Contemporary German Photography

Scholarship programme “Contemporary German Photography”

The scholarship programme is expected to be offered again in summer 2026.

The Krupp Foundation has been awarding scholarships for contemporary German photography (Zeitgenössische deutsche Fotografie) in cooperation with the Photographic Collection at the Folkwang Museum since 1982. The funding is aimed at photographers (without age limit) who would like to develop a photographic project over a longer period of time independently of a commissioned work. The call for applications is neither restricted thematically nor assigned to a specific area of photographic practice.

With this open funding programme, the Foundation aims to promote a contemporary artistic exploration of photographic perspectives and modes of representation. The Photographic Collection at the Folkwang Museum is in charge of this funding programme.

Applicants

Photographers from all areas of artistic practice may apply. Applicants must have been living in Germany for at least the last three years but not have German citizenship. There are no age or educational restrictions.

The application for a scholarship must be made in conjunction with a planned photographic project. This project may already have started.

Application documents

Applications must be submitted via the online application portal of the Krupp Foundation. The following documents must be submitted for an application:

Completely filled out online application

Artistic background in German and English

Exposé of the planned project in German and English, each with a maximum of 2,000 characters

Image examples and installation views of earlier works as PDF (max. 8 MB). References to videos and online content should be included in the document via hyperlink.

Scope of funding

The scholarship is endowed with EUR 13,000 and is awarded for a period of one year. At the end of this period, the two award winners will present the projects they have developed at a public event.

Upon completion, documentation and/or examples from the project are to be submitted to the Folkwang Museum. They become part of the Photographic Collection and will be kept available for exhibitions and study purposes. The copyright remains with the authors.

Selection process

The decision regarding the awarding of the scholarship is made by a committee consisting of a representative of the Krupp Foundation, a representative of the Museum Folkwang and three independent experts of international renown selected by the two institutions. The names of the jury members will not be disclosed in advance. The selection procedure is confidential. Information about the reasons for the decision will not be provided. Legal claims to being awarded the scholarship are excluded.

Past scholarship holders

From 1982 to 1992, three scholarships were awarded each year; since 1994, two scholarships have been awarded every two years.

Contact

Thomas Seelig

Museum Folkwang, Photography Collection

Museumsplatz 1
45128 Essen

E-mail: photography@museum-folkwang.essen.de

Phone: +49 (0)201 8845100

For questions about the online application portal and for preparing the application documents:

Angelika Hardetzki

Krupp-Stiftung
Hügel 15
45133 Essen

E-mail: foerderung@krupp-stiftung.de

Phone: +49 (0)201 1884807