Save the Date
28. April – 07. Mai 2023

12.
Darmstädter

Tage der Fotografie

Merck-Preis
2023

Artist in Residence

/
Annual topic 2023

Tilt/Shift – Experiment as Normality

Even in our society’s fields of activity we previously believed to be safe, the contemporary crises prevalent worldwide are revealing to us a long-inconceivable collapse. Although no claim can be laid on a normal state of the world, the feeling of security is dwindling for an ever-growing number of people: habitual viewpoints are breaking away, certainties are shifting. The promise that all will remain well, or that things will be all right again, is currently unravelling and is almost impossible to carry into tomorrow from today. Even people who, thus far, imagined themselves to be safe in their habitat are noticing that their everyday life is under ever-more frequent threat. Thought patterns are being queried and discussed – constructively by groups and individuals, but also in a polarising way by fact-twisters. Old discourses on euro-centrically and post-colonially influenced views of the world – in macro and in micro – are being sustained and propagated. Times of crisis not only signify uncertainty, but are also able – despite it all – to highlight opportunities. Partly out of necessity, potentials are examined at all levels for open spaces, new phenomena and further developments. Will the experiment of constantly having to refocus become the normal state now? How can photography capture the enormous changes? What images allow us to better understand an uncertain, diverse world subject to turbulent and complex transformation – and to keep an eye on the experiment’s open outcome?
Application

»Artist in Residence 2023«

On the occasion of the »12th Darmstadt Days of Photography«, the organisers of the festival and the association »Kultur einer Digitalstadt e.V.« are offering international artists the opportunity to apply for a three-month artist residency in the studio house on the Rosenhöhe in Darmstadt until 15 December 2022.

Studio house on the Rosenhöhe in Darmstadt
Competition

9th Merck-Preis
of the Darmstadt Days of Photography

“In 2023, we are sponsoring the »Merck-Preis«, endowed with €10,000, for the 9th time. The focus on 10 selected works from which an award winner will chosen, as well as the concentrated presentation at one location, once again emphasize the importance of the award in a special way. As a sponsor, we are of course very pleased about this as the »Merck-Preis« is one of the most important awards in the field of contemporary photography in Germany and radiates far beyond our city limits.”

Merck-Preis