In cooperation with the Sprengel Museum Hannover
This prize is designed to stress the significance of photography as a artistic medium ranking with the rest of the fine arts. It also draws attention to the role of the Sprengel Museum Hannover which is one of the few important museums in Germany to devote an entire department to the collection and study of photography. The prize was created with the photographic tradition of the Sprengel Museum's Spectrum Gallery (1972-1992) in mind.
The prize is awarded to a prominent artist in the field of photography and includes an exhibition and catalogue at the Sprengel Museum. The cash award is 15.000 €.
2009 the jury of five persons (Geoffrey Batchen, Frits Gierstberg, Christine Frisinghelli, Joachim Werren und Inka Schube) decided to award the prize to the Iranian photographer Bahman Jalali, who is living in Tehran. He will receive the prize on the occasion of the opening of a retrospective of his work in spring 2010 at the Spengel Museum Hannover.
The previous prize-winners:
- 2008: Helen Levitt
- 2005: Martha Rosler/USA
- 2002: Sophie Calle/France
- 1999: John Baldessari/USA
- 1997: Thomas Struth/Germany
- 1994: Robert Adams/USA
The Spectrum Photography Prize is awarded by a jury of five persons. Standing members are the General Secretary of the Foundation of Lower Saxony (up to 2008 Dominik v. König, since 2009 Joachim Werren) and the Director of the Photography and Media Collection of the Sprengel Museum, (up to 2000 Thomas Weski, since summer of 2001 Inka Schube). They are joined for each prize by three personalities from the field of photography (see download).