/ 2025 / Fine Art / Minimalism

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Michael Hagen, Germany
• Date of Photograph
  June 2025
• Instagram
  @mhio_71

In four chromatic passages, a single cascade of form becomes life’s unfolding—calm continuity (Blue), passionate rupture (Red), distilled essence (Black & White), and transcendent flux (Violet)—a visual mantra that reminds us: even constancy is change.
1.:A silent current where stillness transforms into flow—a space of depth and containment.
2.:A spark ignited at the moment of dissolution—a passionate challenge to calmness.
3.:The essence of form laid bare—a pure dialogue of line, texture, and contrast.
4.:An intermediary realm where transformation reaches transcend—a passage into the unknown.

In my work, I explore what I describe as the “Echoes of the Seen”—the emotional and intuitive resonance that visual impressions leave within us. Using simple tools such as a smartphone and accessible editing software, I transform photographs into intuitive visual interpretations of perception, memory, and inner states. Through layering, fragmentation, and manipulation, I investigate both the materiality of the photograph and the subtle shifts of attention it can evoke.

A central part of my current practice is translating these visual explorations into tactile artist books.

Awards Artist books by Michael Hagen have been accepted into collections and research archives across six continents:

Tate Britain, London — Immersive
Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles — Immersive, Left Behind
Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Paris — VITA, Requiem, Immersive
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam — VITA, Requiem, Immersive, Echoes, Left Behind
Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid — VITA, Requiem, Immersive, Echoes, Left Behind
Weston Library / Bodleian Libraries, Oxford — VITA, Requiem, Immersive, Echoes
Cambridge University Library — VITA, Requiem, Immersive
ZKM, Karlsruhe — Immersive
Hasselblad Foundation, Gothenburg — VITA, Requiem
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa — Immersive, Echoes, Left Behind
MNBA, Biblioteca Raquel Calles de Edelman, Buenos Aires — Immersive, Echoes, Left Behind
MUAC / Arkheia Archive, Mexico City — Immersive, Echoes, Left Behind
CDLA, Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche — VITA, Requiem, Immersive, Echoes, Left Behind
Franklin Furnace Archive, New York — VITA, Requiem
Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum (DNB), Leipzig — VITA, Requiem, Immersive
Kunstbibliothek, Berlin — VITA, Requiem
Museum Ludwig, Cologne — VITA, Requiem
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich — VITA, Requiem, Immersive
State Library Victoria, Melbourne — VITA, Requiem, Immersive
MAXXI, Rome — VITA, Requiem, Immersive
Instituto Moreira Salles, São Paulo — VITA, Requiem, Immersive
MAP, Bengaluru — VITA, Requiem, Immersive
Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts, Johannesburg — VITA, Requiem, Immersive
Klingspor Museum, Offenbach — VITA, Requiem, Immersive
SLUB, Dresden — VITA, Requiem
Salon für Kunstbuch / Archive Bernhard Cella, Vienna — VITA, Requiem

The complete VITA – Requiem – Immersive trilogy is represented in numerous major international collections.