Dummy Award 2024
420 books from 44 countries were submitted for the 2024 Dummy Award.
The shortlist selection resulted in 51 photobooks.
420 books from 44 countries were submitted for the 2024 Dummy Award.
The shortlist selection resulted in 51 photobooks.
Shortlist 2024
Browse all shortlisted books on our Youtube channel
Lea Greub, DE
Ellen Smeets, BE
Reconstructions as fundamental methods
23 x 27cm, 112pp
softcover, Swiss brochure, open spine
Aimilia A. Theofilopoulos, DE
Die Wand ist nicht tragend
22,5 x 31,5cm, 70pp
softcover with little saddle stitched booklet
Yoshikatsu Fujii, JP
Nagi
21 × 27cm, 130pp
softcover, Japanese fold with Japanese binding
MAryam Touzani, NL/MA
Maktub
18 x 25cm, 64pp
softcover, two saddle stitched booklets in cardboard fold
Emanuele Occhipinti, IT
A’ Muntagna
16 x 21cm, 200pp
hardcover with canvas, thread binding
Debora Mabel Caro Reyes, CL
Unterwegs
13 x 9cm, 88pp
3 softcover booklets with a saddle stitch binding, enclosed in a folder
Vixtoria Salomonsen, DK
Your Eyes
14,5 x 19cm, 160pp
softcover, Swiss brochure, open spine
Oleg Savunov, RU
Nostalgia for Ruins
29,7 x 41,6cm, 22pp
soft cover, saddle stitched
Marika Kochiashvili, GE/ UK
Edith Geuppert, DE
The Procedure
16,5 x 24,0cm, 136pp
softcover with open spine in a plastic bag
Taisuke Nakano, JP
Phantom/Vibration
18,2 × 25,7cm, 192pp
softcover, Japanese fold with Japanese binding
Kazuhei Kimura, JP
Teona Mskhvilidze, GE
Federico Possati, IT
Almanac of Forgotten Memories
14,8 x 20cm, 368pp
softcover, perfect bound
Edgar Martinez, VE
Lucky
18,4 x 22,7cm, 184pp
softcover, saddle stitched with belly band
Amanda Sauer, US
Giant Willow Oak
27 x 40,7cm, 68pp
softcover, Swiss brochure, bound to cover
Martin de Crignis, DE
The Beauty & The Boys
18cm x 24cm, 200pp
softcover, wire-o-binding
Byron Co, PH/DE
MOMENTOUS
23 x 31,5cm, 168pp
hardcover, thread binding, with glassine inserts
Teresa Pistorius, DE
Like the Waves Appear and Disappear and Appear Again
21 x 27cm, 72pp
hardcover, Swiss brochure, open spine
Yulia Skogoreva, RU
SALT AND TEARS
21 x 24cm, 128pp
softcover, Japanese binding in a traditional Japanese box
Victoria Jung, DE
Francesca Bergamini, IT
Bruce Eesly, DE
Hayun Chun, KR
/imagine prompt: a swimming pool for artist
15 x 15cm, 104 pp
hardcover in a miniature pool
Kyosei Yoshiike, JP
Arez Ghaderi, IR
Hello Italy
11,5 x 1 5,5cm, 96pp
softcover, thread binding with fold outs
Patrik Fica, CZ
Rave in The Grave
20 x 27,4cm, 111pp
softcover, perfect bound, risograph printed
Colectivo Estética Unisex, MX/ CO
The Book of the Four Actions
12 x 17cm, 208pp
softcover, open spine
Keiji Fujimoto, JP
equals zero
21 x 14.5cm, 222pp
9 saddle stitched booklets tied together in a slipcase
Laila Nahar, US
Will you come to Rome with me?
14 x 20,3cm, 128pp
hardcover, Swiss brochure, open spine
Amparo Baquerizas, AR/ ES
Gauchito Querido
18,5 x 23,5cm, 502pp
hardcover Swiss brochure, ribbon page markers
Louis Roth, DE
Chloé Nicosia, FR
Lin Wei-Lun, TW
Cynthia Ruf, DE
creating something leads to nothing
18,5 x 25cm, 144pp
hardcover, open spine
Carolin Klemm, DE
Bantam rot
15 x 21cm, 96pp
hardcover, thread binding with saddle stitched appendix booklet
Dhika Prabowo, ID
Luisa Maria Stagno, CO/LU
Alexey Yurenev, RU
Julia Bohle, DE
SOLSTICE
21 x 29,7cm, 40pp
softcover, open spine, saddle stitched, red acetate cover
Anique Jordan, CA
Onnis Luque, MX
Guillaume Holzer, FR
“These dummies are amazingly thought of and very well printed: many of them are ready to stop being dummies!”
Nina Strand
Jury Member
Meet the 2024 Jury*
The shortlist jury of the Dummy Award 2024 is made up of an interesting and diverse group of experts of different areas in the photobook field – ranging from a curator to a designer, from an editor to a photographer and from a museum director to a printer. The jury met in Cologne on March 9th 2024.
* Sophia Greiff (DE)
is co-head of program and curator at C/O Berlin. As a doctoral candidate at the Folkwang University of the Arts her focus is on the research-based-photobook. She worked as a graduate research assistant in the Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography program at Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Previously, Sophia co-curated the Fotodoks Festival for Contemporary Documentary Photography for many years.
* Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo (COL)
is the founder of 20Fotógrafos and Colectivo+1 and Editor at Raya Editorial. Santiago curated the collective exhibition “Conflict and Peace” of the Commission for the Clarification of the Truth, Colombia and had his projects exhibited in over 100 solo and group exhibitions, such as Trasatlántica-PhotoEspaña, Fototeca de Cuba and Unseen-Amsterdam.
* Nina Strand (NO)
is a photographer, writer and founder of Objektiv Press. Nina holds a BA in project management, and a MA in creative writing. She works with image and text and uses the book as her gallery. Most recently, she’s published the photo-novel Current Condition (Journal, 2023).
* Ramon Pez (UK)
is a creative director & curator. His studio practice is based in London and focuses on stories and narrative experiments within editorial & Art projects that blend different platforms. As well as that, Pez is currently Art Director at Thames & Hudson Publishing and creating experimental workshops on books.
* Charlotte Schmitz (DE)
is a documentary photographer using collaborative practices and long term research to challenge traditional documentary perspectives. She is the co-founder of Friendzone.Studio and The Journal, a global photography collective of several hundred women and non-binary photographers and she is the first recipient of the »FotoEvidence W Award« with her book La Puente, published in 2019.
* Ufuk Şahin (TR)
studied photography at Hofstra University, NY. Since 2007, he has been part of the core team at MAS printing house as the second-generation manager and partner. In 2010, he founded MASA, a publishing house specializing in facsimiles, photobooks and art-books; which has since published more than 40 books. He is a photography enthusiast and an avid photobook collector.
* Frederic Lezmi (DE)
is a photographer, designer and photobook curator. He is artistic director of The PhotoBookMuseum in Cologne, wich he co-founded together with Markus Schaden in 2014. Frederic teaches photobook design at various universities and faculties in Germany (FH Dortmund, FH Hannover and DHBW Ravensburg).
Jury Statement:
TREES, HOLES & MIRRORS
From my studies in architecture, I remember that the first and most important step before building a real-size monstrosity in concrete was to construct a scale model that is precisely scaled to test its thickness and the image it will promise in the future streets. It was therefore very interesting to hear Markus Schaden, director of the PhotoBookMuseum, talk to Ramón Pez about how the term ‘dummy’ was applied to books in the early days. New photocopying technology and simple hand-binding techniques were used to create simple mock-ups, with prints glued directly onto blank paper. Photographers and publishers began to use dummies as models to project the anticipated reality of what was yet to be printed in larger editions.
For me, a dummy is the opportunity to experiment with different materials, the rhythm, the forms. But also with the theme, the meaning, the atmosphere, and of course the design, the fonts, the layout of the pages. Sophia Greiff thinks it’s important that a dummy is understood and seen as a prototype, a maquette, and that “no publisher or gallerist can tell you how to do it”. Charlotte Schmitz agrees, adding that she looks for the artists’ personal visions and that “the books don’t have to be completely perfect yet”.
For Ufuk Şahin, a dummy is a test object, but one that is only one or two steps away from being published. For a dummy award, the books should be almost ready to be printed, as the binding and the sequence won’t be changed. “It has to be a publishable book, close to the finish line,” he says. Ramon Péz agrees. As a designer, he is particularly interested in how the binding, design and choice of paper suggest the story the authors want to tell. Looking at the final selection of dummies, Nina Strand says: “These dummies are amazingly thought of and very well printed: many of them are ready to stop being dummies! The quality is very high!”
Each year, the Dummy Award acts as a “barometer” of what is happening in photography around the world. This year, many books focused on authors looking at themselves, delving into their own personal dreams, fears, struggles. There are projects that focus on self-introspection and identity and memoirs that observe the past or try to recover what has been lost. We also saw many projects about – and made by – non-binary, LGBTIQ+ and women photographers. They made up more than half of the submissions, which is reflected in the selection of fifty finalists. However, statements about social and political tensions, wars and social injustice didn’t take up as much space as in previous years. The judges also hope to see even more books from Latin America, the Middle East and Africa next year.
“Trees, holes and mirrors” were often seen during the judging process. Perhaps it’s a reflection of our self-awareness and our connection to nature. In this sense, a hole is not an endless vacuum to dig into, but a portal that connects us to the other side of the pond; to ourselves.
Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo & the jurors of the Dummy Award ’24.
The World Tour 2024
Two boxes with the 51 shortlisted dummy travel the world! Worldwide dummy exposure guaranteed!
Tour dates
The PhotoBookMuseum, Cologne, Germany → 16.03. – 25.04.2024
Grisart, Barcelona, Spain → 2.05.-28.05.2024
Istituto Italiano di Fotografia, Milano, Italy → 15.05.–15.06.2024
Fotofestiwal, Łódź, Poland → 13.06.-23.06.2024
Rencontres Arles, France → 01.07.-6.07.2024
Lovely House, São Paulo, Brazil → 24.08.-26.08.2024
FELIFA, Buenos Aires, Argentina → 27.09.-29.09.2024
Hong Kong Photobook Festival, Hong Kong → 4.10.-10.11.2024
Subject to change – check latest tour dates on Instagram
If you are organising a festival or run an institution or art space and you are interested in hosting the Dummy Award Shortlist please get in touch with . We are especially looking forward to add locations in Africa and North/South America to our world tour.