“Museum Curators for Photography”: Three new scholarships awarded by the Krupp Foundation
The scholarship Programm “Museumskurator*innen für Fotografie” (“Museum Curators for Photography”) launched by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation in 1999 is entering its next round: In May, this year’s scholarship holders Dortje Fink, Esra Klein and Noa Lohrmann will start a two-year museum-specific training programme, giving them the opportunity to become intensively acquainted with the museum and academic environment of the field of photography. The Krupp Foundation supports the scholarships with around 60,000€ each and works together with the Photographic Collection at the Museum Folkwang, Essen, the Photography Collection at the Münchner Stadtmuseum, the Fotomuseum Winterthur, the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, the Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
As part of a comprehensive selection process, a jury chose three scholarship holders who have already gained initial experience in the field of photography. Members of the jury were Dr. Kathrin Schönegg, Head of the Photographic Collection at the Münchner Stadtmuseum and former scholarship holder of the program, Dr. Doris Gassert, Research Curator at the Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland, Dr. Sophie-Charlotte Opitz, Curator of the Bucerius Kunst Forum and former scholarship holder of the program, Thomas Seelig, Head of the Photographic Collection of the Museum Folkwang and Dr. Ingomar Lorch, Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung in Essen
The scholarship holders
Dortje Fink completed her Master’s degree in “Photography Studies and Research” at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen this year. She gained organizational and curatorial experience at various art and cultural institutions, including C/O Berlin, “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” and the Humboldt Forum in Berlin Palace. Since 2024, she has been working at the “Deutsches Museum Nürnberg – Das Zukunftsmuseum” as a curatorial project assistant for special exhibitions and the action day of the “Innovationsraum: NewFoodSystems – Neue Lebensmittelsysteme” network. In spring 2023 she launched the podcast “rein theoretisch – Fotografische mit Funk&Wolf”. In addition to her studies, she has given numerous lectures and led workshops, most recently “Im Westen was Neues – periphere Fotografiegeschichten rücken ins Zentrum” in Essen.
Esra Klein completed her Master’s degree in “Curatorial Studies: Theory-History-Criticism” at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. She gained many years of curatorial and organizational experience at the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, where she was involved in various exhibitions by renowned artists, including Collezione Donata Pizzi and Mika Sperling. Since 2016, she has been working as a freelance photographer for companies, institutions and daily newspapers such as FAZ and taz. Her photographic work has been exhibited at the Framed Gallery in Frankfurt a.M. and Les Rencontres d’Arles, among others.
Noa Lohrmann studied at the University of Hildesheim and Université Aux-Marseille on the German-French double master’s degree in “Cultural Mediation”, which she completed this year. In addition to her studies, she has held various professional positions at different art and cultural institutions, including the Kunstverein Hildesheim, the LICHTUNGEN light art biennial in Hildesheim and the Kinder-Kunst-Museum Bielefeld. She also worked for several years as a student assistant at the Institute of Fine Arts and Art Studies at the University of Hildesheim.