Theme for Guest Room

Guest Room aims to spark collaboration. Daniel Boetker-Smith, Director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Photography, has decided to collaborate with photo editor, curator, and writer Tanvi Mishra, who has recently curated the Louis Roederer Discovery Award for the 2023 edition of Rencontres d'Arles. Together, they have developed the following framework for your submissions: "(make) belief".

"We would like to look at submissions that explore the gap in meaning-making within the image(s) – when we make photographs, what constructions do we deploy? When we piece stories together, what are the slippages?

Despite photography’s historically contentious relationship with evidence, we find the medium continuing to be used to foreground various ‘truths’. Images can justify narratives or be used to take a position. Some use it to highlight social justice issues, others use it for propaganda.

Do the resulting outcomes have as much fictive power as that of truth-telling? Is seeing truly believing, or do photographs in their ambiguity offer us possibilities to think otherwise?"

Why submit to Guest Room?

Get the chance to be awarded a 1.000 € Guest Room Scholarship
Be discovered by two experts in contemporary art and photography
Get published in an online showcase on Der Greif alongside emerging artists from all over the world
Submit for free or pay a voluntary donation of 8€
Please note: Images which have been selected for a previous Der Greif opportunity are not eligible for re-submission. We want to support the broadest range of photographers possible and therefore encourage you to submit work that has not yet been selected by our past Guest Curators. Any images which do not comply with these terms will be removed from the selection process.

Voluntary donation

After over a decade of serving the international photography community Der Greif is now finally a registered non-profit. We believe this organizational structure best reflects our artistic and cultural mission. As always, your artistic contribution makes our work on Der Greif possible.

Since starting Guest Room in January 2015, we’ve been working hard to invite a broad range of practitioners, from gallerists to editors and curators. We are convinced that this format is an interesting and low-barrier approach to help artists get their work in front of people who might be interested in working with them. For this reason, we are asking you to consider making a financial contribution as well. That’s why we’re suggesting a voluntary donation of 8€ as a submission fee. 100% of the funds we collect from your donations will go towards helping us continue providing interesting opportunities for the photography community through Guest Room, and thus expand Der Greif.

We believe in inclusivity. We don’t want this suggested donation to stand in the way of your submission. If you are unable to contribute financially, please send an email to voucher@dergreif.org to receive a voucher code which will allow you to enter for free.

About Daniel Boetker-Smith

Daniel Boetker-Smith is the Director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Photography, based in Melbourne.

Daniel was an academic for nearly 20 years, before moving into curatorial and directorial roles. He has written for a variety of print and online art/photography publications - Foam (Netherlands), British Journal of Photography (UK), Vault (Australia), Voices of Photography (Taiwan), Photoeye (USA), LensCulture (USA), 1000 Words (UK), GUP Magazine (NL), and others. His published writing and research usually focus on photobooks and photobook publishing in the Asia-Pacific region.

About Tanvi Mishra

Tanvi Mishra works with images as a photo editor, curator, and writer. Her interests are rights and representation in image-making and research strategies in visual culture. She has served as the Creative Director of The Caravan, a journal of politics and culture. She is part of the photo-editorial team of PIX, a South Asian publication and display practice. Tanvi works as an independent curator and has recently curated the Louis Roederer Discovery Award for the 2023 edition of Recontres d'Arles. She is currently part of the first international advisory committee of World Press Photo.

About Der Greif Guest Room

Guest Room is a monthly online exhibition with open submissions curated in real-time by personalities from the international photography scene. Der Greif is an award-winning organization for contemporary photography. It is print-publication, online-publication, curatorial team and joint project all at once. Der Greif connects the digital and the analogue, exploring and expanding the borders and limits of image-distribution and -reception in the digital era.