Germany –
For the past seven years, Kassel in Germany has been home to the most important annual forum on the world of photography books, the Fotobookfestival Kassel*. The festival is a long weekend full of artist lectures, book exhibitions, booksellers and publishers showcasing their most recent offerings, portfolio reviews and awards for the best photobooks from the previous year. For photographers hoping to find people interested in their yet-to-be-discovered book projects, the main attraction of the Fotobookfestival Kassel is its photobook dummy competition for the best unpublished photobook mock-up. The winner of the first prize receives a publishing contract with the German publisher k-books and a critique in the art magazine European Photography.
In 2015, festival is again offering professional and emerging photographers the chance to meet up with international experts in the field of photography for Portfolio+Book Review sessions on Thursday 4th June 2015 from 9.30 am to 5 pm. The reviews will take place at the documenta-Halle in Kassel, which is the festival venue from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th June. This year’s pannel of 24 internationally acclaimed reviewers – museum and festival curators, book publishers, photography critics, photographers are as follows –
VALENTINA ABENAVOLI, ALEX BOCCHETTO (ENGLISH, ITALIAN) PUBLISHER, AKINA BOOKS, LONDON
IRÈNE ATTINGER (ENGLISH, FRENCH) LIBRARY AND BOOKSHOP, MAISON EUROPÉENNE DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE, PARIS
GERRY BADGER (ENGLISH) PHOTOGRAPHER, WRITER, CRITIC, LONDON
NADINE BARTH, (ENGLISH, GERMAN) PHOTO-EDITOR AT HATJE CANTZ, STUTTGART
HARVEY BENGE (ENGLISH) PHOTOGRAPHER, WRITER, AUCKLAND
PIERRE BESSARD, (ENGLISH, FRENCH) PUBLISHER, EDITIONS BESSARD, PARIS
KRZYSZTOF CANDROWICZ (ENGLISH, POLISH) ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, TRIENNIAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY HAMBURG + LODZ FESTIVAL
CHIARA CAPODICI (ENGLISH, ITALIAN) CURATOR, TRETERZI, ROME
VERÓNICA FIEIRAS (ENGLISH, SPANISH) PUBLISHER, RIOT BOOKS, SPAIN
ANGEL LUIS GONZALES FERNANDEZ (ENGLISH, SPANISH) DIRECTOR, PHOTOIRELAND FESTIVAL, DUBLIN
CURT HOLTZ (ENGLISH, GERMAN) HEAD OF PHOTOGRAPHY, PRESTEL PUBLISHING, GERMANY
ILKIN HUSEYNOV (ENGLISH, SPANISH) PUBLISHER, RIOT BOOKS, SPAIN
MANIK KATYAL (ENGLISH), FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, EMAHO MAGAZINE, INDIA
KLAUS KEHRER (ENGLISH, GERMAN) DIRECTOR, KEHRER PUBLISHING, GERMANY
ERIK KESSELS (ENGLISH, DUTCH) ARTIST, CURATOR AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF KESSELSKRAMER PUBLISHING, NETHERLANDS
TSE MING CHONG (ENGLISH) CURATOR, GALLERIST, TEACHER AND PHOTOGRAPHER, HONGKONG
ARON MOREL (ENGLISH) PUBLISHER, MÖREL BOOKS, LONDON
ANDREAS MÜLLER POHLE (ENGLISH, GERMAN) PHOTOGRAPHER, PUBLISHER, EUROPEAN PHOTOGRAPHY, BERLIN
MORITZ NEUMÜLLER (ENGLISH, SPANISH, GERMAN) INDEPENDANT CURATOR, MADRID
ALISON NORDSTROM (ENGLISH) ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, LODZ PHOTOFESTIVAL / FORMER DIRECTOR GEORG EASTMAN HOUSE
MONTE PACKHAM (ENGLISH, GERMAN) PUBLISHER, STEIDL, GERMANY
FIORE PINNA (ENGLISH, ITALIAN) CURATOR, TRETERZI, ROME
ANDRE PRINCIPE (ENGLISH, PORTUGUESE) PHOTOGRAPHER, PUBLISHER, PIERRE VON KLEIST EDITIONS, LISBON
HANNES WANDERER (ENGLISH, GERMAN) PUBLISHER, BOOKSELLER, PEPERONI BOOKS / 25BOOKS, BERLIN
In 2015 the two festival awards, the Photobook Award Kassel (experts nominate their favorite photo book of the last year) and the Dummy Award Kassel will be continued. The books selected for the awards will be displayed during several international photo events.
