The Somfy Photography Award is a new and original photography competition. Ten shortlisted top photographers created unique work based on a specific theme: My Space, My Place and competed for first place including a €10,000 cash prize. The runner-up received €2,500. The extremely varied work created by these ten top photographers under the overarching theme of My Space, My Place can be viewed on the first floor of Utrecht Central Station through 25 February. Entrance is free.

The winner of the Somfy Photography Award 2018 is Jaap Scheeren with his ‘In Memoriam of a Friend’. Second prize went to Thomas Kuijpers with his installation ‘Rehab’.

Jaap Scheeren

Jaap Scheeren

Thomas Kuijpers

Thomas Kuijpers

The Somfy Photography Award is a way for Somfy to emphasise the contribution it makes to people’s comfort and well-being in non-residential buildings such as schools, universities, hospitals, offices, airports, and railway stations such as Utrecht Central, and to do this in a perceptive and insightful, inspiring and creative way.

My space, my place

The Somfy Photography Award is an opportunity for professional photographers to create work on a specific subject, based on their own project proposals. A selection committee of experts will assess these proposals and the accompanying documentation. Marcel Feil of FOAM provided technical and content guidance to the ten shortlisted finalists of the first edition of the Somfy Photography Award while they executed their project proposals. Their hard work ultimately produced the exhibition that is currently on display at Utrecht Central Station, on the first floor of the main hall. An international jury assessed the work at this exhibition and selected a winner (€10,000 prize) and a runner-up (€2,500 prize).

The Somfy Photography Award 2018 theme is ‘My Space, My Place’.

Every person occupies a certain space. Every individual has an influence on his or her immediate environment – not only physically with their own body, but psychologically and emotionally too. This is most clearly visible in the space that is truly your own: your own home, your own space, the place where you feel safe amongst the things and people that inextricably belong with you. This place is the scene of optimal interplay between person, space and environment. Feelings of security, well-being, familiarity and comfort play an essential part.

In places that are by definition less personal, these values ​​are not present to the same degree. How, for example, do you manage to find your place at the office, at school or university, or in a health care centre or hospital? How do people find and experience their own place in these types of commercial and industrial buildings? How do people find and experience comfort and well-being in these buildings? Is the experience individual, or conversely, more collective – or is it a combination of the two? What types of people live and work in these buildings, and what is the interaction between these people like within such a specific space? What influence does this have on the way that you shape your own space, the way you bring your own personal interpretation to it? Is this experience the same for everyone, or are there differences or even contrasts?

The relationship between person and space, and the relationship between different people in a particular space, is central to ‘My Space, My Place’. The exhibition’s emphasis lies on making the space your own and achieving well-being, individual or otherwise.

What, how and where

The Somfy Photography Award is open to professional photographers/artists. Each participating photographer has drawn up a clear project proposal (maximum length one page of A4) explaining how he or she plans to realise the theme. Based on this project motivation, the photographer’s CV and documentation of work created in the last three years, the selection committee chose nine photographers from the many dozens of high-quality submissions. These photographers will participate in the first edition of the Somfy Photography Award. One photographer participated using a so-called ‘wild card’, making ten photographers in total who were given the opportunity to implement their project proposals. In addition to a production budget for printing and framing the work, each photographer had access to the amount of €1,000 for research. Marcel Feil, curator of the Somfy Photography Award, was responsible for providing technical and content guidance in the runup to the final exhibition. The final exhibition is on display in January and February 2018 on the first floor of Utrecht Central Station’s central hall.

Nominees

Details of the ten photographers shortlisted for the Somfy Photography Award are given below. Their bodies of work and approaches to the My Space, My Place theme are extremely diverse. Click on the individual photos to read a short biography and project motivation for each photographer. You can also click through to the photographers’ personal websites to see comprehensive background information, their work and CVs.

Verena Blok

Verena Blok

Sanne van den Elzen

Sanne van den Elzen

Alexandra Hunts

Alexandra Hunts

Stephan Keppel

Stephan Keppel

Marica Kolcheva

Marica Kolcheva

Sushilla Kouwen

Sushilla Kouwen

Thomas Kuijpers

Thomas Kuijpers

Daan Paans

Daan Paans

Jaap Scheeren

Jaap Scheeren

Marleen Sleeuwits

Marleen Sleeuwits

Important dates

judging 07.01.2018

private view 08.01.2018

exhibition 09.01.2018 – 25.02.2018

Somfy photography award selection committee and judging

The members of the Somfy Photography Award selection committee,
chaired by Marcel Feil, are:

Marcel Feil

Marcel Feil

FOAM deputy director, artistic affairs
Jan Zwart

Jan Zwart

photographer
Martine Stig

Martine Stig

photographer
Marie-José Jongerius

Marie-José Jongerius

photographer
Erwin Slegers

Erwin Slegers

Course Leader Graphic Design / International Relations HKU University of the Arts Utrecht

The entries will be judged by an international jury of experts.

Frits Gierstberg

Frits Gierstberg

Dana Lixenberg

Dana Lixenberg

Francis Hodgson

Francis Hodgson

Ann-Christin Bertrand

Ann-Christin Bertrand

Paul Kooiker

Paul Kooiker

Comfort • Well-Being • Sustainability

Somfy applications in non-residential buildings
Somfy is a publicly listed company with branches in more than fifty countries, where it develops, manufactures, supplies, and installs a wide range of automated and advanced products.

It has been shown that people feel happier and more comfortable in buildings that are equipped with Somfy technology. That’s because the technology that Somfy develops and implements in public buildings ensures the comfort of the people who use them, thanks to excellent light and temperature control. Users of these buildings have higher job satisfaction, are more productive, feel healthier, have decreased absenteeism due to illness, and are better able to concentrate. This also has a positive impact on employees, school and university students, patients, travellers, and other people who use these buildings for shorter or longer periods of time.

Somfy’s technology means that people experience a higher degree of comfort and well-being. Another important benefit is that the use of Somfy technology means a drastic reduction in energy consumption (cooling and/or heating). Somfy is one of the world’s leading companies in this field.

Overall, this means that Somfy offers comfort, well-being and sustainability. These physical, emotional and mental values ​​are fundamental concepts in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Press Releases and Press Coverage

The latest press releases and media coverage of the first edition of the Somfy Photography Award are given here.

18 January 2018 – Somfy Photography Award private view

28 September 2017 – Somfy initiator nieuwe fotowedstrijd met thema ‘My Space, My Place’

27 Oktober 2017 – Selectiecommissie Somfy Photography Award maakt nominaties bekend

6 December 2017 – Samenstelling jury Somfy Photography Award bekend

8 January 2018 – Jaap Scheeren wint Somfy Photography Award 2018

Contact

SOMFY PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD
info@somfyphotographyaward.com