ESSEN.- The Dietrich Oppenberg Stiftung, affiliated to the Museum Folkwang, is awarding this year’s Albert Renger-Patzsch Prize to Lisa Barnard (* Great Britain, 1967). Her photo-book project Hyenas of the Battlefield, Machines in the Garden is a study which explores the ties between the military, the entertainment industry and technology. In her work she shows how this ‘unholy’ alliance works out in daily life in modern warfare. For Barnard’s work, a special role is played by current debates on conceptual documentary photography, the current political and economic climate and the Revolution in Military Affairs. (RMA).

The Albert Renger-Patzsch Prize, awarded every three years at a European level, is this year being given for the eighth time. The Dietrich Oppenberg Stiftung prize is awarded in memory of the significant contribution of the major photographer Alber Renger-Patzsch to the history of documentary-oriented photography as well as his contribution to the development of the photo-book. The prize of 25,000 Euro allows photographers to realize projects conceived in book format. The amount is offered every three years and used by the prize winner for a publication within two years.

From among the nominees and the book projects they have submitted, an international jury selects the project they wish to support.

This year’s jury members were:

• Jörg Bartel, Journalist/NRZ, Essen
• Diane Dufour, Director of Le Bal, Paris
• Ute Eskildsen, Fotografische Sammlung/Museum Folkwang, Essen
• Gordon MacDonald, Independent Curator and Publicist, London
• Jo Longhurst, Photographer, London

Previous prize-winners were: Silke Grossmann (1991), Rita Ostrovskaja (1994), Boris Michailow (1997), Trine Søndergaard (2000), Peter Piller (2003), Aglaia Konrad (2006) and Paola de Pietri (2009).