FRANZISKA STÜNKEL
PHOTOGRAPHY

We all live in constant coexistence – in all its beauty, but also responsibility.
Especially today, it is so important to understand how connected we are.

For her highly acclaimend photographic series “Coexist” Franziska Stünkel has been travelling over the last fifteen years with her Leica Camera through Asia, Africa, Europe, America and Australia in search of natural reflections in shop windows, which, in their concentration, tell of the coexistence of human life. The artist completely dispenses with digital post-processing of her photographs. The result is a multi-layered view of the highly global question of coexistence in our present. Franziska Stünkel’s photographs are exhibited in museums and galleries. The photographs are represented in private and public collections, including the Collection of the Sprengel Museum. The “Audi Art Award” and the “Berlin Hyp Art Award” have been among the distinctions for her works of photography. In 2023 Franziska Stünkel has been nominated for the Beyond Future Art Prize, The Louis Roederer Photography Prize and the Prix Pictet Photography Award. In 2020 her photo book “Coexist” has been published by the Kehrer Verlag.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

GALLERY DREES, HANNOVER

Aug 3 – 30, 2024, group show

SPRENGEL MUSEUM HANNOVER

ERNST LEITZ MUSEUM

ALL EXHIBITIONS

COEXIST 6 Local global

COEXIST 5 AMERICA

COEXIST 4 mediterranean

COEXIST 3 europe

COEXIST 2 africa

COEXIST 1 asia

COEXIST | Making Of

COEXIST I KEHRER VERLAG

PRESS REVIEWS

In today’s light, these surreal photos of busy metropolises are eerily poignant.

German filmmaker and photographer Franziska Stünkel has built a creative practice around seeing the things people miss. For more than a decade, she’s wandered through cities in Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States (sometimes walking as far as 15 kilometers — over 9 miles — a day) with her Leica camera, waiting for the perfect combination of color, faces and texture to reveal itself in the reflection of a window pane… read more. 

CNN

Franziska Stünkel brings two parallel worlds together, sometimes so different that one could hardly imagine that there is only a thin window glass between them. Another paradoxical thing about Franziska Stünkel’s art is her ability to transform highly figurative motives into abstraction. Material objects sometimes lose their materiality in her works and tend to become symbols. Through window reflection, some objects are deprived of their original context and become isolated. There is something very ephemeral in her artwork; colors and structures receive transparency through the reflection and symbolize the fragility of our life.The dimensions and quality of her artwork allow a viewer to enter another reality. No matter on which continent Stünkel creates the image, she manages to depict something very familiar and very estranged at the same time. Her photography is candid photography of life and our surroundings…read more

WIDEWALLS ART MAGAZIN

The photographic works from Shanghai are reminiscent of films by Wong Kar-Wai. Stünkel’s narrative talent is an art of omission and allusion. Her camera looks at people who turn their backs on the viewer. What are these people waiting for? What do they long for? Are they dreaming?

MONOPOL ART MAGAZINE

Franziska Stünkel’s imagery is not only multi-layered and complex, but worthy of closer examination. The large-format Diasec prints, show mesmerizing reflections captured while Stünkel was travelling in Asia, Africa, Europe and America. Using her Leica M9, the photographer repeatedly manages to produce surprising imagery that captures the atmosphere of each particular location. The pictures layer colours, shapes and reflections of light caught in the fleeting moments of everyday life, producing photographically recognisable realities. Stünkel avoids any type of digital post-production: she is only interested in authentic moments on the street. Finally however, it is the images seen in their original format that lead the viewer to a truly attractive impression of the world. While reproducing reality, the motifs are also visual, artistic constructions.

LFI LEICA PHOTOGRAPHY INTERNATIONAL MAGAZIN

And now Franziska Stünkel, film director, photo artist and a modern romantic, as one may assume in view of her reflections, which is to be understood in both senses of the word. She calls her series of images of reflections, taken while travelling on four continents, “Coexist”, but is much less interested in the essence of a place than in the motif of superimposition, with which she unhinges the world and at the same time asks whether there is more to it than just the visible…

FAZ

The actions and thoughts of each individual have an impact on everyone and everything,” states photo artist and director Franziska Stünkel. In the beautiful art book Coexist, she provides artistic proof of this. But her enormous creative power is not only evident there….

MAX MAGAZINE

Photo star of the moment: Franziska Stünkel.

FOCUS

And yet her pictures are much more than just street life photography…

HAMBURGER ABENDBLATT

MORE PRESS REVIEWS

EXHIBITION VIEWS

ART MIAMI I USA

Kunsthalle Trier

Leica Gallery I London

LEICA @ BERLIN PHOTO WEEK

ERNST LEITZ MUSEUM

SPRENGEL MUSEUM HANNOVER

LEICA GALERIE WETZLAR

Barlach Halle K Hamburg

LÜTZE MUSEUM

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TEXTS

KARIN REHN-KAUFMANN
Art Director, Leica Galleries International (ENGLISH) ⇲

SEBASTIAN LUX
curator foundation F.C. Gundlach (GERMAN) ⇲

DR. ALEXANDER TOLNAY
former director of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein and curator (GERMAN) ⇲

MAIK SCHLÜTER
former director of Museum for photography Braunschweig and curator (GERMAN) ⇲

ULRICH RÜTER
art historian (GERMAN)⇲

STUDY

Franziska Stünkel attended the Art College in Kassel and the Academy for Fine Arts in Hannover. She studied filmdirecting and selected photography as her minor. After graduating, she honed her craft as a student of the acclaimed German director and university professor Uwe Schrader. She finished with a diploma and received her Meisterschüler, master of art. Non-university, the Danish Dogma screenwriter Mogans Rukov (Das Fest / Festen) coined the cinematic work of Franziska Stünkel. He was her lecturer on the ‘Talents 2003’ scholarship. As a participant of the ‘Berlinale Talent Campus’ Franziska Stünkel was taught by other international lecturers.

ART

Since ten years Franziska Stünkel has been working on her ongoing photographic series ‘Coexist’. Her photographs are presented in museums and galleries until today. Franziska Stünkel has been travelling with her Leica camera through Asia, Africa, Europe and America in search of natural reflections in windows, which, in their concentration, tell of the coexistence of human life. Charged with the utmost complexity, her photographs are the visualization of the similarities and contrasts that exist in our multifaceted, networked world. The artist completely dispenses with the digital post-processing of her photographs. Franziska Stünkelhas been awarded with the ‘Audi Art Award’ and the ‘Berlin Hyp Art Award’. In 2020 the Kehrer publishing house releases her fine arts book ‘Coexist’. Her photographs are part of private and public collections, including the collection of the German based Sprengel Museum.

FILMDIRECTOR

Franziska Stünkel’s films have been screened in 19 countries and at over 150 international film festivals, where they received numerous awards, e.g. the “Best New Director Award” in New York and the “Otto-Sprenger Award”. Her screenplays were nominated for several prestigious awards, including the “Prix Genève Europe” for best European screenplay. Her current movie The Last Execution (Nahschuss) was released in German Cinemas in August 2021. Starring as the main characters are the acclaimed German actors Lars Eidinger, Devid Striesow and Luise Heyer. The International Premiere of the movie will take place at the Chicago International Film Festival in October 2021. The World Premiere of the movie took place in July 2021 at the Munich Film Festival. Franziska Stünkel was awarded the “The German Cinema New Talent Award” and the “One Future Prize” of the Munich Film Festival. The film is inspired by the last execution of the GDR. The film will be released in German cinemas in August 2021. “Vineta“ is Franziska Stünkel’s first full-length movie and features an impressive cast, including Peter Lohmeyer, Susanne Wolff, Ulrich Matthes, Justus von Dohnanyi and Matthias Brandt. “Vineta“ was released theatrically as well as on DVD. The movie aired on ARD, one of the main German public broadcasters. Furthermore Franziska Stünkel directed the 15-hour documentary “Der Tag der Norddeutschen / The Day of the North Germans”, a film about one day in the lives of 121 Germans. 750 hours of footage were gathered on a single day and edited, under her direction, into a 15-hour documentary. Franziska Stünkel worked with a team of 400 members.  “Der Tag der Norddeutschen“ aired as a special massive televison event in its entirety. For the upcoming US-American / German 90 minutes documentary “Fred Stein – Light of Darkness” Franziska Stünkel worked as dramaturge and second unit camera. The work of Franziska Stünkel is also characterized by her passion for music. She directed a concert film and music videos, i.a. for the bands “Fury In The Slaughterhouse” and “Selig”. Franziska Stünkel is a member of the German Film Academy.

AWARDS (SELECTION)

Nominated Prix Pictet
German Cinema New Talent Award, Filmfest Munich
One Future Prize, Filmfest Munich
Berlin Hyp Art Award
Audi Art Award
Otto-Sprenger Filmdirector Award
Nominated Prix Geneve Europe, Best European Screenplay
Nominated Förderpreis German Film
Berlinale Talent Scholarship
Best New Director Award New York
Nominated Boje Buck Screenplay Award
Best short movie national, Int. Filmfestival Dresden
Audience Award des Cine Mexiko
Award Sehsüchte, Babelsberg Studios
Best screenplay Up & Coming European Cinema
vgf scholarship
Scholarship Film of the State of Lower Saxony
Honoured with the official award of her hometown Hannover

MEMBER OF JURYS & BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Filmfest München, member of jury (2022)
Filmfest Braunschweig, member of jury (2022)
Hannah-Arendt-Days, member of bord of trustees (since 2008)
TUI Stiftung, member of bord of trustees (since 2014)
Spreewald-Literature-Scolarship, curator (since 2008)
Spreewald-Literature-Scolarship, chair of awarding committee (since 2008)
Award committee Cast & Cut – Film Scholarship (since 2004)
Art commission of State Representative of Lower Saxony to the Federal Government in Berlin, member (2014-2018)
Kunstverein Hannover, member of advisory council (2015-2018)
Jury member poster art 185 years of Pelikan (2023)
Niedersachsen packt an, Integrationspreis, member of jury (2020) Kulturkometen, member of awarding committee (since 2013)
Filmfestival Nordische Filmtage, member of awarding committee (2010)
Juliane Bartel Women Media Award, member of awarding committee (2009)

GUEST LECTURER & TALKS

AFTRS Sydney Filmschool Australia, Leica Academy Germany, Sommerfrischekunst Akademie Austria, Dachmarkenforum Munich, Niedersächsischer Landtag, Berlin Photo Week, Photopia a.o.

PRESS

CINEMA / CNN / Spiegel / Stern / NTV / FAZ / FOCUS / TAZ / Süddeutsche Zeitung / GALORE / Art Magazin / Monopol / LFI Leica Fotografie International Magazin / Vogue / MAX Magazin / Glam Adelaide / Atena3 / Soundvenue / La Libre Belgium / Les Grignoux Belgium / L’avenir Belgium / Blickpunkt Film / Cinema / Rolling Stone / Hamburger Abendblatt / Gala / Bunte / Für Sie / Brigitte / epd Film / Filmecho / Filmdienst / Filmstarts / TV Digital / TV Spielfilm / TV Today / Kino Zeit / Profi Photo Magazin / Fotohits Magazin / DigitalPhoto Magazin / Screen International / Westdeutsche Allgemeine / Münchener Abendzeitung / Tagesspiegel / Berliner Zeitung / Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung / Badische Zeitung / Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung / Neue Presse / Nordwest Zeitung / Kölner Express / Rhein Main Press / Main Post /Leipziger Zeitung / Nürnberger Nachrichten / Westfalenpost / Saarbrücker Zeitung / Deutsche Welle TV / Hamburger Morgenpost / ARD / ZDF / BR Kino Kino / RTL / BR / NDR / MDR / SWR / WDR / RBB / HR / RP Rheinische Post /Deutschlandradio Kultur / Kulturradio / Fritz / Radio Eins / ffn / Radio Antenne / Star Fm / Kiss Fm / Antena 3TV / Postimees / HÖRZU / Kunst und Film / TV Spielfilm / Biograph / Indiekino /Münchner Merkur / Nobilis / Stadtblatt Osnabrück / Südkurier / Tagespost / Tag24 / Der Standard etc.

honorary position

Supporter Be an Angel e.V. – Refugee Aid (since 2022)
Supporter Niedersachsen packt an – Alliance for the Integration of Refugees (since 2015)
Ambassador of North German bone marrow donation registry NKR (since 2010)
Ambassador of the Lower Saxony Foundation for families in need (2010-2014)
Ambassador of the Volunteer Center Hannover  (since 2011)
Profugos Initiative for refugees, member of (2016-2017)

ASSOCIATIONS

Member of the German Film Academy
Member of the German Society of Photography DPhG
Member of the BVR Federation of German Directors
Member of Pro Quote Film

PRESS REVIEWS
CV DOWNLOAD

CONTACT

FRANZISKA STÜNKEL
Postbox 5847, D 30058 Hannover
post@franziskastuenkel.de
www.franziskastuenkel.de

ASSISTENT
Theresa Charif
office@franziskastuenkel.com

GALLERY REPRESENTATIONS AS ARTIST / PHOTOGRAPHER
Gallery Jarmuschek + Partner, Berlin, Germany
Gallery Robert Drees, Hanover, Germany
Gallery Art 7, Cologne, Germany
Gallery Breckner, Dusseldorf, Germany
Art Agency Int. Art Bridge Petra Becker

INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION AS ARTIST / PHOTOGRAPHER
NOA contemporary, Zurich

PR PRESS REPRESENTATION AS ARTIST / PHOTOGRAPHER
Nadine Dinter PR, Berlin

REPRESENTATION AS FILM DIRECTOR AND SCREENWRITER
International Agency for Film & TV Heppeler, Munich

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