Fotobookfestival Kassel returns, with the Dummy Award and much more
Established back in 2008, the Fotobookfestival Kassel was the first festival devoted to the photobook and, over the last 10 years, has made a name as one of the most interesting on the calendar. Its 10th anniversary edition looks set to bear out this reputation from 31 May-03 June, with talks by celebrated photographers and photobook-makers such as Anders Petersen, Susan Meiselas, Carlos Spottorno, Mathieu Asselin, Gerhard Steidl, JH Engström, and many more, and exhibitions by Dana Lixenberg, Daniel Gustav Cramer, and the designer Sybren Kuiper (SYB).
The exhibitions programme also includes two shows devoted to Kassel’s well-regarded prizes – the Dummy Award and the Photobook Award. In total 30 books have been selected for the Photobook Award by a prestigious panel including, Laia Abril On Abortion; Mathieu Asselin Monsanto – A Photographic Investigation; Ludovic Balland American Readers at Home; Tim Carpenter Local Objects; Sanne de Wilde The Island of the Colorblind; Carolyn Drake Internat; Li Feng White Night; Stephen Gill Night Procession; Anne Golaz Corbeau; David Goldblatt Structures of Dominion and Democracy; Daniela Keiser Kairo; Stephan Keppel Flat Finish; Paul Kranzler and Andrew Phelps The Drake Equation; Sandrine Lopez Moshé; Alix Marie Bleu; Raymond Meeks, Adrianna Ault and Tim Carpenter dumbsaint 01: township & bremen grain; Susan Meiselas Mediations; Luis Molina-Pantin Testimonies of Corruption: A Visual Contribution to Venezuela’s Fraudulent Banking History; Nine Photographers Witness, Kashmir 1986-2016; Max Pinckers Margins of Excess; Roman Pyatkovka You wait; Laurence Rasti There Are No Homosexuals in Iran; Joachim Schmid Paris, November 2015; Titus Simoens For Brigitte; Andrea Stultiens Ebifananyi; Henk Wildschut Ville de Calais; Carmen Winant My Birth; and Christopher Wool Westtexaspsychosculpture.
Some 53 book prototypes have been selected for the Dummy Award, from which three winners will be selected for first, second and third place prizes (all are shown in the images accompanying this article). The first-prize winner will see their book produced and published by Kettler, Germany, the company behind Mathieu Asselin’s hit book Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation. The festival also includes a photobook workshop run by Akina Press’ Valentina Abenavoli, and a reconstruction of the Café Lehmitz shot by Anders Petersen by the PhotoBoookMuseum.
The Fotobookfestival Kassel runs from 31 May-03 June in Kassel, Germany. A one-day pass costs €10 and a three-day pass €18, the evening events are free 2018.fotobookfestival.org
Apples for Sale by Rebecca Sampson (DE), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardWATER TANKS IN MATHARE SLUM by Filippo Romano (IT), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardWARAGI by Florian Genz (DE), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardWalter by Daniel Vogl (D), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardWays of Understanding, Voodoo/Vodun (2018) by Muriel Schouten (NL), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardTobacco by Rocco Rorandelli (IT), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardTime and Again by Bianca Salvo (IT), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardTe Ahi Kā – The Fires of Occupation by Martin Toft (DK), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardSubterraneos by Enrique Escandell (ES), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardSmoke by Theo Elias (SE), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardSimplex by Ksenia Sidorova (RUS), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy Awardsensor by Holger Krischke, Thomas Haubner and students of University of Fine Arts Münster (DE), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardSCVM by Agata Kalinowska (PL), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardRuota by Alessandra Carosi (IT), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardHiroshima Graph – Rabbits abandon their children by Yoshikatsu Fujii (JP), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardPüppi arrived by Monika Hanfland (DE), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardNothing Happened by Celine Croze (FR), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardNight People by Johann Süßebecker & Fabian Melchers (DE), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardMy Friends Got Famous by Martin Lamberty (D), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardModern Photography by Taufiqur Rahman Anik (BD), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardM.M. by Julia Mejnertsen, one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardMis 15 by Paula de Abrantes (ARG), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardMansilla by Verónica Losantos (SP), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardLETTER BOX by Kevin Kunstadt (USA), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardKumkuat by Özgür Atlagan & Zeynep Kayan (TR), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardINDEX G by Piergiorgio Casotti, Emanuele Brutti (IT), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardHornless Heritage by Nikita Teryoshin (RU), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardHigh Culture by Marta Wódz (PL), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardHelp Desk – Random Acts of Administration by Ole Witt (DE), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardHello by Koji Kitagawa (JP), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardHayati by Karim El Maktafi (IT/MA), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardForain, Kaffers en Boerin by Siska Vandecasteele (BE), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardFirst Seen by Nicolas Delaroche (FR/CH), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardFederal Triangle by Mike Osborne (US), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardFerox the Forgotten Archives 1976 -2010 by Nicolas Polli (CH), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardFamilie werden by Rie Yamada (JP), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardElephant and Castle by Jiye Kim (KR), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy Award(EST/USA) E.S.E. by Terttu Uibopuu, one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardDust & Scratches by Youval Hai (ISR), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardDOM (Document Object Model) by Julia Borissova (RU), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardDISAPPEARANCE by Tomasz Laczny (PL), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardDelta by Oguz Karakütük (TR), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardDaffodil by Bahadir Aksan (TR), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardCzarna Madonna by Jagoda Wisniewska (PL), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardThe Eye of the Cyclops by Ann Massal (FR), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardCornutopia by Jan Richard Heinicke (DE), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardHereafter by Federico Clavarino (IT), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardChiméra by Vladimíra Kotra (CZ), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardBorn of the Purest Parents by Tamsin Green (UK), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardArchiv Alto Adige by Lucie Marsmann (DE), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardAporia by Andrew Waits (USA), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy AwardA Landslide by Yulia Tikhomirova (RU-IT), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy Award26 ft 8 inches by TJ Proechel (US), one of the shortlisted titles in the Fotobookfestival Kassel Dummy Award
Diane Smyth is the editor of BJP, returning for a second stint on staff in 2023, after 15 years on the team until 2019. She also edits the Photoworks Annual, and has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Aperture, FOAM, and Apollo, plus catalogues and monographs. Diane lectures in photography history and theory at the London College of Communications, and has curated exhibitions for The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. Follow her on instagram @dismy
