jakob ganslmeier

info

I am a photographer and filmmaker dismantling the visual representation of radical ideologies. In an era marked by the resurgence of extreme ideologies and seemingly outdated political systems, I am interested in how visual arts can contribute to the differentiation and opening of discourse to counteract radical political narratives and increase sensibility for social issues with conflicting perspectives.

contact

mail@jakobganslmeier.com


+31 6 41 66 98 75


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Jakob Ganslmeier (*1990, Munich) lives in The Hague. He graduated from the Ostkreuz School of Photography in 2014. From 2016 to 2019, he studied photography at FH Bielefeld (BA), and between 2019 and 2021, he completed his MA degree at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague (KABK). His work Haut, Stein (2017-2020) was exhibited at museums like MOCAK (PL), Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art (DE), and Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation (DE).

awards, grants, residencies


  • 2023 Spot Grant Stroom Den Haag
  • 2022 BBK Berlin Neustart Grant
  • 2022 Spot Grant Stroom Den Haag
  • 2021 shortlisted Kassel Dummy Award
  • 2021 ProfiFoto Young Talents Award
  • 2020 Blow Up Press | shortlisted
  • 2020 Getxophoto | shortlisted
  • 2018 Lotto Foundation Young Talent Artprize
  • 2018 Studio Vortex Residency, Arles
  • 2018 Borderline Project | Exhibition, Residency
  • 2017 Photomatch, Fotofestiwal Lodz, Poland
  • 2017 shortlisted Joop Swaart Masterclass
  • 2016 pariticipant of the NITs of the DOCfield>16 festival Barcelona, Spain
  • 2016 shortlisted for the Kolga Photo Award 2016 Tbilisi, Georgia
  • 2016 nominated for Joop Swaart Masterclass
  • 2015 European Exhibition Award (Epea 03) / scholarship, exhibition, catalogue
  • 2015 winner of competition "Blickkontakte" - Magazin Photopresse
  • 2014 mobile residency in Eastern Europe
  • 2013 Aenne Biermann Preis
  • 2012 Hil Award solo exhibitions, catalogue

exhibitions

  • 2023 If a Tree Fell in a Forest | Documentationcenter Bergen-Belsen
  • 2023 Tempest | Verzasca Fotofestival Gordola
  • 2023 Thingstätten | Deutsches Haus New York
  • 2023 Poetry Is Out of Place | Kreismuseum Wewelsburg
  • 2023 Lovely Planet: Poland | BWA Galeria, Zielona Gora, Poland
  • 2023 Trigger | Kulturmarkthalle
  • 2022 Poetry Is Out of Place | Comanders House Falstad Centre
  • 2022 Poetry Is Out of Place | Zwickau
  • 2022 Haut, Stein | Museum of Contemporary Art Kraków (MOCAK)
  • 2022 Lovely Planet: Polen | Parliament of Brandenburg
  • 2022 Haut, Stein | Fotograf Festival Prague | Fotograf Gallery
  • 2022 Haut, Stein| Fotograf Festival Prague | VI PER
  • 2022 Lovely Planet: Polen | BLMK Frankfurt Oder
  • 2022 Haut, Stein | NS Documentationcenter Cologne
  • 2021 Haut, Stein | Stéphane Hessel Platz, Weimar
  • 2021 Haut, Stein | Nordhausen
  • 2021 Haut, Stein | Villa Heinrichwerk, Ostritz
  • 2021 Bygone Nearby | Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine (postponed)
  • 2021 Thread | Royal College of Art, The Hague
  • 2021 Lovely Planet: Poland | Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst, Cottbus
  • 2020 Haut, Stein |Bastion Kronprinz Zitadelle Spandau
  • 2020 Haut, Stein | Museum of modern Art, Krakow (postponed to 2022)
  • 2020 Haut, Stein | Installation in the permanent exhibition Zitadelle Spandau
  • 2020 Bygone, Nearby | Online Exhibition (www.bygone-nearby.co)
  • 2020 Parts-Unknown | online www.parts-unknown.co
  • 2020 Displaced Heritage, Goethe Institut Kiew (online) exhibition postponed to 2021
  • 2019 100 Years Bauhaus | Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst (state museum of modern Art), Cottbus
  • 2019 Die Anderen sind wir | Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst (state museum of modern Art), Cottbus
  • 2019 Neo-Right | BWA Galeria, Zielona Gora, Poland
  • 2019 Haut, Stein | Werkschau, FH Bielefeld
  • 2019 Borderline Project | Palace, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2019 Borderline Project | European University, Frankfurt (Oder)
  • 2019 Borderline Project | Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin
  • 2018 Lovely Planet: Poland (solo) | Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst (state museum of modern Art), Cottbus
  • 2018 Lovely Planet: Poland, Passerelle, Trigger (solo) | Villa Böhm, Neustädter Kunstverein (art association)
  • 2018 Lotto Brandenburg Kunstpreis | Kunstraum Potsdam
  • 2018 Lovely Planet: Poland (solo) | Westwendischer Kunstverein (art association)
  • 2018 Artist Residency Exhibition by Studio Vortex | Gallerie Voiss Off Arles, Frankreich
  • 2018 Borderline Project | Club der polnischen Versager Berlin
  • 2018 Stadt Raum Portrait | aff Gallery, Berlin
  • 2018 Triennale of Photography, Hamburg | FHBFG Container
  • 2018 Lumix Festival Hannover | FHBFG Container
  • 2017 Epea 03 (European Exhibition Award) House of Photography | Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
  • 2017 Epea 03 (European Exhibition Award) Nobel Peace Center, Oslo Norwegen
  • 2017 Biennale Le latitudini dell'arte Genova, Italy
  • 2017 Deutscher Jugendfotopreis, vhs-Galerie, Konstanz
  • 2017 Wiesbaden Days of Photography, Art House Wiesbaden
  • 2017 Deutscher Jugendfotopreis Forum Gestaltung, Magdeburg
  • 2017 Fotowettbewerb der Hoepfner-Stiftung, Industrie- und Handelskammer, Karlsruhe
  • 2016 Epea 03 (European Exhibition Award) Villa Argentina / Viareggio, Italy
  • 2016 Epea 03 (European Exhibition Award) Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian / Paris, France
  • 2016 BUDE BETT BARGELD / LICHT UNSERER TAGE Ruhrtriennale Jahrhunderthalle Bochum, Germany
  • 2016 European Month of Photography at Mein Blau - FOG documentaries dispersed
  • 2016 "Clearly Ambiguous" at SMAC Gallery, Berlin
  • 2015 FOG excerpts, Kunsthalle Hannover
  • 2015 Deutscher Jugendfoto-Preis, Deutsche Historisches Museum, Berlin
  • 2015 Keep Your Eyes Peeled, AFF Gallerie, Berlin
  • 2014 Vice-Versa-Gallery, Berlin
  • 2014 SEZ - Abschlussausstellung Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie, Berlin
  • 2013 Aenne Biermann Preis, Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Gera
  • 2013 Projektraum, Berlin
  • 2013 dkw. Kunstmuseum Dieselkraftwerk Cottbus
  • 2013 Goethe Institut Zagreb / Kroatien, Gallery Principij, Rijeka
  • 2013 Photographic Museum of Humanity
  • 2013 Heinrich Böll Stiftung (solo), Berlin
  • 2013 Synagoge Deidesheim (solo)
  • 2013 Hohenstauffensaal (solo), Anweiler
  • 2012 centre d'art passerelle, Brest / France
  • 2011 Galerie Baustelle, Berlin
  • 2010 Paraty em Foco, Paraty / Brazil

teaching / workshops

  • HTW University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, teaching
  • KABK, Photography BA, How to Thrive, workshop
  • Fotografika Academy, St. Petersburg, teaching
  • HTW University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, workshop
  • BLMK Cottbus workshop about right-wing symbolism, workshop
  • KABK, Photography BA, individual mentorship
  • Buchenwald, Weimar, with streetworkers about rightextremism, workshop
  • Recife, Brazil, NGO Mira Sol, Workshop
  • Goethe Institut Ukraine, workshops in Marburg, Berlin, Beryslaw, Kiev, Kovel, Sumy, Warsaw, Bilgoraj and Glogowek

lecture / artist talks

  • Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam, artist talk
  • Royal College of Art, London, artist talk
  • Undisciplining Photography in cooperation with Nederlands Fotomuseum, artist talk
  • Staffordshire University, lecture
  • Deichtorhallen Hamburg, artist talk
  • Nobel Peace Center, Oslo, artist talk
  • Körber foundation, Hamburg, artist talk
  • Foundation Gulbenkian, Paris, artist talk
  • Deichtorhallen, House of Photography, Hamburg, lecture
  • Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, artist talk
  • Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin, lecture

published books

  • Lovely Planet: Poland, published by Edition Cantz
  • Thread, self published
  • Trigger, self published
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Haut, Stein

Haut, Stein

Haut, Stein portrays former neo-Nazis in the process of removal or covering up their extremist tattoos, juxtaposing it with the endurance of National Socialist symbols in public spaces.

Haut, Stein

Those leaving their extremist past take a deliberate step in removing the signs inscribed on their skin, which is a costly, lengthy, and painful process.

Haut, Stein

To what extent
is the Ger­man past
real­ly past?

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Redpilled

Redpilled

Redpilled is a story about the dangerous influence of alt-right ideology on meme culture, told through the perspective of the popular character Wojak.

Redpilled
Redpilled

Memes often rely on visual codes to communicate messages aligned with the alt-right ideology. Through seemingly innocent images and symbols, they convey discriminatory and extremist ideas to a wide audience, primarily targeting younger generations.

The dark side of meme
cul­ture: How Neo-Nazis
Lure Youth into hate­ful
ide­olo­gies

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Public Enlightenment

Common Enemy

Strong is Beautiful

War Room

Images of evil:
From Nazi Pro­pa­gan­da
to Memes
and the Big Screen 

Evil is often synonymous with ‘the devil,’ and in Hollywood movies is regularly embodied as a psychopathic, monstrous individual — a clear-cut villain. These widespread images play a crucial role in how our cultural imagination of evil is shaped. We have learned to dissociate on-screen ‘bad guys' from those in real life who are seldom as recognisable. How does this perpetuated representation of evil, depicted in Common Enemy, affect us?

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If a Tree Fell
in a Forest

In a time of growing right-wing extremism, this project deals with ignorance, the accessibility of perpetrator narratives, as well as generational and cultural gaps.

A Mirrored Image with Onias Landveld

77 Circles

Redpilled with Ana Zibelnik

DOES per­pe­tra­tor­ship
WE ARE NOT AWARE of matter?

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Thread

Thread

Thread deconstructs the myth of ‘Jihadi John’ by investigating Mohammed Emwazi’s life story, revisiting the places where he grew up and formed his ideology.

Thread

Jason Walters, a former Islamic extremist, and I delve into the visual and media tactics used by Islamic terrorists.

Thread

Thread leans on the idea of homegrown terrorism, taking us to the heart of London in order to better understand a threat that supposedly comes from the other.

How ter­ror­ist
nick­names
per­pet­u­ate fear

Thread
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Poetry Is Out of Place

Poetry Is Out of Place

Poetry is Out of Place comprises six video-based pieces that examine perpetrator perspectives through the prism of youth culture, power dynamics, and the haunting reenactments of WWII atrocities.

Public Enlightenment

In the Blue

Where Dreams
Come Home

A New Beginning

Why are hate­ful mes­sages
so often dis­guised as
images of hope?

If this were a movie i’d be the bad guy

The devil hath power

I feel an army in my fist

If a flower bloomed in a dark room, would you trust it?

All the past still yet to come

Hamlet got a gun now

The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white

Come to me and ease my pain

Hand so bloody, tastes like honey

No fence to sit on between heaven and hell

Never get high on your own supply

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Bygone Nearby

Bygone Nearby

Bygone Nearby is a collaborative project bringing together schools from across Poland, Germany and Ukraine under the topic of displacement.

Providing creative direction I led workshops for students finally creating an extensive online platform offering not only the final outcomes, but additionally insight into the participatory processes.

Bygone Nearby

How can we make
invis­i­ble build­ings
vis­i­ble again?

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Trigger

Trigger

Trigger

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cannot be diagnosed by simply looking at a person. It is not visible on the surface, especially in soldiers who may be struggling with it. It is a mental battle that rages on in the mind, long after the physical war is over.

Trigger
Trigger

The psy­cho­log­i­cal toll of war:
an inti­mate look into the
dai­ly strug­gles of sol­diers
with PTSD

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Lovely Planet: Poland

Lovely Planet: Poland

Lovely Planet: Poland

A journey through Poland is a journey through rich history and into a present that, after a long period of deprivation, now promises prosperity for many. It is a land of contradictions, shaped by postindustrial transformation, at the heart of Europe and yet at the outskirts of the EU.

Lovely Planet: Poland

Lovely Planet: Poland is a traveller’s guide that blurs the line between fiction and reality.

Lovely Planet: Poland

Explore the sights no one’s ever heard of,
indulge in cui­sine you can’t pro­nounce,
and dive into activ­i­ties that even the locals
don’t know about.