It was the media tour of last week: the Oskar Barnack Prize ceremony in Berlin. Twelve photographers were selected : Pablo Bellandi, Fulvio Bugani, Scarlett Coten, William Daniels, Vincent Delbrouck, Guillaume Herbert, Stéphane Lavoué, Max Pinckers, GiulioPiscitelli, Clémentine Schneidermann, SadeghSouri, Esther Teichmann.
The jury included Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Chief Representative of Leica Galleries International; J.H. Angstrom, Swedish photographer and winner of last year’s award; Christine Ollier, artistic director of the Galerie Filles du Calvaire in Paris; Chris Boot, executive director of the Aperture Foundation; and Lorenza Bravetta, director of the Camera Centro Italiano per la Fotografia. There were also 15 members of the French photography press, invited for the occasion.
The first part of the tour was fantastic; it consisted of a visit to the Boros collection which is housed in a bunker Hitler had had built in 1942. To the four floors of the bunker, Christian Boros and his wife Karen Lohmann added a fifth for their personal use. The art collection is sublime, very avant-garde, although it is not focused on photography.
In the evening, we attended the Oskar Barnack Prize ceremony, which was much less impressive: the exhibition design was underwhelming; the ten shortlisted candidates were treated with exceptional rudeness; the presentation prior to the ceremony was rather parochial; while the dinner beyond the boundaries of gastronomy taste.
But who cares: the award winner, Scarlett Coten, with her series Mectoub, received a 25,000 euro prize and Leica M equipment worth 10,000 euros. The runner-up, Clémentine Schneidermann, under 25, winner of the Leica Newcomer Award, received a 10,000 euro grant and a Leica M camera. And the ten unfortunates were given 2,500 euros each.
It’s too bad, a legendary company like Leica deserves more than a second-rate show.
Jean-Jacques Naudet
L’Oeil chose to publish one picture by each nominee of the Oskar Barnack Prize.
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