Artists on Photography

 A project-based fellowship offered by the Münchner Stadtmuseum photography collection 

Open call for a collaboration between art and science 

Münchner Stadtmuseum – Awarding Institution

Founded in 1888, Münchner Stadtmuseum is Germany’s largest municipal museum. The Photography Museum (today the Photography Collection) was established in 1963 as an independent specialist museum and Germany’s first museum dedicated solely to photography. Today, it is one of the leading institutions for photography in Europe, with holdings of over three million items including almost one million photographs. Its collection ranges from the dawn of photography in the 1840s to the present digital era, with a focus on the nineteenth century as well as the period up to and including the 1980s. A robust acquisitions program for contemporary works means that the collection holdings are steadily being expanded. Beyond photographic images, the collection also comprises roughly forty archives, gifts and bequests, and special collections and an exceptional range of technical photography equipment. The collection’s unique specialized library is a trailblazer in Germany, with 25,000 volumes including books, rare volumes, and periodicals supplementing the aforementioned holdings. 

From January 2024 until approximately June 2031, Münchner Stadtmuseum will undergo a €270 million comprehensive renovation in order to address urgent architectural, user, and museum needs and to become fit for the future. 

A New Project Led by the Photography Collection

Artists on Photography is a new initiative by the Photography Collection which seeks to enhance its historical holdings by introducing current perspectives from artists and academics in the fields of gender theory and postcolonialism. This fellowship will be awarded annually over a period of five years commencing in 2025 to one artist and one academic, judged by an expert jury. There is no age limit. 

Each year, one artist from anywhere in the world with an existing archival practice drawing on found footage and collections will receive a grant to carry out a commission. In tandem, a researcher will be invited to consider the same topic from an academic standpoint. Both will complete a research stay in Munich. The outcome will be a new work of art,a publication sharing the work created by the artist and the researcher, and an exhibition once the museum has reopened.

Topic

The cleft between the photographic objects which dominated the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and computer-generated images which have become prominent over the past three decades has been widening in a new era defined by artificial intelligence. Yet again, photography finds itself confronted with a fresh challenge. How did earlier generations view photography? How has our understanding of the medium changed with the shift from analogue to digital photography, and now with the advent of computer-generated images? Which social practices have been introduced in an era of smartphone photography, virtual reality, and AI? Which photographic objects have drifted out of focus, disappearing into depositories? What light can those objects shed on the present day and how might we rediscover them? 

2025 Focus: Travel and Souvenir Albums

The Photography Collection includes more than 250 albums from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries including travel and souvenir albums from Germany, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. These holdings offer a broad overview of different photographic objects created during this period of time. These range from albums made by individuals to commercial albums where images that were taken by prominent professional photographers (e.g. Kusakabe Kimbei, Samuel Bourne, Samuel Boote), unnamed photographers, and amateurs alike could be stored. These photographs and albums reflect image practices of the past. Who in the nineteenth century was traveling to the Global South in order to take pictures? Who were their subjects, and who was purchasing these photographs and albums? How were different countries and their peoples represented? Which industrial structures underpinned photography in these different countries, or subsequently became established? What function did photography as a souvenir acquire over the nineteenth century and how did this change through more recent photographic practices and the fundamental shift to global networks? What afterlife do such images and their sometimes-brutal structures have in an era of artificial intelligence, where digital fragments of images are collaged to make new pictures? These and other questions will be addressed drawing on the holdings of the Münchner Stadtmuseum Photography Collection. 

More details on these holdings can be found on the Münchner Stadtmuseum website

Artists

This project allows artists to work in dialogue with a researcher on the collection’s historical holdings, using them as a starting point and source of information for a new, independent artistic project. Working with the support of a curator, they will create a new project and develop a means of presenting it in an accompanying publication. Once the museum has been reopened, their work will be exhibited alongside the historic holdings. 

The selected artist will receive: 

• a project duration of one year beginning in March 2025
• a grant totaling €12,000 
• a production budget of up to €10,000 for their new work
• cost of travel to Munich
• a publication which will showcase their new artwork, the researcher’s scholarly findings, and the historic holdings themselves 
• an exhibition following the reopening of the museum in 2031
• the opportunity to exhibit their work in an external venue (tbc) shortly after its completion
• access to one of Europe’s largest and broadest photography collections
• collaboration on the topic with a research specialist 
• curatorial support for the resulting work
• public exposure in the form of the book launch following the project completion and participation in future events and talks
• networking

To apply, the following documents are required: an existing archive-based project as a reference; a proposal for a new work based on the Photography Collection holdings; and a CV including a list of exhibitions and publications. By submitting their work for consideration, applicants consent to the work they create being used to advertise the fellowship. Copyright attribution will be included whenever images are used. The work produced becomes part of the Münchner Stadtmuseum Photography Collection. 

Researchers

This project allows researchers to work with a contemporary artist to conduct research into historical holdings from the Photography Collection and consider its relevance to the present day. These findings will be presented in an academic essay published in a book. 

The selected researcher will receive: 

• a project duration of one year beginning in March 2025
• a writing fee totaling €4,000
• cost of travel to Munich
• a publication which will showcase their research findings as well as the artist’s new work and the historic holdings
• access to one of Europe’s largest and broadest photography collections
• collaboration on the topic with an artist
• photohistorical support with their research
  
• public exposure in the form of the book launch following the project completion and participation in future events and talks
• networking

To apply, the following documents are required: a published sample text of a maximum of ten pages in English or German; a CV including a list of publications; and a statement describing their interest in this year’s focus on travel and souvenir albums. By submitting their work for consideration, applicants consent to the work they create being published in the accompanying volume. 

Requirements

This open call is open to professional artists and researchers who have previously exhibited work and taken part in projects. There is no age limit, nor is a specific academic background required, although most candidates will have studied at an art school or a university. 

Applications are open until February 10, 2025 and can be submitted via Picter

Artists on Photography is an initiative offered by the Münchner Stadtmuseum. The 2025 project is made possible by the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung. 

Münchner Stadtmuseum Photography Collection

Head: Dr. Kathrin Schönegg
Team: Marion Glaser, Rudolf Scheutle, Christian Schmieder, and Theres Schmölz
Email: fotografie.stadtmuseum@muenchen.de

*Caption: Kusakabe Kimbei, untitled (young women in an interior having tea, two of them holding a photo album), 1880/1890, hand colored albumen paper mounted on carton, Münchner Stadtmuseum, photography collection