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MARTIN PARR
(1952–2025)

We were shocked to hear that Martin Parr passed away on 6 December 2025 in Bristol. We are saddened and stunned.

Looking back, we are deeply grateful that he supported and accompanied our GRAND HOTEL PARR project so intensively until the very end. On the opening night in Nuremberg at the end of October, Martin Parr was clearly enjoying the inauguration of his hotel.


Martin, we‘ll meet you in GRAND HOTEL PARADISE!

 Mexico City, Mexico, 2008.
© Martin Parr / MAGNUM PHOTOS

Grand Hotel Parr

Photobooks by Martin Parr

24.10.2025 – 22.02.2026 
Neues Museum Nürnberg

photo: Frederic Lezmi for The PhotoBookMusem

trailer

In cooperation with The PhotoBookMuseum, Neues Museum Nuremberg presents the first major retrospective of photobook’s by the British Magnum photographer Martin Parr (born 1952). Since the 1980s, Parr has been an unparalleled chronicler of the absurdities of our global consumer and leisure culture, translating them into a distinctive visual idiom. With an unerring eye and a keen sense of humour, his photobooks capture a bizarre world between ostentatious display and kitsch, four-star luxury and “all inclusive”, spanning all social classes and national peculiarities.

The exhibition is staged in a British grand hotel where visitors can peruse Parr’s fascinating photobooks. From the reception, a red carpet leads to the “Reading Lounge” with classics including The Last Resort (1986), Small World (1995) and Common Sense (1999). Parr’s book projects are presented on walls of fake wood panelling, but also in vitrines. In all their diversity and rich detail, these works helped to shape the history of photography. Themed sections like the “Billard Room”, the “Dining Room”, a “Fashion-Boutique” and a terrace of astroturf invite visitors to relax and browse. The visitors follow a parcours where they can stroll and chill, marvel, rummage and leaf through books. In keeping with Parr's motto: ‘The books have won.’

click here for more...

 


Coming up: 

22nd of January 2026

Guided Tour with Markus Schaden and Frederic Lezmi 
with Special Movie Program

Neues Museum Nürnberg
Luitpoldstraße 5
Tour: 17:00 / Movie Night: 19:00


22nd of February 2026

The Grand Finale at GRAND HOTEL PARR with Catalogue Presentation, Suitcase-Trolley Lottery, Music, Drinks, and a lot of dear Friends! 

Neues Museum Nürnberg
Luitpoldstraße 5
18:00

 

Have a look at the the full program on nmn.de


An exhibition in cooperation with:
Coming up!

 



06.02. – 11.04.2026
 

 fever dream logo 

by Victoria Jung

We are excited to start this years BOX season with a presentation of the 2024 PBM/MAS prize winning book: 


Victoria's "fever dream"
highlights the clamour and flicker of a magical world on the constant brink of collapse. It seeks proximity to the headstrong protagonists and focuses on the political aspects and resilience of their everyday lives. An everyday life in constant flux between extremes.

New Orleans has always been a city of extremes. Ever since it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the people who live there have been living in a state of constant threat. In addition to the storm season during the summer months, rising sea levels not far from New Orleans are causing entire swathes of land to sink into the Gulf of Mexico every day.

Click here for THE BOX program


Opening:
06.02.26 as of 19:00

Fotokarneval:
13.02.26 @ k18 as of 19:00

Mardis-Gras-After-Zoch-Party:
17.02.26 @Körnerstr./Venloer Str.
as of 15:00

Artist Talk, Book Launch, DJ-Sets and more to come!  Stay tuned!

 

@ THE BOX  
Körnerstraße 6–8
Köln - Ehrenfeld

Wednesday to Friday: 16:00–20:00
Saturday and Sunday: 14:00–18:00
and by Appointment:

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Click here for THE BOX program




THE BOX is supported by:  

from fever dream by Victoria Jung (PBM/MAS Prize 2024)

The Dummy Award

 


*The Dummy Award is the international competition for the best unpublished photobook dummies of the year

Next Round Dummy Award 2026!

Registration Deadline extended: February 15, 2026!
Send us your Story! - dummyaward.org

k18 X The PhotoBookMuseum 

The invisible Journey*

by Julien Berthier

We are back at k18 for the Passagen and will be showing a new edition of our PhotoBookShows, which have become a tradition. This year in it's 8th edition.

In 2021, invited by the French artist Thomas Mailaender for a residency at Tuba Club in theCalanques National Park in southern Marseille, Julien Berthier took an old boat and topped it with a calanque-inspired slab of rock sculpted in the same resin as the boat’s hull. Once placed in the water, the work became practically invisible and gave the installation its title.

Continuing his reflections on landscape,  Berthier’s book “The Invisible Journey” incorporates the rock-boat across a set of postcards, in the same manner: both visible and invisible. Low tech by choice, Berthier cut out images of the boat manually, then glued them directly to the postcards. The rock-boat thus embarks on a tour of various places and eras, accompanying the travel accounts of strangers.


Julien Berthier (*1975 in Besançon; living and working in Aubervilliers) is an artist experimenting with sculpture, video, photography and drawing. In his sharp and humorous works, he creates hyperrealistic yet fictional objects that he confronts in public space. “Don‘t leave the world into the hands of specialists”, he says.


Passagen Special Week / 16–21.01.2026
Fr–Do 15–21h / k18 – Körnerstr. 18, Köln-Ehrenfeld
Cocktail / Sa 17.01. ab 18h

Still on show at k18!
Open during events and
and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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from The invisible Journey by Julien Berthier (RVB Books, 2024)

Recommended reading

»Form Follows Me«

Photobook Design and Authorship

The European Society for the History of Photography (ESHPh) has invited Christoph Schaden as a guest editor for another special photobook edition of it's bi-annual magazine PhotoResearcher (No.42). Have a look! 



"Form follows me" is the title of the new issue of ESHPh-PhotoResearcher, which PBM has produced in cooperation with the ESHPh. For the first time, the renowned scientific periodical is exploring the function and significance of design in photobooks from the point of view of authorship.

The eight text contributions examine the significance of book design in the context of monographic works from the Second World War to the present day. The analyses focus on internationally active auteur photographers such as Otto Steinert, Dominique Darbois and Eikoh Hosoe. But also on subversive expressions of Chilean photobook culture and the legendary MoMA designer Carl G. Laanes, who was responsible for the design of the legendary "William Eggleston's Guide", and not least on influential contemporary designers and artists such as Ana Druga and Thomas Gust, Hans Gremmen and Dayanita Singh.



Click here for more about PhotoResearcher

 

 

Cover from Otto Steinert, Subjektive Fotografie , Bonn 1952. © Museum Folkwang, Essen 




Previous Show!






STUDIO COLOGNE

Portraits from Cologne Photo Studios 1861-1928

24 May to 23 June 2024
on Körnerstraße

STUDIO COLOGNE: The Museum goes street!

Through an innovative street-exhibition Körnerstraße in Cologne-Ehrenfeld will be transformed into a walk-in outdoor and indoor exhibition. An 800-metre-long parcours full of discoveries will be created, bringing historical portraits from Cologne's photo studios to new life.

For all! For free! For one month!

more on:

www.studio-cologne.de

Photoatelier BLUM & HÖFFERT, 1908-1918, Hohe Str. 111a


 
Museum goes Club

Japanese Photobooks from the Collection

TOKYO EXPRESS was a POP-UP show with photo books from and about the metropolis Tokyo. The Club Nachtigall in Cologne's bustling quarter Ehrenfeld was transformed into a Japanese bar.
 
Tiny and yet full of stories are the bars in "Golden Gai," a collection of small alleys and old houses in the nightlife district of Shinjuku. These condensed hotspots are often reserved for certain (professional) groups. This is also the case with the "Kodoji" bar, which has become a legendary meeting place for Japanese photographers, combining exhibition space, library and pub in a few square meters in a wild mixture that appeals to all the senses. Today, the photo books by Onaka Koji, Keizo Kitajima, Daido Moriyama, Hiromix, Mika Ninagawa,Takashi Homma and Nobuyoshi Araki have international cult status - as does the legendary "Golden Gai" bar.
 
With its authentic setting TOKYO EXPRESS was a temporary reminiscence of all the "stories & pictures" that that place has inspired: from obscure darkroom experiments to longing black-and-white scenes in the street canyons of Shinjuku to the candy look of an entire city and its selfie girls to the "Tokyo Innocense", a Japanese garish gender carnival.
 
Sake drinking "Tokyo Style" was included as well as "Guided Tours" with PhotoBookMuseum director Markus Schaden, exciting "Movie Nights" (about Daido Moriyama among others) , "DJ Sets" with DJ Tobby-Lolli and "Sofa Talks" with Koji Onaka.
 

A big thank you to the Nachtigall Team and all the many vistors that joined us on that wonderful TOKYO EXPRESS experience. 

Click here for the TOKYO EXPRESS program

 

Photo: Koji Onaka from memories of younger days in Shinjuku, Tokyo 2018

New Release

Photobooks for everyone!


“The Photobook in Art and Society”
Participative Potentials of a Medium

Photography has been undergoing a paradigm shift since the turn of the millennium. The fine art print has been increasingly replaced, making way for the photobook which is experiencing a certain boom. However, it remains to be seen if the medium finds its way out of the ivory tower of the elitist photography scene. Is the photobook capable of establishing a visible literature that is accessible and understandable for everyone?

The PhotoBookMuseum and the Montag Foundation for Art and Society have tackled this question in a collaborative mobile project. Under the motto "World in Transition", the participatory qualities of photo books have been examined on the basis of new communication concepts. In the recent publication, professionals from the fields of science, art practice and culture institutions impressively unveil the social relevance of the medium. The Reader demonstrates how photobooks nowadays, act as a structuring force against the immanent flood of images.

 

PBM tempweb
“The Photobook in Art and Society”
Participative Potentials of a Medium

Montag Stiftung Kunst und Gesellschaft (Ed.)
in cooperation with The PhotoBookMuseum

Swiss brochure binding
16,7 x 24 cm
468 pages, 220 col. und b/w images.
English
Jovis Verlag, 2020
ISBN 978-3-86859-594-9; € 42,80

reading extract

Photo: Sarah Larissa Heuser
About

The PhotoBookMuseum


„The photobook is one of the most important mediums in our culture.“
Manfred Heiting, Photobook Collector, Los Angeles


The PhotoBookMuseum was founded in Cologne in 2014 as a non-profit organisation that aims to foster the photobook as a significant photographic medium. It serves as a public platform for collections, exhibitions and events and is committed to research and education on contemporary photobook culture. As a museum of the twenty-first century it offers an inclusive environment for active involvement with the arts to a diverse audience.

Acting as a mobile museum, it uses innovative exhibition strategies and hosts international curatorial co-operations far away from the mainstream of traditional museums. So far, the PhotoBookMuseum is the only museum in the world that is exclusively dedicated to the medium of photobooks, focusing on its democratic potential.

Carlswerk Prototype / Köln / 2014 / Foto: Daniel Zakharov
Carlswerk Prototype / Köln / 2014 / Foto: Dieter Röseler
Carlswerk Prototype / Köln / 2014 / Foto: Daniel Zakharov
Carlswerk Prototype / Köln / 2014 / Foto: Daniel Zakharov
Carlswerk Prototype / Köln / 2014 / Foto: Wolfgang Zurborn
Carlswerk Prototype / Köln / 2014 / Foto: Daniel Zakharov
TRACK-22 / Krakau / 2015 / Foto: Frederic Lezmi
TRACK-22 / Krakau / 2015 / Foto: Frederic Lezmi
Cargo to Oslo / Oslo / 2015 / Foto: Frederic Lezmi
Cargo to Oslo / Oslo / 2015 / Foto: Frederic Lezmi
PhotoBookStudy: Reading New York / Barcelona / 2017 / Foto: Frederic Lezmi
PhotoBookStudy: Reading New York / Barcelona / 2017 / Foto: Frederic Lezmi
Welt im Umbruch / Rostock-Duisburg-Kassel / 2016-2018 / Foto: Eisenhardt Keimeyer
Welt im Umbruch / Rostock-Duisburg-Kassel / 2016-2018 / Foto:Marvin Ibo Güngör
Welt im Umbruch / Rostock-Duisburg-Kassel / 2016-2018 / Foto:Marvin Ibo Güngör
Welt im Umbruch / Rostock-Duisburg-Kassel / 2016-2018 / Foto:Marvin Ibo Güngör
Welt im Umbruch / Rostock-Duisburg-Kassel / 2016-2018 / Foto: Thekla Ehling
Welt im Umbruch / Rostock-Duisburg-Kassel / 2016-2018 / Foto: Sarah Larissa Heuser
Nobody’s Library - Stephen Gill’s Photobooks / Braunschweig / 2018 / Foto: Frederic Lezmi
Nobody’s Library - Stephen Gill’s Photobooks / Braunschweig / 2018 / Foto: Frederic Lezmi
Nobody’s Library - Stephen Gill’s Photobooks / Braunschweig / 2018 / Foto: Frederic Lezmi
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: DAVID KLAMMER
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: FREDERIC LEZMI
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: DAVID KLAMMER
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: DAVID KLAMMER
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: DAVID KLAMMER
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: MARVIN IBO GÜNGÖR
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: MARVIN IBO GÜNGÖR
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: MARVIN IBO GÜNGÖR
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: MARVIN IBO GÜNGÖR
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: MARVIN IBO GÜNGÖR
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: MARVIN IBO GÜNGÖR
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: MARVIN IBO GÜNGÖR
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: FREDERIC LEZMI
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: FREDERIKE FINSTER
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: FREDERIKE FINSTER
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: FREDERIC LEZMI
DAS CHARGESHEIMER PROJEKT / KÖLN / 2018-2020 / FOTO: FREDERIC LEZMI
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