Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2014

Published in digital form for the first time in the history of this auspicious award, this catalogue presents a portfolio of the exhibited work of the four shortlisted artists – Alberto García-Alix, Jochen Lempert, Richard Mosse and Lorna Simpson – together with an essay in English and German on the shortlisted projects (by Brian Dillon, Brian Sholis, Christy Lange and Thomas J. Lax respectively), a video interview with each artist, a video walk-through of the exhibition with Brett Rogers, and a 360 degree installation view of the exhibition. 


Spanish photographer Alberto García-Alix is nominated for his publication Autorretrato/Selfportrait (La Fabrica Editorial, 2013), a book featuring black and white self-portraits which offer an insight into the artist’s life over nearly four decades. These include the upheavals at the end of Franco’s dictatorship in the early 70s through newly gained liberties in the mid-80s and into the present day. 


German photographer Jochen Lempert is nominated for his exhibition Jochen Lempert at Hamburger Kunsthalle (2013). Originally trained as a biologist, Lempert has been using photography since the early 1990s to study humans and the natural world. His approach is scientific and poetic as well as humorous. Always working in black and white, his work engages with a diverse range of subjects and genres, ranging from everyday views, to abstracted details.


Irish photographer Richard Mosse is nominated for his exhibition The Enclave at Venice Biennale, Irish Pavilion (2013). Mosse documents a haunting landscape touched by appalling human tragedy in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where 5.4 million people have died of war related causes since 1998. Shot on discontinued military surveillance film, the resulting imagery registers an invisible spectrum of infrared light, and renders the jungle warzone in disorienting psychedelic hues. 


American photographer Lorna Simpson is nominated for her exhibition Lorna Simpson (Retrospective) at Jeu de Paume, Paris (2013). Simpson’s work links photography, text, video installations, most recently archival material and found objects. Emphasizing a conceptual and performative approach, she explores themes of gender, identity, culture, memory and body.