In the BildBotschaft Hamburg, we created a space for dialog for six exciting weeks at the end of 2025.
We have celebrated photography with exhibitions, participatory journalism and educational work and opposed fakes, disinformation and AI tricks – now more than ever!
Whether curious passers-by, passionate photo fans or media professionals – everyone was welcome at the BildBotschaft!
Especially in turbulent times, we need photos more than ever. They touch us, inspire us, amaze us – and also make us think and discuss.
Our program was divided into five subject areas:
You can look forward to a varied pop-up program with exciting workshops and talks, award-winning exhibitions and reports, photo contests, free fun shoots, great prizes and unique gift ideas for all things photo-related.
Tue-Sat from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the satellite at Mönckebergstraße 3 (right next to Media Markt).
All events are free of charge.
November 2 to 15: “Young Perspectives”
How do young people see the world? What topics are important to them? How would they tell their stories themselves?
Answers to these questions are provided by the nationwide “Jugend fotografiert Deutschland” competition organized by the non-profit laif foundation.
Participants practise dealing with ideas, research and visual documentation. An understanding of the challenges of photojournalism and the ability to criticize sources are also encouraged.
In the exhibition, we are showing an interim status of the photo stories submitted so far.
Submissions for the next round are still possible until April 17, 2026 and the award ceremony will take place in May 2026.
More information directly at www.jugendfotografiert.org
A cultural education project of the Deichtorhallen Hamburg with six Hamburg students on the subject of fake news
The internet is considered the most democratic medium of all. Anyone can post, comment and share on an equal footing. And young people in particular use social media to get information, but they also run the risk of falling for false reports, as news is often embellished and manipulated. They often lack the criteria to differentiate between reputable and dubious sources and to assess the credibility of news. On the one hand, this relates to political fake news (false news), which can lead to a loss of diversity of information if disseminated uncritically and can be a threat to democracy, but on the other hand it also relates to very “personal” fake news such as self-promotion on media such as Instagram and TikTok. Users are constantly presented with the image of the perfect person and an exciting life, whether through image editing or cropping out the surroundings.
Participating schools: Charlotte-Paulsen-Gymnasium, Gymnasium Buckhorn, Emilie-Wüstenfeld-Gymnasium, Reformschule Winterhude, Gymnasium Allee, ReBBZ Billstedt (Regionales-Bildungs- und Beratungszentrum)
Coordination of the project: Birgit Hübner, Head of Cultural Education at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg
Project idea and artistic direction: André Lützen
Photographs: André Lützen
Artistic collaboration and realization: Nora Luttmer and Ruth Marie Kröger
The students’ work on the topic of fake news can be seen on the website designed especially for the project:
LINK => klubderkuenste.com
+ In addition, the permanent exhibition “laif – 20 positions in documentary photography”
Events
November 2: Event photography workshop with Christina Cybik (fully booked)
November 4: School workshop: Photojournalism: Is it still important or can it go? With Marco Larousse and Ulf Schmidt-Funke.
(closed event in the Wilhelmsburg district school as part of the 3rd Hamburg Press Freedom Week)
November 8
10 a.m.: Reportage photography workshop with Aliona Kardash (fully booked)
from 2 pm: ❤️❤️❤️ Opening of the BildBotschaft Hamburg as part of the 3rd Hamburg Week of Press Freedom and award ceremony for the “Jugend fotografiert Deutschland” competition(jugendfotografiert.org)
November 12 and 13:
School workshop by KIDS LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY (closed event)
November 12 and 13:
Jan von Holleben: Presentation of the book “100 times typical Germany”. An illustrated book not only for children. From the Advent wreath, aspirin and the autobahn to beer, kebab and nudism to Winnetou, sausages and crosswalks. A wonderfully entertaining ride through German cultural history.
November 18 to 22: “Street Photography”
Exhibitions
Seeing the extraordinary in ordinary everyday life and documenting it photographically – that is the art of street photography.
Street photography is an artistic-documentary genre of photography with over 100 years of history. It is an essential part of our contemporary visual memory and shows future generations what unposed life is really like in the present, instead of being staged in the best possible way.
The exhibition shows a selection of humorous and critical motifs on our changing society.
A long-term photographic project about our country
Dr. Britta Kohl-Boas, Oliver Jockers and Bastian Hertel provide insights into their current photographic work.
The book project DEUTSCHLANDWEIT 49/58 started at the beginning of 2024 under the working title “49 € Germany”. Since then, the three photographers have regularly reported on their experiences during the development of the project. They are accompanied in this creative development phase by Ruth Stoltenberg and Peter Bialobrzeski.
With DEUTSCHLANDWEIT 49/58, the three photographers embark on “another journey to the Germans”, using regional public transport as a connecting element. Three perspectives on an ever-changing subject: Germany.
Britta, Oliver and Bastian have already explored themes such as home, belonging and movement in an urban context in earlier works.
With DEUTSCHLANDWEIT 49/58, they are working as a trio for the first time. They travel partly together, partly alone – and deliberately leave the big cities to focus on the smaller places and spaces in between. With the Deutschlandticket, they explore the complexity of the regions – right across Germany.
+ In addition, the permanent exhibition “laif – 20 positions in documentary photography”
Events
November 20 from 18:00:
DEUTSCHLANDWEIT 49/58 –
Dr. Britta Kohl-Boas, Oliver Jockers and Bastian Hertel explore Germany by public transport. In our talk, they tell you what they learned about their home country and themselves in the process.
November 21 from 5:30 p.m.: Tishman Speyer / Urban Land Institute (Closed event)
November 22, 4 pm:
PHOTOBOOK PRESENTATION
Street photographer @SVENSONPHOTO presents his new photo book MONO/POLY with a talk.
25.11. until 6.12.: “Photojournalism and documentary photography”
Exhibitions
Kneipensterben – a word in the German vocabulary that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
For a long time, pubs were part of life. They were the meeting place par excellence. laif photographer Aliona Kardash went from bar to bar with her camera for Stern magazine to document the pub phenomenon. During her photo reportage, she not only discovered many traditional pubs, but also lots of stories:
“I’ve been to three birthdays, toasted a pub reopening and a good cruise, mourned the 4-0 defeat with Schalke fans, met the greatest man in Hamburg and had countless wonderful encounters.
Here are some of the pictures shown in the exhibition: => link
Aliona Kardash (1990) is a documentary photographer from Siberia who lives in Hamburg. She is a member of the DOCKS Collective and is represented by the laif agency. Among many other awards, she received the World Press Photo Award in 2025 for her long-term series “Zuhause riecht es nach Rauch”.
With the exhibition Daniel Chatard provides an insight into the current interim status of his long-term work “European Prospects”. The project aims to confront the European idea of a continent united in peace with the manifold crises it is facing today.
With his photo series, Chatard wants to make the presence of the partly abstract, partly manifest threats of war, climate change and a changing global power constellation tangible. Traveling through Europe by car, bus, train, plane, on foot and by hitchhiking, he aims to create an experiential portrait of contemporary European reality in the face of these challenges, a social and psychological landscape of the continent.
Daniel Chatard won the “TruePicture Award” for “European Prospects”. “TruePicture Award” for “European Prospects”. In addition to financial support, TruePicture will provide the winners with expertise and mentoring during the 18 months of work on their photo reportages.
Last year, Daniel Chatard won the World Press Photo Award in the “Long Term Projects” category in the Europe region for his photo series “No Man’s Land”.
The photographer Rafael Heygster documents the AfD’s calculated self-presentation at public events. His images show how the party uses dominant rhetoric, provocation and demonstrations of power to stage itself and normalize social division in the process.
Heygster 2025 won the World Press Photo Award in the “Stories” category in the Europe region for this long-term observation. => link
Munaqabba – this is a reference to the Arabic term for “woman with a face veil”.
Why is the so-called burqa debate in Germany so emotional? And why is it that those who are at stake are the least likely to have their say? The photographer Selina Pfrüner and decided to find out more about the realities of these fully veiled women’s lives through encounters and conversations.
The dialog with the so-called munaqabbis became the basis of the project, in which Selina Pfrüner approaches the phenomenon of full veiling in Germany in a sensitive yet direct way. In interviews, she talks to munaqabbis about their everyday lives, their beliefs, discovers similarities and differences – and reflects on what the otherness of others does to us. She provides unusual insights into a veiled reality – including video portraits, audio contributions and photographs of the clothing that women wear under the full veil.
More information about the project: => link
The photos in this report were taken by Michael Billig and Marius Münstermann for the GREENPEACE magazine as part of an investigative research project.
The subject was illegal landfills in Germany – a phenomenon that the photographer would not have expected in this country. During his research, he learned how individuals systematically dump waste and make enormous profits from it. The journalists sneaked onto the sites, took samples that were later analyzed in laboratories and waited outside the homes of suspected masterminds to ask them for a statement.
It was recently announced that the landfill site in Güstrow has now been cleared. A small success for the environment, financed with taxpayers’ money.
After studying photojournalism and documentary photography in Hanover, Jonas Wresch was awarded the Jonas Wresch (1988) received the STERN “Young Photography” scholarship. Since then, he has been photographing stories worldwide and accompanying people in extraordinary situations: He traveled to Iraq with the German Foreign Minister for Stern magazine, portrayed former guerrilla fighters in the Colombian jungle for DIE ZEIT and documented the missions of sea rescuers in the North Sea for GEO.
Wresch took part in the World Press Photo Masterclass and his work has been recognized with the Freelens Award, Photographer of the Year Latin America, CHIPP and Days Japan, among others. He is a juror for the Hansel Mieth Prize and the Gabriel Grüner Scholarship.
He lives in Hamburg and regularly works on long-term projects in Colombia.
+ G20 in Hamburg
+ In addition, the permanent exhibition “laif – 20 positions in documentary photography”
Events
November 29
12 – 5 p.m.:
Photo book market – creative Christmas gifts from BildBotschaft
Photographers present and sell their photo books and there are great postcard motifs to give away or collect.
From 4 pm:
Pics and Pretzels – meeting of laif photographers from Hamburg and the surrounding area
At 5 pm:
Selina Pfrüner on her project “Munaqabba – About women in full veil in Germany” (Screening & Talk)
In a social climate that seems divided and polarized, in which feelings of “us versus them” are increasingly prevalent, it is all the more important to start talking to each other at eye level again and to see people as more than just their group membership.
Listening empathically does not mean having to agree, but rather enabling real understanding. Being open to the perspectives and realities of others is like a muscle that you can train. Sometimes the training sessions are pretty tough, but this skill can help us to live well together, especially in these times.
The dialog with the so-called Munaqabbis became the basis of the project, in which Selina Pfrüner approaches the phenomenon of full veiling in Germany in a sensitive and yet direct way.
More information in the exhibition text above.
November 30 from 10 am – 2 pm:
Selina Pfrüner workshop:
Democracy workshop – active listening & reading pictures (fully booked)
December 4 at 5 pm:
Reporters Without Borders:
Photography and journalism in repressive dictatorships – insights from Eastern Europe and Central Asia
In Russia, Belarus and the Central Asian countries, freedom of the press is massively restricted. Nevertheless, photojournalists on the ground provide important insights: from people fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh to Russian military recruitment and the gilded palaces of Turkmenistan. How do journalists work under these conditions? What do they look out for when reporting in closed, authoritarian states? laif talks about this with Alena Struzh, Eastern Europe desk officer at Reporters Without Borders.
December 6
5 p.m.:
Artist Talk with Daniel Chatard
Daniel Chatard has just been awarded silver in the “Documentary Photography” category at the German Photo Book Award for his photo book “Niemandsland”. The work shows the conflict between the energy industry, the environment and society and documents a region in transition.
He will answer questions about this project and give an insight into the current interim status of his long-term work “European Prospects”, which is being exhibited at BildBotschaft.
December 9 to 13: “Hamburg, architecture and urban development”
Exhibitions
Markus Dorfmüller and Johanna Klier have been regularly photographing for the “hamburger bauhefte” series published by Schaff-Verlag since 2017. The booklets shine a spotlight on individual buildings, explain the history of their creation and use and create an awareness of the emergence of architecture in its historical, social and cultural contexts. In the meantime, 41 hamburger bauhefte have been published, all of which contribute to archiving the built city! Schaff publishing house
“hamburger bauhefte” Markus Dorfmüller | Johanna Klier –> Link
Axel Beyer was awarded the Georg-Georg Koopmann Prize for Hamburg City Photography in 2019.
We are showing his three Hamburg series “TEMPORÄRE EINSICHTEN”, “Bye Bye, City-Hof” und “STADT RÄUME”.
More information can be found here –> Link
We also show series from
Events
December 9 at 5 pm:
Exhibition opening: Markus Dorfmüller | Johanna Klier –> Link
December 11 at 6 pm:
Dr. Jörg Schilling: Presentation of the “hamburger bauhefte” by Schaff-Verlag
Photography / Architecture / Communication
The hamburger bauhefte from Schaff-Verlag are a medium for communicating local architecture – consisting of equal parts text and images. The photographers Dorfmüller Klier document and comment in their own way on what the texts describe – without much staging, soberly but artistically presented.
Together, images and text enable a dialog with the built environment, they promote an engagement with architecture, which is an important contribution to our cultural and social self-image. We see this as the task of the hamburger bauhefte, in a fruitful collaboration that has already lasted many issues.
–> Link
December 12 at 5 pm:
“The visual memory of the city of Hamburg”
Panel talk with Alexander Hagmann, Axel Beyer and Irina Ruppert. –> Link
December 13, 12 – 6 p.m:
Photo book market – creative Christmas gifts from BildBotschaft
Photographers present and sell their photo books and there are great postcard motifs to give away or collect.
December 14 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m:
Erol Gurian: Photo workshop “Mein Kiez – Meine Crew – Meine Hood”. Followed by a public presentation and discussion.
The workshop is aimed at young people with a migration background.
On December 14, laif photographer, photojournalist and lecturer Erol Gurian will lead an intensive one-day workshop in which you will learn how to take portraits of your friends in places of your choice – up close and with your own unique perspective.
The pictures and stories will then be presented and discussed together at BildBotschaft Hamburg.
Registration to: info@laif-foundation.org
December 16-20: “YoungPerspectives” and photojournalism
Exhibitions
Events
December 16 from 16:30 to 18:00:
Media literacy workshop at the St. Pauli district school (closed event)
December 18 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m:
Partner workshop of the Canon Academy:
Canon Color Walks – Discover Hamburg in a blaze of light
Experience the magic of Christmas at the Canon Color Walk: discover Hamburg in festive red together with Canon lecturer Fabienne Engel. Focus, creativity and lots of inspiration – plus the chance to test Canon lenses and cameras for free. The meeting point is at the BildBotschaft in Mönckebergstr. 3.
Register now on the Canon Academy homepage: –> Link
December 18 and 19 from 2 pm:
Presentation of the new issue of the magazine unartig.harburg.
unartig.harburg arose from the desire to give space to young voices in the south of Hamburg. Since 2020, the experts at Kulturwohnzimmer e.V. have been working with young people from Harburg and Süderelbe to create a magazine that is uncomfortable, honest and creative – a place for perspectives that are otherwise often lacking.
More info: –>Link
There will also be lots of hands-on activities and offers from Kulturwohnzimmer e.V.‘s youth work.
December 20
2 p.m.
Presentation of the final works of our youth picture editors.
Finally, we celebrate photojournalism and documentary photography once again.
With Aliona Kardash and Rafael Heygster, we have two photographers on our stage who were honored with a World Press Photo Award in 2025. They represent two very different approaches to how political topics can be processed and told through photojournalism.
4 p.m.
Talk with Aliona Kardash.
The photojournalist and documentary photographer was awarded the World Press Photo Award 2025 in the “Long Term Project” category in Europe. In a talk with Marco Larousse, she will provide insights into her working methods and the conditions under which photojournalism takes place in Germany today.
17:00
Rafael Heygster: On the media’s handling of the AFD. (Discourse event)
How do photojournalists actually deal with being commissioned to cover the AfD?
Rafael Heygster and Thomas Victor have been photographing the AfD for national newspapers such as Die Zeit and Der Spiegel for several years.
In a panel talk with plenty of room for discussion afterwards, Rafael Heygster talks about what they think about when they are commissioned:
from 6 pm:
♥ ♥ ♥ PARTY ♥ ♥ ♥
Get-together of the Hamburg photo community and all those involved in BildBotschaft – whether exhibitors, helping hands or the public.
Totally positive, I'm surprised that so many people came and are still coming. I like the pop-up style, I find it likeable and uncomplicated.
Generally totally enthusiastic... There are so many people (outside our bubble) who are involved in photography here.
In times where the discourse is quite divergent and there is only black and white, it's super important that more people engage with more topics. It's great that we're taking our work out of the photojournalistic context and putting it back on the streets.
Many thanks to our partners
