12 November 2018

Ellen Auerbach Fellowship for Photography 2018
awarded to Annette Frick and book presentation Máj/My withStephanie Kiwitt
Wednesday, 14 November 2018, 7 pm, Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg

In 2018 the Akademie der Künste is awarding the Ellen Auerbach Fellowship for International Photography to Annette Frick. Akademie members Hubertus von Amelunxen and Helke Misselwitz will speak at the awards ceremony on Wednesday, 14 November, followed by a discussion between the prizewinner and Maren Lübbke-Tidow.

Akademie members Thomas Florschuetz, Ulrike Ottinger and Michael Ruetz unanimously agreed that Annette Frick should receive this honour. Annette Frick convinced the jury through "the uncompromising way in which her photos focus on nonconformities, as well as the undefinable and unfinished qualities of people and the city – while giving them a radical artistic form." This advancement fellowship for international photographers, endowed with 20,000 euros, is financed from the estate of Ellen Auerbach and awarded biannually.

During the second half of the event, Ellen Auerbach Fellow Stephanie Kiwitt will present her publication Máy/My (2018) – made possible by funding from her fellowship in 2016. In 1996 the British supermarket chain Tesco took over "Máj", an old-fashioned department store in Prague. In 2009 it was renamed "My". Although both words are pronounced the same, the new name nevertheless opened another field of association. In English "my" refers to an individual; in Czech it means "we". Starting out from this semantic differentiation, Stephanie Kiwitt set off on a photographic search for clues in the streets of Prague.

Event Information
Award Ceremony of the Ellen Auerbach Fellowship for Photography, 2018
Wednesday, 14 November 2018, 7 pm
With Hubertus von Amelunxen, Helke Misselwitz, Maren Lübbke-Tidow and the prizewinner Annette Frick
Book presentation: Máj/My (2018) by Stephanie Kiwitt
Followed by a film portrait: Ellen Auerbach, Fotografin, geboren 1906 by Antonia Lerch (57 min., New York, 1992), introduction: Antonia Lerch.
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
Free admission

(See press release from 18 October 2018 for more details)