Expert Index

MARIANNE AGER (DK) Open call & portfolio reviews

Marianne Ager (b. 1971) works as a curator of photography and film at Kunstmuseum Brandts in Odense, Denmark. She holds a MA degree from the University of Southern Denmark. Her particular field of interest is the concept of storytelling in literature, music, and art/visual culture. She has worked as a culture journalist and wrote reviews of photography books for the Danish Katalog Journal. She was a member of the jury for the Young Nordic Photographer of the Year 2016 award at Fotografiska in Stockholm, Sweden, served on the jury for Riga Photo Biennial’s 2018 talent award, and was a portfolio reviewer at Riga Photo Biennial in 2019. Ager’s primary interests are fine art photography with a powerful narrative, portraiture with a twist, documentary work, and short film projects.

ELINA ANTILLA (FI) Portfolio reviews

Elina Antilla (b. 1963) is a Finnish art historian and museum director. Anttila is educated at the University of Helsinki where she graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Art History and in 2001 a Ph.D. in Art History. She was a researcher at the unit for collections and research at the Finnish National Museum in 2001–2008 and has since served in various positions. In 2014, she was named Director of the Museum.

KARIN ARINGER (SE) Portfolio reviews

Karin Aringer has been working as a specialist at Bukowskis for ten years now. Her speciality is photographs and contemporary art and she is in charge of the Contemporary Art & Design fine art auction at Bukowskis Sweden.

ALEXA BECKER (DE) Open call & portfolio reviews

Alexa Becker is the Acquisitions Editor for photography and art books for Kehrer Verlag. Having obtained her Master’s in Art History from the University of Heidelberg, she started her career at Kehrer in 2003, where she is responsible for selecting and acquiring new photography-related projects. Mrs. Becker provides artistic and marketing advice for photographers concerning the content and style of their work at several international portfolio reviews. She enjoys helping photographers and others appreciate the special qualities present in their work - in particular discovering novel, genuine visions of the world. Mrs. Becker offers the point of view of a European art book publisher and is familiar with the overall art and photography market. As an acquiring editor for Kehrer, she is interested in projects that are based on a personal approach by the photographer towards the subject matter without it being evidently biographical. She is interested in seeing any of the above-mentioned types of projects. She is not open to seeing commercial portfolios. Mrs. Becker serves at several international portfolio reviews as a reviewer and sits on a number of online juries.

STEFAN BREMER (FI) Open call & seminar

Stefan Bremer (FI); Stefan Bremer (b. 1953) has taught in art schools around Finland as well as at the Stockholm School of Photography and the Gothenburg University. He has led photography workshops in Europe and Africa and has exhibited around the world. Bremer was awarded the Finnish State Prize for Photography in 1988 and the Culture Prize of the City of Helsinki in 2011. He was State Art Professor in 1999-2004.

NELA EGGENBERGER (AT) Portfolio reviews

Nela Eggenberger studied Art History in Vienna. Since 2013, she is the chief editor of “EIKON – International Magazine for Photography and Media Art”. Previously, she had various editorial activities, e.g. for frame. the state of the art, MUMOK, WestLicht (all based in Vienna). She was a publisher of 5×5. Photo Tracks (2016) and worked on exhibitions in cooperation with KUNST HAUS WIEN (Pas de Deux, 2015), BAWAG P.S.K. Contemporary (Fragile, 2013, with Gregor Ecker), among others.

MARIA FAARINEN (FI) Portfolio reviews

Maria Faarinen (b. 1981) is a Chief Curator at The Finnish Museum of Photography. She has been working in the museum since 2007. In addition to expertise in contemporary art and exhibition producing, she has an extensive knowledge of photo archives and different genres of photography.

FARIBA FARSHAD (UK) Open call

Fariba Farshad is co-Founder with Michael Benson of Candlestar, a company that specialises in the creation and development of major new international cultural initiatives including Condé Nast College of Fashion and the Prix Pictet, the global photography prize. In 2015, Candlestar inaugurated the first edition of Photo London and in five years, the Fair has established itself as a key event in the international art world calendar. Fariba’s academic career began at UAL, the University of the Arts London, in 1991 when she took up the post of Principal Lecturer in computer design. In 1997 she spearheaded the development of the IT Research and Development Unit, the centre for research in the application of technology in the arts and art education. As a curator and pioneer of creative education, she has been responsible for developing ground-breaking projects, which established the Unit as of centre of excellence for the innovative use of digital media. This brought her many awards, including a BAFTA nomination, during a key period at the University of the Arts. She is renowned as a champion of the work of contemporary Iranian artists. Her ground-breaking exhibition Burnt Generation showcased life in Iran through the lens of eight major photographers, and opened at Somerset House in 2014 and is still touring globally.

ABDELGHANI FENNANE (MA) Open call

Abdelghani Fennane is a poet and essayist, author of works in the fields of poetry, literary criticism, photography criticism. He is the author of a number of books. Among his publications: «La photographie au Maghreb, Paris-Marrakech, Aimance Sud Éditions, 2018».

CARINE VAN GREVEN (BE) Open call

Carine Van Gerven (b. 1966) studied art and painting. Connecting people through art and creative projects is one of her goals. After her graduation, she became an art teacher in a secondary art school in Overpelt, Belgium. As an artist, she organised several projects and participated in many exhibitions in Belgium and France. Over the years, photography became her language to express herself. She tells today’s stories in a historical outlook. From 2016-2018 she was Deputy Mayor of Culture and founded the critically acclaimed photo festival ‘Lens op de Mens’ in Overpelt. After two editions of the festival, Carine is the coordinator and creative lead.

KAROLIINA KORPILAHTI (FI)

Open call Karoliina Korpilahti is a practical arts management professional. She has gained working experience as a lecturer in aesthetics, cultural producer, public relation manager and coordinator for grants at Frame Contemporary Art Finland Foundation for 5 years before getting the position of the Head of the Programme at The Finnish Institute in Estonia. She holds an MA in Aesthetics from the University of Helsinki.

EMANUELA MIRABELLI (IT) Portfolio reviews

Born in Milan, she has always been intrigued by all that is expressed through the images. After high school she started to write movie reviews for magazines, while studying art history at the University. In parallel she developed a deep interest in photography which has translated soon into a profession. She worked for Photo magazine and then became the executive director of Carla Sozzani Gallery, the leading photography gallery in Milan. Since 2003, she is working as photo editor of Marie Claire Italy magazine, where she publishes a huge variety of works, from classic reportages to new languages in contemporary photography, as well fine art portfolios and a huge variety of authors, from new talents to worldwide well-known photographers. Also, she writes texts and holds various lectures about photography and courses about photo editing. She does portfolio reviews in many festivals and she is a jury member of international photo awards.

MORITZ NEUMÜLLER (AT) Portfolio reviews

Moritz Neumüller, is a Barcelona-based curator, educator and writer in the field of Photography and New Media. He has worked for institutions such as MoMA New York, La Fábrica Madrid and PhotoIreland Festival. He is the academic director of the Photo Department of IED Madrid, and a regular contributor to magazines such as European Photography, foam and Photoresearcher. Since 2010, he is running The Curator Ship, an online resource for visual artists. Recent curatorial projects for Daegu Biennial (Korea), Photobook Week Aarhus (DK), and The Birmingham Library (UK).

CURT RICHTER (US) Open call & workshop

Curt Richter is an accomplished photographer and lecturer. His works are part of the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Bibliothèque Nationale, and many more. Born in New York City, he earned a BFA from SUNY Purchase and assisted the architectural photographer Ezra Stoller. As a teacher of photography, he has taught in the US, UK and Finland.

RAFAEL RYBCZYNSKI (DK) Open call & portfolio reviews

Rybczynski has been building his professional career in the cultural and creative industries for over 20 years. He is known for fostering emerging and established talents. He provides direction, guidance, and inspiration. He has worked for artists, brands, and startups with new products and services, creativity and innovation, events, sourcing, creating, and publishing digital and visual content. In 2017, he founded Helsinki Photo Festival and since then has been at the helm of this project. He has curated over 100 artists and developed site-specific art exhibitions. Rafael has an MSc degree in Interaction Design from Malmö University in Sweden, and a BA from KEA - Copenhagen School of Design and Technology in Denmark.

STIG M. WESTON (NO) Open call & portfolio reviews

Stig Marlon Weston (b. 1974) is based in Oslo, Norway. He shares his time between his own practice as a photo artist, running the studio collective CYAN studio and working as a commercial photographer. Focusing on process based and philosophical photography Stig uses cameraless techniques and analog processes to make his pictures become unique proofs of a truth unseen by human eyes. He wants to connect the subject closer to image and aims to encourage the viewer to reflect on what they expect to see and understand in a photograph. His work has been exhibited in many countries. Also, Stig curates and organizes exhibitions and photography events with other photographers ́ works.

NITA VERA (FI) Portfolio reviews

Nita Vera (b. 1986) is a visual artist working with photography, text, cinematography, performance, and installation in my artistic practice. Currently, she is working on her PhD studies at the Aalto University of Art, Design and Architecture.

NAOYA YOSHIKAWA (JP) Open call & portfolio reviews

Artist of Photography, Professor at Osaka University of Arts. Photography, B.F.A., Arts and Culture, M.A. 20002001, Osaka University of Arts. Guest Scholar of Long Island University, New York / Overseas Study Program for Artists of the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan. Director of Daegu Photo Biennale 2016, Korea. 350 and more numerous exhibitions, festivals, workshops in many countries.