Skip to main content
Coming up!

 


+ BunkerGarten

17.05.2025 – 05.07.2025 

Stephen Gill

Nobody's Library

For this year's Photoszene Köln Festival the PhotoBookMuseum presents NOBODY’S LIBRARY – the comprehensive and complex photobook oeuvre of the British documentary photographer Stephen Gill. In an experimental setting, THE BOX is transformed into a library: more than forty photobooks by Stephen Gill can be admired, all of which he has published since 2005 in his own ʻNobodyʼ imprint.

In an outdoor exhibition in the BUNKERGARTEN, at the end of Körnerstraße behind the k101-bunker, visitors can immerse more deeply into the ever exciting ‚Gill cosmos‘.

 Full programm to follow... please save the date!


Opening:

17.05.2025 as of 14:00

Gardenparty:
in the BunkerGarten as of 19:00

 

@ THE BOX  
Körnerstraße 6–8
Köln - Ehrenfeld

Wednesday to Friday: 16:00–20:00
Saturday and Sunday: 14:00–18:00
and by Appointment
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


@ BUNKERGARTEN
Körnerstraße 101
Köln - Ehrenfeld

Wednesday and Thursday: 16:00–20:00
Friday and Saturday: 16:00–22:00
Sunday: 14:00–20:00

 

supported by:  


in cooperation with:

from Magnificient Failure by Stephen Gill (Nobody 2023)

Shortlist Announced!


*The Dummy Award is the international competition for the best unpublished photobook dummies of the year

Announcing the 2025 Dummy Award shortlist

On March 8th the international jury met in Cologne to go through all 395 submitted dummies sent in from 48 countries.  In the end, 50 books were selected to make up the shortlist of the Dummy Award ’25.
Congratulations to all the shortlisted artists!

Browse the Shortlist
Watch on Youtube

The 2025 Shortlist Jury: Melanie Mues, Frederic Lezmi Licia Halder, Luis Weinstein, Mathieu Nicol, Ufuk Sahin, Armandine Marchand, Yvonne de Rosa

Meet The Shortlist-Jury
Read the Jury Statement

Kicking-off the World Tour in Sofia!

Like every year the Dummy Award ’25 shortlist is going to travel around the world, with confirmed stops in Barcelona, Milan, Cologne, Dortmund, Łódź, Prag, Dublin, Arles, Bangkok, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Dhaka, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile! 

03.04. – 06.04.2025, Goethe Institute Sofia

We are very happy that this year’s world tour will kick off with a very special dummy award weekend at the Goethe Institute in Sofia, Bulgaria from the 3rd to the 6th of April. This event is initiated and organised by our dear friends from PUK!. The Dummy Award/PhotoBookMuseum team will be present and there will be a special program with a guided tour by Frederic Lezmi and a lecture by Markus Schaden. On this occasion we will announce the winners of the 2024 Dummy Award.  Stay tuned!
Have a look at PUK! or the Goethe Institute for the details and follow the event on social media.

www.dummyaward.org

PhotoBookShow@k18

BEGGAR'S HONEY
by Jack Latham

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 on a very contemporary topic:

Click farms are shadowy operations that are responsible for artificially inflating the engagement metrics of content on social media, manipulating the algorithms with serious consequences – from influencing consumer behaviour to compromising the integrity of democratic processes. This project seeks to expose the inner workings of click farms for the first time. By juxtaposing the captivating with the covert – images gleaned from TikTok alongside photographs of click farms in Vietnam and Hong Kong – it seeks to challenge perceptions of the digital landscape and urges us to question the authenticity of the content we encounter daily.

Jack Latham (b.1989) is a Welsh photographer based in the UK. Somewhere between photojournalism and conceptual art, his work questions the mechanisms of disinformation within contemporary society.

Passagen Special Week / 10.–16.01.2025
Fr–Do 15–21h / k18 – Körnerstr. 18, Köln-Ehrenfeld
Cocktail / Sa 11.01. ab 18h

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



from Beggar's Honey by Jack Latham (Here Press/Éditions Images Vevey, 2023)

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
Follow us


ic twitteric fbic ig


This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


press inquiries:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.