/ 2025 / Fine Art / Abstract

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

Run frames diversity as a continuous run—an ever-evolving flow that both demands and fosters fresh thinking and realignment. This movement gives rise to a harmonious whole, as long as openness and acceptance are sustained throughout the process. 1: Individual starting point–the isolated self recognizing its own uniqueness. 2: First encounter–a dialogue between differences in which connection becomes possible.3: The emergence of a “we”–a community born of voluntary coexistence and mutual recognition.4: Integration – diversity coalesces into a new whole that remains non homogeneous yet coherent.

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 Public Collections & Archives

The artist books VITA, Requiem, and Immersive have been accepted into permanent collections and research archives.

Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Richelieu Historic Site / Department of Prints and Photography, Paris, France (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, UK (Immersive)
The Getty Research Institute Library, Los Angeles, USA (Immersive)
Tate Britain, London, UK (Immersive)
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
State Library Victoria, Melbourne (AUS) – [VITA, Requiem, Immersive]
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
Centre des livres d'artistes (CDLA), Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, France (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany (Integrated into the Heyne/Neusüß Photo Archive, Immersive)
Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek (DBSM), Leipzig, Germany (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
Hasselblad Foundation, Gothenburg, Sweden (VITA, Requiem)
Franklin Furnace Archive, New York, USA (VITA, Requiem)
National Gallery of Canada Library & Archives, Ottawa, Canada (Immersive)
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany (VITA, Requiem)
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, Germany (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
Klingspor Museum, Offenbach, Germany (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
Art- and Museum Library / Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany (VITA, Requiem)
Fondazione MAXXI - Biblioteca MAXXI, Rome, Italy (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS), Biblioteca de Fotografia, São Paulo, Brazil (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru, India (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts, Johannesburg, South Africa (VITA, Requiem, Immersive)
Saxon State and University Library (SLUB), Dresden, Germany (VITA, Requiem)
Salon für Kunstbuch, Vienna, Austria – Permanent Archive of Bernhard Cella (VITA, Requiem)