LUDWIGGALERIE awards photography prize

July 9, 2019

It has almost become a tradition that we hold competitions for our exhibitions. HOLLYWOOD ICONS It was, how could it be otherwise, a photo competition.

“At the beginning of the preparations, my colleagues and I had considered what theme we should give to a competition on HOLLYWOOD ICONS,” explains Jennifer Liß, curator of the exhibition. "We could of course have announced a glamour competition. We could have conjured up old Hollywood and shown black and white photos here."

But since photography was at the heart of the action at the time, the pictures in the competition had to meet this criterion as well. Therefore, they had to be color photos and not, as was usual at the time, in grayscale, in order to create a contrast to the exhibition.
"HOLLYWOOD ICONS also focuses on everyday life in Hollywood, apart from still photography," Liß explains. "How is a star made? How is an image created? What was everyday life like for the actors? For them, it might be training, the make-up or the recordings on set."

So the big question surrounding the competition should be: What does the set of YOUR life look like? Rituals, everyday life, skillfully staged. MovME – Your everyday life in the spotlight!

Opening of the competition exhibition MovME, Hollywood Icons, 2019 © LUDWIGGALERIE

The jury consisted of Jennifer Liß, photo designer Axel Scherer and our former trainee and art historian Natascha Kurek, who also organized the competition. In addition to many individual entries from Oberhausen and the surrounding area, three school classes from the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gymnasium in Hilden, the Duisburg-Mitte Municipal Comprehensive School and the Max Born Vocational College in Recklinghausen also took part. Our competition therefore went far beyond Oberhausen's city limits. "There were several participants who had only just reached the minimum age of 16," said Natascha Kurek, praising the young people's efforts. "On the other hand, the oldest participant is 74 years old. A pretty mixed range."
The three jury members did not make the decision lightly to select from the more than 70 submissions and then determine the winners.

Photo designer Axel Scherer, 2019 © LUDWIGGALERIE

"We were very pleased to see how popular the competition is," explains Axel Scherer. "The photos exhibited here should not just be beautiful, but should tell a story. They should go beyond pure appearance and show your everyday life."

And the winner is ...

The third prize went to Nicoletta Poungias (25) for her work “Daily the marmot waters”.

"Every day the groundhog waters", 2019 © Nicoletta Poungias

Jennifer Liß: "What is special about this contribution is how the everyday action is brought into an almost abstract form. The arrangement of the objects becomes ornamental and the action hidden within them remains a peripheral phenomenon. This form is further emphasized by the play of light and shadow. The creative perspective on everyday things is perfectly reproduced here. Deviating from the normal perspective, which puts the action in the center of attention, the work here is done with aesthetic means rather than with a simple representation of the activity."

Axel Scherer describes the decision for the runner-up Frank Markus Fürst (54) with his photo “Shaving”:

"It's a photo that tells his story. It's an everyday ritual: shaving the head. In the age of Instagram, pictures from everyday life usually tell a sugar-coated story, but this one is simply honest. It's not a sugar-coated depiction, but a necessity. This is well presented through the image section and the reflection. The focus is on the face, so that the actual activity is visible in the corner of the eye."
Frank Markus Fürst was very happy: "This was my first photo competition and the first time I made a self-portrait. I feel great."

The 1st prize of the LUDWIGGALERIE photo competition went this time to Leon Mrowitzki (18).

Natascha Kurek explains why:
"We are all familiar with the daily ritual described here. After a refreshing shower, the morning looks completely different. But before we set off for work or school, we still face a tiny everyday hurdle: Even though our closet is jam-packed, we still feel like we have nothing to wear.
Leon's winning work convinced us with its clever surface arrangement. To be more precise, he managed to create an absolute illusion of depth with a monochrome surface, which almost creates a surreal scene."

We congratulate the prize winners on their successful work and are pleased about the large participation in our competition.
The exhibited works are, like the exhibition HOLLYWOOD ICONS himself, until mid-September to see.