10. Merck-Preis der Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie

Selected artists will have their work exhibited at the Museum Künstlerkolonie in Darmstadt, Germany. The opportunity includes a €500 production budget, up to €200 in travel reimbursement, and provided accommodation.

Overview

Present Tense describes the present not as a moment in time but as a specific state: an unstable, open presence where perception, reality, and the future are negotiated simultaneously. Events are not defined as past facts but are offered as current experiences. The present is not told as a captured story but as an ongoing, open process.

The call for entries understands Present Tense not only as a temporal category but also as a description of an event in a state of tension: a restless, fragile instance of time characterised by uncertainty, distillation, and change. "Present Tense" also refers to the current state of the medium of photography itself – a practice repositioning itself between documentation, perception, encounter, and social responsibility.

Through its immediate presence, contact, encounter, and exchange with others, photography offers a relational approach to reality. This distinguishes it from AI and other generative image systems, which derive a speculative idea of the past. Photography, by contrast, arises in dialogue with other people, architecture, situations, perspectives, and experiences. The photographic process not only creates the image but also becomes an act – a means of sharpening perception, enabling experience, guiding attention, and making social realities tangible.

Darmstadt Days of Photography invites artists and photographers to submit works made in direct contact with the world, which is shaped by place, encounter, and a dialogue with other perspectives, and is grounded in a belief that photography can be an active instrument. It is not only a way of seeing, but a way of acting. They are looking for work that doesn't simply depict the present but makes it palpable in all its complexity: its fractures, tensions, and contradictions, and creates proximity, unsettles perception, and brings the structures and challenges of our moment into view.

Practical Info

Applicants are invited to submit work exploring the theme Present Tense. Submissions should include up to 12 images or a video of no more than 10 minutes, along with a biography, project title, and description.

Selected artists will have their work exhibited at Museum Künstlerkolonie, Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt, in Germany, from 20 April to 2 May 2026. The Mathildenhöhe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is situated in Darmstadt, Hesse. The finalists' exhibition and the prize ceremony will take place at the sculptor's studios.

Selected artists will receive a €500 production subsidy and up to €200 in travel reimbursements. Additionally, they will be invited to Darmstadt on 24-26 April 2026, with hotel accommodation provided.

The jury is composed of Prof. Robin Hinsch, Prof. Sara-Lena Maierhofer, Ute Noll, Marcel Rauschkolb, Prof. Dr. Kris Scholz, and Gregor Schuster.

About Darmstadt Days of Photography

In 2005, four Darmstadt-based photographers founded the Non-profit Promotional Association Darmstadt Photography Days. The idea to establish a photo festival emerged from a project entitled „Stadtfotograf“, which was initiated by Werkbundakademie Darmstadt. During an event in 2004 at Design Zentrum Hessen, the idea to establish an annual series of events on photography over the course of three days was publically announced for the first time. Since then, the initiators have been inviting photographers and artists to present their work to the public. Since 2010, the festival is taking place biannually. Today, Darmstadt Photography Days are among the most important photo festivals in Germany. The initiators were able to establish a pleasant and convincing festival, and to manage it competently and passionately with constant success over the course of 14 years. Since 2019 the Darmstadt Days of Photography are organized by the Kunstforum der TU Darmstadt.