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DER GREIF

Der Greif is an award-winning platform for contemporary photography that champions diverse voices and emerging talent. We use crowdsourcing to create accessible entry points for visual artists, photographers and image makers worldwide, breaking down barriers to participation in the art world.

Through our unique approach, Der Greif is the primary platform for our global community to create visibility, support with network and financial resources, at a career stage where other organizations can't provide our level of support.

DER GREIF

New Issue: Der Greif 17 — One Day Soon by Torbjørn Rødland

Our guest-editing artist Torbjørn Rødland wanted to see the medium of photography opened up and pushed forward through the rise of generative AI. Around 1.500 image makers from all over the world responded to the open call and Rødland selected and beautifully sequenced the ninety photographs in this issue.

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KJ Abudu

Guest Room

Der Greif invited curator, writer, and critic KJ Abudu to curate a Guest Room. Based between New York, London, and Lagos, his writings and exhibitions focus on critical art and discursive practices responding to the world-historical conditions produced by colonial capitalist modernity. For this edition of Guest Room, he has chosen the theme “Sounds of Resistance." "I’m interested in practices ...


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DER GREIF

Get your hands on our latest Poster Publication!

Based on our collaboration with Münchner Kammerspiele, 40 artists have been selected by Çagla Ilk. Since part of the collaboration was showing it in the public space, we are offering all 40 images as folded posters, to make them shine in your home.

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Marens van Leunen

Artist Feature

Marens van Leunen photographed the house she grew up in – a space her father still inhabits, surrounded by an eclectic array of belongings. Inside, you'll find eleven identical chairs, four similar sofas, at least seven tables, seven to eight computer screens, and six or more gas stoves – just to name a few. The interior is ever-changing, undergoing frequent rearrangements. Furniture comes and ...


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In Focus: Photobooks by Debmalya Ray Choudhuri, Sarah Mei Herman, Zoe Hamill and Emma O’Brien

Articles

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 Debmalya Ray Choudhuri, Sarah Mei Herman, Zoe ...


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Things Behaving Badly

Artist Blog by Marens van Leunen

Inspiration comes to me from many different places – some obvious, others more unexpected. Photography, film, performance, sculpture, theatre, and literature all play a role. But I’m equally drawn to second-hand advertising websites like Marktplaats.nl, reality TV shows like “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”, my observations on the street, in shops, and in other people’s homes. And then there’s the ...


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Reframing photography and the reality beyond the surface: a preview of EXPOSED

Articles

The second edition of EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival reflects a growing need for deeper engagement with and understanding of photoculture The notion of embedded, invisible forces within photographs is both visceral and conceptual – shaped by the social, political, and infrastructural histories that have informed the medium’s evolution. Photography, as a fundamentally relational form, hinges on ...


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How to Photograph a Set of Chairs

Artist Blog by Marens van Leunen

In 2023, my father had to empty his apartment for renovations. It wasn’t his choice, but it ended up being a much-needed push to part with a significant amount of (excess) furniture. He had lived in that apartment for over forty years – a space filled with objects and memories from different phases of our lives: squatting with friends, my mother moving in, my brother and I growing up there, and ...


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Welcome to My Bedroom: How to Make the Bed

Artist Blog by Marens van Leunen

Hello dear readers, Let me tell you a little about my work and where my interests lie. It won’t be an adventurous tale – I haven’t traveled the world with a camera in hand, nor have I photographed strangers in far-off places. In fact, I’ve done quite the opposite. Photography, for me, is a way to zoom in on the everyday – to explore familiar spaces and seemingly banal objects that often ...


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Der Greif X MPB: Behind the Image with Aldo Iram Juárez

Articles

Der Greif in partnership with MPB presents Aldo Iram Juárez, Guest Room Scholarship winner Der Greif and MPB introduce Aldo Iram Juárez, scholarship recipient from our Guest Room “WHERE is the photographic image?,” curated by Joanna Zylinska and Yanai Toister. Juárez is a photographer, artist and curator from Mexico City. His practice is rooted in an understanding of photography as a “mirage”: a ...


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Fotografia Calabria Festival 2025: On shared roots and places

Articles

Photography where history, heritage and community co-exist Fotografia Calabria Festival was founded in 2021 and is the first widespread photography festival based in Calabria, one of Italy’s southern regions. Organized and promoted by Associazione Pensiero Paesaggio, under the artistic direction of Anna Catalano, it is conceived not only as a physical space, but also as a platform for reflecting ...


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DER GREIF
Open Call:
Visions for Europe: A Special Project

Submit your photographic vision on democracy, innovation, and resilience in Europe’s future. Ten selected artists will receive a €100 license fee, have their work featured at an exclusive gathering of Europe’s top leaders at Das Tegernsee hotel, and gain international exposure through Der Greif’s digital platforms. Deadline: April 17 Learn More & Submit

Addictive Art: Hisae Imai

Artist Blog by Minami Ivory

I have many photographic artists that I admire but Hisae Imai still sits on top of the list. I purchased her photobook by chance in a bookshop in Japan in 2022, only because I saw a photo of eggs on the front cover. At the time, I was using a lot of eggs in my series “Counted, Graded, Numbered’. I know I should never judge a book by its cover, but it was more like a love at first sight and I have ...


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Behind the Curtain

Artist Blog by Minami Ivory

‘Purikura’ is a type of photobooth that emerged in Japanese arcades during the 1990s, distinct from the standard booths that had existed before. Designed to appeal to a young female audience, Purikura aimed to draw them back into arcade culture. These booths allowed users to take photographs and print them as small sticker-like images, which they could exchange with friends and collect in ...


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Language, Culture, Idioms and Metaphors

Artist Blog by Minami Ivory

Having lived in two different countries, I have developed a deeper appreciation for how language shapes culture. Both written and verbal language play a significant role in how one immerses oneself in a cultural context. Weapon of Choice was created not only as part of my personal journey but also as a means to address violence against women in Japanese society and to initiate conversations that ...


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Der Greif’s artist spotlight: FUTURES 2025 nominees

Articles

Introducing all Greif Alumni shaping this year’s FUTURES Network Each year, the FUTURES platform brings together a diverse cohort of emerging artists from around the world, offering them a long-term program designed to foster artistic growth and professional development. We are thrilled to announce the Greif Alumni selected for FUTURES 2025 Network – a dynamic group of nearly one hundred talents ...


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Practicing Photography

Artist Blog by Minami Ivory

I majored in Painting while attending art school in the 2000s. Photography wasn’t on my radar, but I enjoyed manipulating images in Photoshop. Back then, I used photographs taken with a point-and-shoot camera, layering and editing them in Photoshop before printing them out to collage, paint, and draw upon. At that time, photography and digital imagery served as the foundation for my ...


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Minami Ivory

Artist Feature

“Loneliness, roaming youths, violence and predators. We were wild nocturnals in the dark, warm nights. Summer left quickly and before my 15th birthday, I got my hair cut short. Strangely, that was something that hurt me the most. In one of my hot summer dreams, I was in a Fatboy Slim’s video clip. Christopher Walken and I danced along. All summer long I felt like I had no control of my ...


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Craigslist

Artist Blog by Paloma Dooley

I love browsing Craigslist apartment listings for cute Los Angeles apartments and Hudson Valley cottages – not because I’m looking to move (I’ve lived in the same house in Eagle Rock for over five years and love it), but as a way of window shopping for other lives. It’s a chance to imagine paths I won’t or can’t take. What fascinates me most is how non-photographers and non-realtors capture ...


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Rory Hamovit

Artist Blog by Paloma Dooley

I’ve been enjoying the work of photographers and friends who embrace color darkroom printing as part of their art practice, including Rory Hamovit is a Los Angeles-based photographer who shoots large format color film in his studio in east LA. We first met while attending Bard College together – I still remember how much I loved his thesis show in 2013. I have been lucky to get to visit Rory’s ...


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Adali Schell

Artist Blog by Paloma Dooley

Lately, I’ve been especially drawn to photographers who incorporate color darkroom printing as an integral part of their practice. One artist whose work stands out is Adali Schell, a Los Angeles-based photographer, shoots color film – primarily 35mm, with some medium format – at home in LA and with his extended family in rural Ohio. His recent series, “Car Pictures”, explores how he and his ...


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Photography, urbanity, and joy of living: Der Greif X Werksviertel Mitte Kunst in Munich

Articles

Photography meets urbanity in Munich’s Werskviertel Mitte with Ania Rolińska, Blandine Soulage, Greg C. Holland, Lola Flash, and Yuxi Wang Munich’s Werksviertel Mitte is a place where the past and future of urban space converge – a district shaped by industry, transformed into a vibrant cultural hub. In collaboration with Werksviertel Mitte Kunst and Werksviertel, Der Greif brings a new layer to ...


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On Hills

Artist Blog by Paloma Dooley

In 2023, I was an artist in residence at Quinn Emanuel Artists in Residence in downtown Los Angeles. I started a new body of work, “On Hills,” while based out of my studio at QE. This was my first new project since starting Borrowed Landscape during the COVID-19 pandemic. After a couple of years photographing so close to home – my garden, neighbors, and friends – starting this new project helped ...


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Paloma Dooley

Artist Feature

My project Borrowed Landscape (2021-2024) is an exploration of growth and stagnation, loss and gain, loneliness and community. I started this project as a way to work through the turmoil of the pandemic, and as a way to feel connected to my community and the wider world during a time of intense isolation. Inspired by the concept of “borrowed scenery,” a gardening philosophy that incorporates the ...


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Why a book?

Artist Blog by Jens Masmann

Why a book? Why pages? Why paper? A plea for publishing as artistic practice In most cases, using the medium photography to tell a story means producing several pictures on a topic and then putting them in relation to each other. In order to communicate this story to an audience the artist can use a large variety of vehicles. Today the way we consume images is obviously dominated by online ...


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Photography’s Vague Claim to Truth

Artist Blog by Jens Masmann

Discussing the concept of truth in photography „Every photograph is a fiction with pretensions to truth“ - Joan Fontcuberta Since its invention in the 19th century the photographic process and the medium photography have always been understood as a machinery depicting an excerpt of reality. From a more clarified point of view this connection between photography and reality has always been ...


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The Harvest

Artist Blog by Jens Masmann

The Harvest addresses the financial industry and its rather abstract methods to generate profit. Although action of the financial industry seems decoupled from a classic and simple view on economy - producing and selling something which satisfies a demand, the industry's conduct has a huge impact on society and the international economic fabric. I worked on The Harvest in 2018/19, but the very ...


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Local Voices: South Korean Imagescape(s)

Articles

Introducing contemporary South Korean 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 South Korean artists and the contemporary photographic scene. This article is an exercise in ...


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Romantic

Artist Blog by Jens Masmann

An emotional dialogue with A.I. The medium photography is broadly positioned, and many players out of a wide range of aspiration add content to a partly uniform mass of images. Now a new protagonist has entered the scene: Generative A.I., which is built around the interface between visuals and words. This is similar to a basic model for understanding we use when we look at a picture: trying to ...


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DER GREIF
Open Call:
Der Greif X Various Others: Bilder auf Reisen / Pictures on a Journey

Der Greif invites emerging artists and photographers worldwide to submit images for a unique interactive postcard project at Various Others (May 8–11) in Munich. Selected works will be transformed into limited-edition postcards, sent globally from the iconic Hotel Bayerischer Hof, reviving the spirit of Mail Art.

Why Submit?

  • International Exposure – Your work will be seen by festival-goers, art professionals, and hotel guests.
  • Scholarships – €4,000 total awarded to three artists.
  • Community & Networking – Connect with Der Greif’s global creative network.

Theme: “Strange Homeland” & “Encounters”

Extended Deadline: April 17

Learn more & submit