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We are thrilled to announce that Der Greif is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2023. We invite you to submit work reflecting on the “Past & Present” of photography and to consider how image-making has evolved over the past 15 years.

As a way to commemorate what we have accomplished together with our community, images from this open call will be chosen and displayed alongside selected imagery from Der Greif’s extensive archive. Many photographers and visual artists featured in the organization’s past have gone on to successful careers. This open call places their accomplished work in conversation with emerging image makers of today.

Submissions should explore the theme of “Past & Present” and correspond with your perception of how photography has changed since Der Greif’s founding. We look forward to seeing how you interpret this theme in your artistic practice.

Why submit to our 15th anniversary?

• Join us in celebrating our anniversary and be selected to have your work shown at one of the special events we have planned throughout the year. Selected submissions will be displayed alongside imagery from Der Greif's archive at events in Munich (June 16-18) in collaboration with Pinakothek der Moderne and ZIRKA. These displays commemorate what we have accomplished with our community over the past 15 years.
  Der Greif's team is also organizing additional events during Photo London, at Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles, during Unseen in Amsterdam, and Paris Photo.

  To showcase the selected work from this open call, we have developed three display formats. During the open call, we will provide more details about the planned events:

  • Juxtapose: a curated display that features photography from our archive of past submissions, placed alongside your work from the new open call
  • Slides & Sounds: image pairings shown in a slideshow, accompanied by live music
  • Contextualize: an image installation that invites visitors to use an interactive curation tool to create new image combinations

• Don't miss the opportunity to benefit from our upcoming collaborations with other art and photography magazines. Loads of possibilities for you are in the making, to have your work seen, and for you to be in dialogue with other great works of photography's "Past & Present".

• Get the chance to publish an Artist Feature on dergreif.org, a highly-frequented international source of photographic art.

• Have your work published in any print, online, and social media materials we release related to our anniversary.

Voluntary donation

Der Greif is a nonprofit organization dedicated to art and culture. As a registered nonprofit, we are committed to our artistic mission. Your contributions make our work possible.

We ask you to consider a financial donation of 12 € to support the anniversary events of Der Greif. All funds collected will directly support producing the displays of selected work from the open call.

We believe in inclusivity. If you are unable to contribute financially, please email extravoucher@dergreif.org to receive a free voucher code for submission.

About Der Greif

Der Greif is an award-winning contemporary photography organization. Through crowdsourcing, Der Greif brings together diverse voices and provides a platform and visibility for a range of practitioners and their works. Since 2008, Der Greif has engaged with topics like changing authorship perceptions, image de- and re-contextualization, appropriation, and artistic approaches to photographic archives and remix culture.

Der Greif's publications demonstrate how pairings of images by different authors can generate new meanings. Der Greif explores the creation, distribution, and reception of images - in print, on screens, and in exhibitions. The organization reflects on and questions the role of images: how we construct and perceive our environment and our respective responsibilities within it.

Since issue #11, Der Greif has been guest-edited by artists Jason Fulford, Broomberg & Chanarin, Penelope Umbrico and Sylvie Fleury, among others.

Der Greif has worked with institutions such as FOAM, Aperture Foundation, C/O Berlin, Fotomuseum Winterthur and published works from about 3.000 photographers, artists and authors in printed publications as well as online.