018-2021 Master scholar on the HGB with Joachim Brohm. Stephan Takkides lives and works in Leipzig.
“Stephan Takkides is a British-Cypriot photographer and artist who has been naturalised in Germany. In his multi-channel video work ‘Naturalization’, he explores the relationship between nature and national identity, interweaving different perspectives and narrative strands.” (Ines Schaber, Professor of Photography and Media, Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig)
The BMW Group and the MdbK
The BMW Group and the MdbK have been linked by a profitable partnership for 18 years. The basis was laid in 2005 with the donation of the great picture assortment ‘AutoWerke: European and American Photography’ with over 70 works – together with works by Thomas Demand, Thomas Struth, Rineke Dijkstra and Candida Höfer – on the event of the opening of the brand new museum constructing and the commissioning of the BMW plant in Leipzig. Since then, the BMW Niederlassung Leipzig and the BMW Group have recurrently supported the museum with acquisitions and exhibitions. In 2023, the 2 companions have agreed on a long-term collaboration with the purpose of BMW supporting the MdbK’s initiatives for modern pictures. In addition to the award, this consists of the assist of exhibitions – similar to the present Evelyn Richter. A Photographer’s Life – and purchases.
The BMW Group’s Cultural Engagement, with unique updates and deeper insights into its world initiatives may be adopted on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.