Slav Gaze is a photo series that reflects on Eastern European culture as it appears on social media, where posts often showcase a fascination with luxury and refinement. Across many post-Soviet countries, there’s a tendency for people to share photos of extravagant meals, stylish outfits, or their latest coveted possessions. These curated glimpses of life focus on a glamorous facade, generally ...

Der Greif in partnership with MPB presents Xiangqi Yin, Guest Room Scholarship winner Der Greif and MPB introduce Xiangqi Yin, who received our Guest Room scholarship from Ruben Lundgren & Yining He, curators of our “Domestic Miracle” Guest Room. Her selected image from the series “Power of Mobility” gives room to wonder about time and memory and their impact on the everyday. “Time is like ...

On October 24, we proudly unveiled Der Greif Circle, our new sponsorship program designed to foster a dynamic community of supporters for contemporary photography. The event brought together an eclectic mix of Munich-based friends, cultural enthusiasts, and representatives from various institutions, including our recent collaborators Daniel Veldhoen (Münchner Kammerspiele) and Various Others ...

I’ve always liked to jokingly share with anyone that my works are my “babies” and “children” because I’d like to think our projects represent the manifestation and culmination of all our passion, our experiences, and perhaps even the graces of our inner child. In a way, we birthed an entity after spending years or perhaps decades of working on them, and they represent to our audiences via all ...

I’ve recently begun taking the first steps in a new project titled Taixu, a term meaning “Great Emptiness” or “Cosmos,” referring to a state of void in both space and things. Taixu explores the profound interconnectedness of existence, inspired by the Heart Sutra’s teaching that dissolves the boundary between self and universe. This project examines how our bodies and beings are composed of the ...

Samsara is a visual reflection of my relationship with the balance of the world and its natural elements. First started in 2018 on a trip to the pyres of Varanasi, the work began in earnest in Singapore in 2020 at the time of the pandemic, where the world we once knew changed forever, casting us into the dark ocean of uncertainty and loss. Overwhelmed by the chaos of the world and the endings of ...

How can contemporary Italian identity be defined? Davide Degano “Romanzo meticcio” We periodically invite our alumni, artists we have featured in the past, to share their new work and projects with us. Davide Degano was part of Richmond Orlando Mensah & Daniel Kons’ Guest Room in 2021. “Romanzo meticcio” (Italian for “Mixed Race Novel”) examines Italy’s difficulties in accepting, embracing and ...

Sometime in the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, I was part of a wonderful group of international artists in the PhMuseum Folio Masterclass 23/24. Over the following months, our discussions, deliberations, introspections, laughter, and thoughtful exchanges led to the birth of my first official dummy book. Using natural leaves infused into kozo paper to evoke a sense of earth, I ...

Celestial lore and mythical tales converge in the project Ovid's Fasti, an ethereal journey where the beauty of the present merges with the otherworldly realm of ancient Rome. Inspired by Ovid's enigmatic poems in his book titled “Fasti”, penned in the ancient Black Sea city of Tomis upon his exile by Emperor Augustus, this visual odyssey transcends time, beckoning us to embark on a ...

Charting contemporary local voices of Nigeria in photography "Local Voices" is the digital media platform that narrates the creative horizon of image culture, country by country: showcasing the photographers, institutions, and independent players shaping the contemporary imagescape(s). Today, we will introduce Nigeria and its contemporary photographic scene. This article is an exercise in ...

Non technological devices are composite tools made from gleaned natural elements, assembled to mimic the technological devices that populate our daily lives. Between rudimentary productions and science-fiction creations, these objects are as much prolongations of bodies as they are hindrances. Associated with invented artefacts whose use remains to be discovered, they create a fictional universe ...

About a year and a half ago, I embarked on a new collaborative practice with artist Janne Punkari, rooted in shared authorship. While I have worked with my daughters and niece for over a decade - and occasionally with other artists, of course - this is the first time I’ve engaged in a process where creative ownership is fully shared from start to finish. Together, we developed a method for ...

VERY CORE was an art installation at the Hippolyte Gallery in Helsinki, where a large photographic portrait framed in sky-blue, a 1970 Californian psychedelic poster and chair-like beings greeted visitors. VERY CORE draws inspiration from “The Ambassadors” (1533) by Hans Holbein the Younger, a painting that has long captivated me for its meditation on knowledge, mortality, and the elusive nature ...

More-than-human beings have been a central focus in my practice for several years. My previous works have explored various animal species - dogs, pigs, fish, insects, and birds - through installations that combine photography, video, performance, and sound. While it’s true that animals may never see my work, the goal has always been to shift human perspectives. I’m not here to preach or ...

A worldwide celebration of Der Greif Issue 17 “One Day Soon” guest edited by Torbjørn Rødland Two weeks, four magazine launches, a symposium, a lecture, a pop-up exhibition, a party, and so many great meetings, conversations, and good times with our community - thanks to everyone who participated! These events celebrated the release of Der Greif Issue 17, guest edited by Torbjørn Rødland, an ...

With my newest photobook Otherworld, I invite you into a realm where the fragile boundaries between the known and the unknown, the real and the imagined, dissolve. Otherworld is an exploration into a precarious state between daydream and unrest. It intertwines the imaginary with the every day through its selection of photographs ranging from analog snapshots to staged and digitally altered ...

Plasticenta envisions an alternative future where all life forms on Earth coexist, reimagining playful alliances across species and dissolving existing hierarchies. It portrays a surreal world where organisms blend seamlessly, fostering new kinships between human and non-human, organic and inorganic, animate and inanimate - a vision of interconnected existence beyond current divides. The title, ...

I had a small crisis after finishing university. Even tho I had jobs and all, it was still like half of my life was empty again and I didn’t know how to fill the gap. I also moved to Berlin and struggled with trying to build up another life in a different city because Berlin is not so easy to get in. So I gave myself a task. I wanted to shoot every day of 2024 one picture. Even on the lamest days ...

I adore spending time at the studio, with each person you shoot it’s a different vibe and if you like the people you’re shooting it seems like hanging out but it’s also work, I find that thought very appealing. I have my own studio, which I am keeping even tho I don’t constantly spend time in Vienna, I just want to have the feeling that my photography has a home.  The aspect of studio ...

The latest finds from our community artists’ photobooks “In Focus” is a quarterly series of reviews in which we hunt down and peruse the worthy publications off the shelves of our community artists. Each month, Der Greif is selecting a set of photobooks from our talents’ pool. Compiled here are the most recent releases from our community artists Luca Iovino, Melanie Schoeniger, Kincső Bede and ...

This series (for which I don’t have a name yet) tells the story of a Roma community in the heart of my hometown Belgrade, where people live in makeshift homes under tough conditions. Unfortunately, illegal dumping from the city adds to their struggles, making lives for them and their children very unhealthy. I met my friend Demuš a few years ago, and he introduced me to his community. Through my ...

In the course of RAY Triennial of Photography in Frankfurt (2024) I presented my exhibition, I want to scream so much but my vocal cords are chronically inflamed on the main theme of ECHOES. My interpretation of an echo was mainly communication and my series looks at the different "echoes" we experience in society and relationships. Through my images, I explore e.g. the urgent message of ...

The term 'sympathetic magic' was first used by James Frazer in the field of cultural anthropology. He defined it as a basic type of magic based on the idea that an analogous action should produce an analogous effect. Jan Lutyski says that translating this term was really tricky for the translators. They decided to use it anyway because it was already accepted in Polish and other languages at the ...