"Foam Talent" is an internationally renowned talent program for young artists under the age of 40, which is organised by the Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam Foam since 2007. Through an annual talent call, Foam invites artists who work with the photographic medium to submit their portfolios. From the many submissions, works by 20 outstanding artists are selected to be featured in the Talent issue of Foam Magazine. In addition, the works are shown in an exhibition touring various international institutions. The program allows young artists to present their work to a diverse audience of professionals and the general public.

The Fotografiemuseum Foam is a worldwide operating museum for contemporary photography based in Amsterdam. In addition to its extensive, varied exhibition programme, Within the scope of its efforts to support and promote young talents, the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation has been a partner of the Foam Talent program since 2017. Each year, works by an artist from the Foam Talent program are acquired for the Art Collection Deutsche Börse as part of the cooperation. 

Acquired artists:

2021  Daniel Castro Garcia (UK/ESP)
2020  Philip Montgomery (US)
2019  Maisie Cousins (UK) und Sylvain Couzinet-Jacques (FR)
2018  Weronika Gęsicka (PL)

The Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam again chose 20 emerging artists whose work will be featured in the Foam Magazine #61: Talent (published in February 2022) and the accompanying Talent Programme and exhibitions in 2022. This year, the submission numbers to Foam’s Talent Call — which have steadily increased each year — reached a record high of 1,938 submissions from 85 different countries. 

The artists of the Foam Talents programme 2022 are:  Marwan Bassiouni, Myriam Boulos, Olgaç Bozalp, Laura Chen, Kata Geibl, Lina Geoushy, Marvel Harris, Alexandra Rose Howland, Ange-Frédéric Koffi, Czar Kristoff, Yushi Li, Carla Liesching, Seif Kousmate, Pavo Marinović, Diego Moreno, Donja Nasseri, Ghazaleh Rezaei, Linn Phyllis Seeger, Ritsch Sisters, Donavon Smallwood.

More information about the past Foam Talent editions here. You can also visit the digital Foam Talent 2022 exhibition online.

Series "La jeune photographie allemande"

With the exhibition series "La jeune photographie allemande" we have been focusing on young photographers at universities in Germany and showing current trends in photography together with the Goethe-Institut Paris since 2018. Each year, we give the students of a selected university or academy the opportunity to present their work in an exhibition at the Goethe-Institut Paris.

Previous universities:

2021 photography class of Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin from the "Hochschule für Bildende Künste" (HfBK) Hamburg
2019 photography masterclass of Heidi Specker of the "Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst" (HGB)
2018 photography class of Martin Liebscher of the "Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach" (HfG)

As part of the exhibition series "La jeune photographie allemande", this year the students of Beate Gütschow's photography class at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne show photographic-installative works that deal with the ecological crisis. Among other things, they will reflect on the climate crisis, which is almost incomprehensible in its complexity and global dimension, as a "hyperobject." In addition, artificial intelligences are asked about the future of the world, and poetic narratives of doom are created in which grief is paired with a will to act. With this, the concern of art is to make the invisible visible.

The participating artists are: Alex Simon Klug, Kristina Lenz, Caroline Bruenen, Cedric Ernoult, Giorgi Gedevanidze, Clara Kulemeyer, Ivana Pavlickova, Javkhlan Ariunbold, Soojin Ok and Victor Beger.

In cooperation with the Offenbach University of Art and Design (HfG), the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation presents an annual award to an exceptionally talented student of photography sine 2010. The €3,000 prize for works created by a student during the course of his or her studies is awarded as part of the traditional three-day “HfG Rundgang”, during which the university opens its doors to visitors. One of the works from the accompanying exhibition is selected by a jury whose members are: photographer Barbara Klemm, University Director Bernd Kracke and the Photography Foundation’s Managing Director, Anne-Marie Beckmann. Via this cooperation, the Foundation contributes to the development of photography in the Rhine Main region.

The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation has given the HfG Fotoförderpreis 2022 to Marie Schwarze for her project “I'm here to open you”. In their statement, the jury wrote: "With her work “I'm here to open you”, Marie Schwarze succeeds in finding a visual form of expression for her personal dealings with chronic pain and illness, while at the same time making this experience comprehensible to others. In beautifully staged still lifes, she shows damaged objects onto which she has physically transferred her pain, e.g. through stitches or cuts. The almost clinical and colour-intensive studio atmosphere stands in an exciting contrast to the damaged objects, plants or fruits, whose vulnerability becomes palpable, although one does not actually attribute any sense of pain to them. In “I'm here to open you”, Marie Schwarze finds images for an “invisible” and elusive subject. Her presentation is complemented by a lovingly designed artist’s book, which allows a more intimate access to her motifs."

Marie Schwarze was born in Wiesbaden in 1996 and has been studying at the HfG with Prof. Martin Liebscher since 2017.

Furthermore, the jury gave a special mention to the work “Inner Monologue. Part 1. Chaos” by Mike Schäfer. In this first section of the ongoing project, he uses the medium of photography to deal with his memories and emotions, finding a universal visual language that goes beyond personal experience and feeling.

Mike Schäfer studies in his tenth semester with Prof. Martin Liebscher.

Previous winners:

2021 Lena Bils
2020 Verdiana Albano
2019 Dennis Haustein
2018 Jana Bissdorf; honorable mention to Tatjana Vdovenko
2017 Annika Grabold; honorable mention to Laura Brichta
2016 Robert Schittko; special prize to Hosam Katan
2015 Malte Sänger und Rudi Weissbeck
2014 Max Eulitz
2013 Stefan Stark und Pujan Shakupa
2012 Lilly Lulay und Karolin Back
2011 Florian Albrecht-Schoeck
2010 Oliver Dignal

The Frankfurter Verein für Künstlerhilfe e.V. has been supporting young artists in the Rhine Main region for more than 25 years. The association grants one-year scholarships to talented artists after completion of their studies, an important transitional phase in their career. The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation helps fund the scholarships. In addition, the Art Collection’s curator is a member of the board of trustees responsible for nominating and selecting the artists to be funded. The Foundation also provides continued support to young photographers who were granted the scholarships, for example by presenting their works to the public in special exhibitions at the company’s headquarters The Cube in Eschborn.