A Showroom for Photobooks
THE BOX presents in quick succession treasures from the collection, remarkable new discoveries, and small thematic exhibitions about and with photobooks.
#12
17.04.2026 – 13.06.2026
PUK! PUK! Bulgarian Photobooks!
This selection of 40 publications reflects the relationships that PUK! has built with fellow artists, including established and emerging photographers, contemporary artists, and DIY collectives. The exhibition also features rarities and dummy books that exist in only a few copies. In the absence of publishers dedicated to photography in Bulgaria, many of these books have been self-published. Some of them were created with the direct involvement of PUK! members, while others were launched or presented at PUK! events over the years.
Published over the past 25 years, some of the exhibited books explore Bulgaria’s recent history, such as Doris Peter’s study of Sofia during the turbulent transition to democracy in the 1990s and Nikola Mihov’s artistic research into the fate of socialist-era monuments. Others focus on personal stories, such as Hristina Tasheva’s portrait of her mother, which reflects the distance shaped by emigration, and Eugenia Maximova’s exploration of the socio-political and personal dimensions surrounding the murder of her sister-in-law, a TV journalist.
The exhibition is set up as a reading room. The collective’s founders Nikola Mihov, Tihomir Stoyanov and Rossen Kuzmanov will be present at the exhibition opening on 17 April and will give a guided tour the following day. Visitors will be able to buy selected Bulgarian photobooks at THE BOX. A larger selection can be browsed and purchased via PUK!’s online shop on:
pukbooks.com
With books from: Martin Atanasov, Richard Bevan & Tamsin Clark, Blood Becomes Water, Raya Boteva, Mariela Gemisheva, Teodora Georgieva, Nikolay Georgiev, Stefan Goldmann, Sophia Grancharova, Hasan Halilov, Pepa Hristova, Leo Kirilov, Kontentive Studio, Rossen Kuzmanov, Eugenia Maximova, Nikola Mihov, Elena Nazarova, Vesselina Nikolaeva, Mihail Novakov, Martin Parr, Doris Peter, Yasena Popova, Radostin Sedevchev, Tihomir Stoyanov, Denislav Stoychev, Hristina Tasheva, Krassimir Terziev, Dimitar Variyski, Vladimir Vassilev.
Opening
17.04.2026 as of 19:00
with PUK! & Friends
Guided Book Tour
18.04.2026 as of 16:00
with Nikola Mihov, Tihomir Stoyanov and Rossen Kuzmanov
@ THE BOX
Körnerstraße 6–8
Köln - Ehrenfeld
Thursday: 16:00–22:00
Saturday: 12:00–16:00
and by AppointmentThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
PUK! would like to thank Markus Schaden, Frederic Lezmi and the whole team of the PhotoBookMuseum, all the artists who lent us the last copies of their books for this exhibition, our graphic designer Nikol Decheva, our corrector Julia Lilova, and Elizabeta Zaykova, Jenny Decheva, Andrea Popyordanova, Nadezhda Pavlova and Synthesis Gallery for their support throughout the years.
THE BOX is supported by:
from HE BREAKS HE CUTS HE SPILLS by Nikola Mihov / photo by Oleg Popov/Press photo BTA
Past Show!
#11
06.02.2026 – 11.04.2026
by Victoria Jung
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.
A hotel collapsing during construction in the heart of the city centre, very high murder rates, and countless videos on social media of road damage and accidents are just a few examples of a dilapidated and, in many ways, dysfunctional environment.
Perhaps that is why those who do not conform to America’s heteronormative image of society find a home there. Queer travellers in search of a life free from convention. Katrina created gaps that offered uncomplicated shelter. Inspired by the tolerant and warm-hearted attitude of the local urban population, a group of unique young people was able to flourish. A rebellious and unruly subculture that loves art and ecstasy. But the city is like the swamp that surrounds it: once inside, it is difficult for them to leave. The travellers have become newcomers. They have found their chosen community here, at least for the moment.
fever dream is the winner of the PBM/MAS Prize at the Dummy Awards 2024. The book is in production and will be published in spring.
VICTORIA JUNG (*1991) is a documentary photographer based in Dortmund. Since 2019, she has been working for magazines and newspapers such as
Der Spiegel, Die ZEIT, ZEIT-Magazin, Stern and many others.
Her artistic projects deal with social characteristics in subcultures, focusing on the interaction of groups with their local environment. Victoria Jung is interested in the human search for belonging to a community as a crucial part of life.
Opening
06.02.2026 as of 19:00
The artist will be present
Fotokarneval @ k18
13.02.2026 as of 19:00
with special DJ-Set by Lisbet & Hase
Mardis-Gras-Party
17.02.2026 as of 15:00
After-Zoch-Party on the Corner Körnerstr. / Venloer Str.
Past Show!
#9
07.12.2024 – 28.02.2025
From Yangon
to Peshawar
Fraglich Publishing by Lukas Birk
Lukas Birk is a prolific Austrian photographer, curator and publisher known for his innovative archival work, particularly in Asia. As the initiator of Fraglich Publishing, his mission is to track down rare, forgotten and neglected photographic archives and make them available to the public through local micropublishing.
Since 2017, he has been publishing books and organising exhibitions with Fraglich that focus on indigenous historical and contemporary photographic and visual traditions, giving us valuable insights into the respective cultural and social functions of photography in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mayanmar and India. With his meticulous research, commitment to the preservation of photographic treasures and innovative journalistic approach, Lukas Birk is making an important contribution to honouring and preserving the photographic and cultural heritage of these often forgotten countries and their visual treasures.
In 2022, the PhotoBookMuseum was able to acquire the entire catalogue from Lukas Birk/Fraglich Publishing. This includes all publications and special editions, as well asmaquettes and unique objects. We are delighted to finally be able to show you these treasures.
LUKAS BIRK (*1982) was born in Bregenz in Vorarlberg and says he is always at home where his books are made. After studying photography in New York, he moved to China. He almost always produces his books locally, i.e. in the country and for the market from which the image archive originates.
Lukas Birk is the founder of the Myanmar Photo Archive, the country’s first photo archive, runs the Afghan Camera Box Project and is the initiator of the Vernacular Social Club, a meeting place for collectors of ‘vernacular photography’.
More on www.fraglich.com
Opening: 07.12.2024 ab 18 Uhr
Special: 07./08.12
Körnerstraße X-mas-Market
as of 12:00
Lukas Birk is currently in Myanmar and will therefore only be able to come to Cologne in January 2025 for an artist talk and an Afghan Camera Box photo session.
Past Show!
#8
14.09.2024 – 28.11.2024
Susan Meiselas
Carnival Strippers
Carnival Strippers, one of the most important and now iconic photobooks of the second half of the 20th century, was created between 1972 and 1975.
In New England, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, striptease dancers performing in country fairs were photographed and interviewed by Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas. As she followed the “carnivals” from town to town Meiselas documented the women’s public performances, portraying them backstage while also assuming the role of an unseen bystander. She captured the interactions between the dancers, the show’s managers and the paying customers, both with proximity and distance. Her uncompromisingly honest view of the world, would later influence the work of many photographers. Carnival Strippers revealed a hidden world to the public, while at the same time showing the protagonists’ courageous struggle for identity and self-esteem. A photographic masterpiece of the international women’s movement, it gave women a voice in the form of a photographic essay and accompanying texts.
In 2022 Susan Meiselas and Felix Hoffmann, together with Gerhard Steidl, published a comprehensive making-of and a reprint of her legendary photobook, titled Carnival Strippers Revisited.
Susan Meiselas (*1948) is an American photographer. She joined the prestigious Magnum Photos in 1976. In addition to Carnival Strippers, she is well-known for her photobooks Nicaragua, Encounters with the Dani and Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History.
She has served as the president of the Magnum Foundation since 2007. Throughout her life, Meiselas has been mentoring regional photographers in documentary practice and initiating innovative community based projects.
For more information, please visit susanmeiselas.com
Exhibition views of Carnival Strippers
by Susan Meiselas / MAGNUM PHOTOS
Opening: 14.09.24 from 19:00
Save the Date: Museumsnacht on 02.11.24 - open all night!
Details of contact sheets from the making-of Carnival Strippers
by Susan Meiselas / MAGNUM PHOTOS
from Carnival Strippers by Susan Meiselas / MAGNUM PHOTOS
Past Show!
#6
16.03.2024 – 25.04.2024
Dummy Award 24
The Shortlist
Since 2010, the Kassel Fotobook Festival has been inviting photo-graphers to take part in its „Kassel Dummy Award“. Over this period of time thousands of photobook-prototypes have been submitted from all over the world. Hundreds of books from the shortlist have been exhibited at countless international photography events, festivals and exhibition spaces. The participating photographers have been able to establish contacts with galleries, publishers and festivals and present their books to an international audience.
Since 2023 the PhotoBookMuseum in Cologne is in charge of the Dummy Award. We are sure that this will increase the importance for a new generation of photographers and put it on an even broader footing. Together with MAS Matbaa in Istanbul, our printing and publishing partner, this is destined to maintain the high quality and reputation of the Dummy Award in the future.
The rules are easy: each year we invite all photographers worldwide to take part. From all entries, around 50 books are selected for a shortlist to be exhibited at international photography events. Together with the votes of the shortlist jury each exhibiting venue has a vote — either determined by public vote or by curators choice. With these votes 5 winning books will be selected from the shortlist. One of these books will receive the PBM/MAS Prize. The book that wins the PBM/MAS Prize will be produced and published by the leading Turkish photobook printing and binding house MAS Matbaa in cooperation with the PhotoBookMuseum. The costs will be fully covered. The other four winning books will receive a production grant for printing their books at MAS Matbaa.
www.dummyaward.org
Past Show!
#5
01.12.2023 – 14.02.2024
HÉREOS DEL BRILLO –
SHINE HEROES
by Federico Estol
In the award-winning photobook Héroes del Brillo, the shoeshine boys of La Paz become superheroes. Stylistically manoeuvring between graphic novel and new photography, Federico Estol stages the local underdogs as cult figures and creates an urban fairy tale between indie fashion and activist social reportage.
In a participatory workshop process, Estol invited the shoeshine boys to imagine a creative new version of their own story. of their own story. Together, they developed a storyboard and portrayed themselves not as stigmatised and outcasts, but as urban superheroes who, while taking care of the unbroken local demand for polished footwear, save the city from villains. In the end, they are frenetically celebrated by their customers. Discover the Utopia of Brilloland!
Héreos del Brillo was distributed as a special edition of a street newspaper by the shoeshine boys themselves and is now returning to the streets as a cross-space installation in THE BOX.
Federico Estol is a photographer and artist from Uruguay. He works and publishes as a "community-based visual storyteller" throughout Latin America. Estol is the artistic director of the SAN JOSÉ FOTO Festival and publishes many works as editor of El Ministerio Ediciones publishing house, he publishes highly acclaimed photo books and zines.
Vernissage: 01.12. from 19:00
Federico in Town: 07.02.24 from 20:00
Reception and Guided Tour with Federico Estol
from Héroes del Brillo von Federico Estol, El Ministerio Editiones, 2018
Past Show
#4
02.09. – 16.11.2023
DAYANITA SINGH
BOOK BUILDING
how to turn a book into an exhibition
Bookmaking has been an integral part of Dayanita Singh’s art – from her earliest project, Zakir Hussain: A Photo Essay (1986) to her last two books, Let’s See and Book Building, published by Steidl in 2021.
Singh views the offset printing process as a literal symbol that allows her to disseminate information, images, and material. She also refers to herself as an “offset artist.” This is because Singh has a very unique concept of exhibition: each book does not represent an “original” exhibition, but is in fact the exhibition itself. So anyone who has access to the individual books can view the exhibition – anytime, anywhere. With her portable “museums” and book objects, Singh has developed a form that is simultaneously book, catalog, and exhibition.
Dayanita Singh lives in New Delhi and on Goa. Her photographic oeuvre has been published in over 15 books, most of them in close collaboration with Gerhard Steidl in Göttingen. Dayanita Singh’s work was shown in major retrospectives at the Gropius Bau in Berlin and the Villa Stuck in Munich in 2022. In 2021, she was honored with the Hasselblad Award in particular for her services to the photobook.
Events:
Vernissage: 02.09. as of 19:00
Dayanita in Town: 28.10. as of 20:00
Reception and Guided Tour with Dayanita Singh
Museum-Night: 04.11. as of 19:00
Box-Tours, Outdoor-Screening, Drinks & Music
until 2:00!
Get your tickets for the citywide Cologne Museum-Night on rausgegangen.de
THE BOX
Körnerstraße 6–8
Köln - Ehrenfeld
Open:
Thursday: 16:00–22:00
Saturday: 12:00–16:00
and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
from File Room von Dayanita Singh, Steidl 2013
Past Show
#3
12.05. – 18.08.2023
One of Yours
by Daniel Mayrit
For this years edition of Photoszene Festival THE BOX – the showroom of the PhotoBookMuseum turns into Daniel Mayrit’s fictitious campaign office, where he masterly twists the visual codes, the buzzwords and the gestures of the demagogues and populists of our time and thus warns us forcefully against them.
Daniel Mayrit will be present on the opening weekend
Pass by and join the movement!
Opening: 12.05.2023, 18:00
danielmayrit.com
One of Yours was made with the support of Kursala - Universidad de Cadiz.
The exhibition was powered by:
from One Of Yours, by Daniel Mayrit, 2022
Past Show
#2
10.03 – 07.05.2023
The spectrum of genres and stories is as lush as it is diverse. They range from the classic “bio-pics” to photographic heroes such as Weegee and Henri Cartier-Bresson to illustrated children’s books about famous female photographers such as Anna Atkins, Dorothea Lange and Vivian Maier. Techniques and individual chapters of photographic history are also popular subjects of graphic novels. Last but not least, the synopsis shows how different the aesthetic settings are. Sometimes incunabula of photography are not only recited and used in drawings for the respective narrative, but even draw their visual design entirely from photographic originals. The conclusion of the review: between photo books and comics, a new genre is manifesting itself – PHOTO GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOKS!
06. – 07.05.2023
24h Reading Room
GRAPHIC NOVELS Non-Stop!
From Saturday 16:00 to Sunday 16:00
06.05.2023 21:00 Uhr
From Photobook to Graphic Novel
Artist Talk with Carlos Spottorno
Carlos Spottorno is the author of the multi-award winning photo-graphic novel "The Rift" and "The Fault Line“. Here is the link to his bio.
Drawing from Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide
by Isabel Quintero & Zeke Peña, Getty 2018
Past Show
#1
28.10.2022 – 4.03.2023
For the opening of their showroom, Markus Schaden and Frederic Lezmi are presenting their "Directors' Choice - Our Favourite Photobook 2022":
Studio Photo Nationale
by Samuel Fosso
published by Sébastien Girard
In 2014, when civil war was raging in the Central African Republic, Samuel Fosso’s studio in the capital Bangui was looted. The photojournalists Jerome Delay, Marcus Bleasdale and Peter Bouckaert rescued the negatives from destruction and sent them to Fosso who had already emigrated to Paris.
For seven years, these three steel boxes containing more than 50,000 negatives remained locked. In the spring of 2021, the French photographer and book designer Sébastien Girard gained access to this lost photographic material and edited it.
This photobook, produced by Girard on his Riso Press, is dedicated to Fosso’s early studio photographs from the 1980s and tells the fascinating story of Studio Photo Nationale several decades before Fosso was discovered as a major African artist.
Spread from Studio Photo Nationale, Toulouse 2021
THE BOX - Opening on 28. October 2022
Photo: Frederic Lezmi
Studio Photo Nationale at THE BOX
Photos: Frederic Lezmi & Markus Schaden
backround image: Samuel Fosso, aus Studio Photo Nationale, Toulouse 2021