Shaping Cohesion: Neighbourly Relations in Europe

A Franco-German-Polish Photo Competition

Announcement

In 2020, the Genshagen Foundation is announcing a Franco-German-Polish photo competition on the topic of “Shaping Cohesion: Neighbourly Relations in Europe”. Photographers between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five from Germany, France, and Poland are invited to focus on the topic of neighbourliness and to present their individual perspectives. Photo series (ranging from six to twelve images) can be submitted to the Genshagen Foundation until 30 September 2020, on the topic of “Shaping Cohesion: Neighbourly Relations in Europe”.

Over the coming two years, the Genshagen Foundation will focus on “Shaping Cohesion: Neighbourly Relations in Europe.” Various projects will investigate how neighbourliness can be improved as a skill throughout Europe, how ties between individual neighbours can be fostered, and how cohesion across societies can be permanently developed. Here, we are concerned with a broader concept of neighbourliness and neighbourhood, which not alone includes nation-states as well as regions and cities, but also social groups and individuals within a European context.

What does it mean to be neighbours? The following thematic blocks provide the broad outline for the topic:

Neighbourly Relations and Globalization

• How has globalization and digitization changed the nature and practice of neighbourliness?
• How has the perception of neighbourliness altered across the generations?

Neighbourly Relations within Society

• Contemporary societies are characterized by increasing diversity, new forms of inner-society neighbourliness are emerging. Given this context, what parallels and what divergences are there across the countries of the Weimar Triangle: Poland, Germany, and France?
• There is a growing tendency for specific groups to define their identity through ethnic or religious characteristics. This results in an even stronger demarcation from their neighbours within that society. To what extent can this phenomenon be observed in Germany, France, and Poland?
• Metropolises are increasingly becoming magnets for economic investment and their population is steadily growing. How are neighbourhoods in metropolises and in rural regions in these countries designed?

European Integration and Neighbourly Relations

• How can the Weimar Triangle, as the sum of three neighbourhood relationships, have a positive impact on the EU’s development within the EU? How significant are these three bilateral neighbourhood relationships for the overall development of this Triangle?
• External perspective: How are Europe and the European Union perceived by neighbouring countries, and how has this perception altered over recent years (e.g. due to relocating “neighbourhood” to the Schengen area’s external borders)? And, what about the EU’s image and attractiveness?

These questions should serve as pointers. We do not wish to specify your individual selection of images nor how you design your thematic field. Moreover, in recent times, the outbreak of the corona pandemic has raised further questions on the topic of neighbourliness and cohesion, be it at the individual, social, or European level.

This photo competition will be advertised in Germany, France and Poland. A Franco-German-Polish jury will select the award winners. Money prizes will be awarded and the award-winning works will subsequently be presented in 2021 as part of a traveling exhibition in the three countries of the Weimar Triangle.

Who is eligible to participate?

Photographers between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five (students and professional photographers) from Germany, France, and Poland.

What can be submitted?

Applicants must submit a coherent series of photos (from six to twelve photos; JPEG format, 300 dpi, long page 18 cm) with a corresponding text. All photographic means of expression are permitted. The text should not be longer than one A4 page (max. 4000 characters including spaces). It is also possible to include interviews or shorter texts. Photo series dating from 2019 and 2020 will be accepted for review. Applications can be written in German, French, or Polish.

How to apply?

To apply, please fill in this application form (Link). Please submit this form and your work digitally before the deadline: 30 September 2020 to the following

e-mail address: stolz@stiftung-genshagen.de

Please send us a link to the photos and documents that you have uploaded using one of the common file sharing services.

Prizes

• First, second and third prize: 2,000 € each
• Three promotion prizes of 500 €

Jury:

• Angelika Eder, Executive Board Director, Genshagen Foundation
• Ulrike Kremeier, Director of the Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art, Cottbus and Frankfurt (Oder)
• Dominik Kuryłek, Museum of Photography, Head of the Photography and Photo Technology Department, Kraków
• Florence Lazar, photographer and filmmaker, Paris

We are looking forward to receiving your application.

Should you have any questions or queries regarding the photo competition, please contact:
Charlotte Stolz, Tel. +49 3378 80 59 59, e-mail: stolz@stiftung-genshagen.de
Stiftung Genshagen
Am Schloss 1
14974 Genshagen
Germany

This is a project of:

Partners: Fachhochschule Potsdam – University of Applied Sciences, Germany, Institut supérieur des arts de Toulouse, France and Poznański Uniwersytet Artystyczny – University of Arts Poznan, Poland

Funding: Federal Government Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and Media (BKM), German state of Brandenburg and Gottfried Michelmann Foundation

Responsible: Charlotte Stolz

http://www.stiftung-genshagen.de/programm/programm-details/6548b131f7046dca57e7518f3088a3bc.html?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1899