/ 2025 / Fine Art / Minimalism

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

Urban structures present themselves as familiar shells of our daily lives – clear, functional, mesmerizing. Yet they simultaneously harbor a silent threat: in their overpowering scale, their coldness, their anonymity. “Shark” mirrors this ambivalence – an architectural entity that is at once a fascination and a silent, latent menace. What attracts us can also devour us.

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 Editorial Selections & Awards

LensCulture Art Photography Awards 2026 – 2× Editors’ Pick.
LensCulture Critics’ Choice Awards 2026 – 1× Editors’ Pick.
IPA (International Photography Awards) 2025 – Official Selection & Honorable Mention.
FAPA (Fine Art Photography Awards) 2025/26 – Nominee (Multiple Works).
International Photography Honors (2025): Multiple Honorable Mentions and Official Selections across the PX3 Paris,
TIFA Tokyo, BIFA Budapest, ND Awards, and LICC (London International Creative Competition).

Exhibitions

Trieste Photo Days 2025 (IT): 10 artworks exhibited at Trieste Airport and ARCI Trieste, Italy.

Public Collections & Archives

The artist books VITA, Requiem, and Immersive have been acquired and accepted for permanent collections and research archives:

• Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Paris (FR) – [VITA, Requiem, Immersive]
• Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (ES) – [VITA, Requiem, Immersive]
• Klingspor Museum, Offenbach (DE) – [VITA, Requiem, Immersive]
• Centre des livres d'artistes (CDLA), Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche (FR) – [VITA, Requiem, Immersive]
• Instituto Moreira Salles, Biblioteca de Fotografia, São Paulo (BR) – [VITA, Requiem, Immersive]
• Fondazione MAXXI - Biblioteca MAXXI, Rome (IT) – [VITA, Requiem, Immersive]
• Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich (DE) – [VITA, Requiem, Immersive]
• Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru (IN) – [VITA, Requiem, Immersive]
• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (NL) – [VITA, Requiem, Immersive]
• Hasselblad Foundation, Gothenburg (SE) – [VITA, Requiem]
• Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (DE) – [VITA, Requiem]
• Franklin Furnace Archive, New York (US) – [VITA, Requiem]
• Art- and Museum Library, Cologne (DE) – [VITA, Requiem]
• Saxon State and University Library (SLUB), Dresden (DE) – [VITA, Requiem]
• Salon für Kunstbuch, Vienna (AT) – Permanent Archive of Bernhard Cella – [VITA, Requiem]
• ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (DE) – [Immersive]
• Tate Britain, London