Being part of the jury of the Kassel Dummy Award

Being one of those who judges the best dummy out there puts you in a privileged position. You will be among a group of people who will have insight into some of the most compelling issues that artists are working on, as well as an interesting look into what could possibly become a masterpiece or define a trend. Being part of the jury of the Kassel Dummy Award involves all of this and brings a considerable amount of responsibility with it as well. The process is long, the applications are numerous and the level is high. This means trying to find a good strategy in order to be able to set the best work in the right time, leaving some scope for discussion and feedback. Since the very beginning — or better, first box — me and the other members of the jury noticed that our mission was far from being easy: many interesting projects, many diversified books and approaches to the book. It was exciting to encounter the creativity of many artists who conceive the book as a proper work of art rather than as a container or simply a beautiful object. In this sense, we had a great discussion on the concept of the dummy and how a good layout influences the opinion one has on it. I must say that among all the entries there were only few examples of objects that felt like a “draft”; on the contrary, many of the books were presented with an elaborate design and good printing quality and paper. I, sometimes, found it very hard to judge them without being influenced. According to my concept of a dummy, I want to see a “work in progress”, an object that leaves room for a certain degree of speculation. This said, I must admit that the overall quality of the entries was a perfect mirror of how access to technical supplies and knowledge is becoming easier and easier. But this is not always good. On many occasions I had the feeling that a stronger edit or a different sequence, as well as a different format, would have enhanced a book. Self-publishing is great as soon as skills are shared among professionals. What strategy did I adopt so as to understand what to pick and what not? “Only killers, no fillers”, to quote Frederic Lezmi with which we started the jury session. What do I think makes a book a “killer”? I’ve been trying to focus less on the form and more on the work. A strong conceptual approach to the subject and a functional way to spread it across the pages of the book are a conditio sine qua non for attracting my interest. Then a dash of creativity and a total awareness of the choices do the rest. I’ve been trying to look at books that I felt were complete at the level of the story. Books with a specific and coherent structure. I’ve been trying to read the texts and discuss with the other members of the jury, sometimes I then even changed my mind. The first round was hard, but we made it to a first long shortlist! The second round was harder, in fact. At that stage, all the remaining books were eligible to enter the final shortlist. We went accurately back to all of them, we discussed and shared our thoughts until we selected the last 50. In the end, we all agreed and managed to make a strong shortlist that touches on important topics and different approaches to the photo book. The resulting travelling exhibition will be a valuable place to see some amazing works.

Congratulations to all the artists who made it and
thanks to all the participants.
Salvatore Vitale (Editor in Chief of YET Magazine, Lausanne).

SHORTLIST JURY

Valentina Abenavoli (Akina Books, Istanbul)

Anne-Katrin Bicher (Montag Stiftung, Bonn)

Sonia Berger (Dalpine Publishers, Madrid)

Andrea Schmidt (Verlag Kettler, Dortmund)

Frederic Lezmi (Photographer, The PhotoBookMuseum, Cologne)

Markus Schaden (The PhotoBookMuseum, Cologne)

Salvatore Vitale (Photographer, Editor in Chief of YET Magazine, Lausanne)

Dieter Neubert (Fotobookfestival Kassel, Director, Kassel)

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FINAL JURY

Valentina Abenavoli, Akina Books, Istanbul

Morten Andersen, photographer and bookmaker, Oslo

Andrea Schmidt, Verlag Kettler, Dortmund

JH Engström, artist, Värmland/ Paris

Pierre Bessard, publisher, Editions Bessard, Paris

Corinne Noordenbos, photographer and educator, Amsterdam

Dana Lixenberg, artist, Amsterdam/ New York

Susan Meiselas, artist, Magnum Foundation, New York

Salvatore Vitale, YET magazine, Lausanne

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THE SHORTLIST EXHIBITIONS

The 53 shortlisted photobook dummies will be on display at:

Dublin, PhotoIreland Festival, 01 – 31 May, The Library Project

Kassel, Fotobookfestival, 31 May – 03 June, documenta-Halle

Hamburg, Triennial of Photography Hamburg, 07 – 17 June, Deichtorhallen Hamburg

Madrid, IED – Istituto Europeo di Design, July

Rom, FotoLeggendo, 08 June – 15 July, Officine Fotografiche Roma

Zagreb, Organ Vida – International Photography Festival,10 – 16 September

Cologne, Internationale Photoszene Köln, 21 September – 14 October

Aarhus, Photobook Week Aarhus, 04 – 07 October

Nida, Photography Seminar Litauen, 02 – 09 September

Dresden, Zentralbibliothek im Kulturpalast Dresden, from 01 November

Tokyo (projected), The Tokyo Art Book Fair, Spring 2019

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