***TEXT AUF DEUTSCH KOMMT BALD***
The Autum Fotomarathon took place last 5. November under the motto “You should not play with food”, as a way to nudge a reflection to the topic of food waste. The Mini-Fotomarathon as event took place as part of a nation-wide initiative “Zu gut für die Tonne” (Too good to waste) which raises awareness about how to make the best use of food. Every eigth item of food that we buy is thrown away, many times still in the original packaging. We sometimes buy too much, or we store them incorrectly, or we don´t use everything we buy. This has an impact on us and on the environment.
The 2015 Berlin Mini-Fotomarathon seeked to raise awareness on how to handle food, so that waste is reduced. This was done by engaging participants in a creative process to transform the themes and their ideas into images, which would trigger further associations and thoughts on how we approach and handle food.
The topics this year were:
- Deceptive packaging (Mogelpackung)
- To good to waste (Zu gut für die Tonne)
- Beauty ideal (Schönheitsideal)
- It´s a matter of taste (Geschmackssache)
- Leftover (Übriggeblieben)
- Delicacy (Gaumenfreude)
You can download the original theme sheet in PDF format clicking on the image or from here: 2015_Themenzettel_MiniFM. (Right click and save)
Around 30 participants gathered at Fotopioniere, Karl Marx Allee 77 in Friedrichshain, where we were warmly received by the team there, with delicious cakes and coffee. After announcing the theme, everyone spread around town to take the best shots.
Shortly after 17.00 the first participants started to arrive at the Fotogalerie Friedrichshain, where the team of Restlos Glücklich was waiting for us. This was a great combination of a communal art gallery, and a project seeking to make the best use of food which would otherwise have gone to waste.
The Fotogalerie Friedrichshain, at Helsingforser Platz 1, was conceived in 1985 and opened in 1985. It was the first communal photo gallery in East Berlin. The founders were the photographer and artist Ralf Herzig, and Ulrich Domröse, currently leading the photographic collection of the Berlinische Galerie. The beginnings of the gallery were legendary: with over 200 sq meters to offer, worldwide known artists such as Sebastiao Salgado or Gordon Parks stellten exhibited their works there, and over 50.000 visitors contemplated them. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gallery struggled to maintain its financing and support, which brought it on the brink of closure several times. Fortunately, since 2002 the non profit association Kulturring in Berlin e.V. took over the gallery, which enabled it to present exhibitions of both established and renowned as well as works of up and coming photographers. In 2015 the gallery celebrated its 30th anniversary, with a big retrospective of their work. We thank the team of Galerie Friedrichshain for their warm welcome, and we look forward to future collaborations.
While participants were coming in, the team of Restlos Glücklich cooked redbeet and beet soup for us, which was especially welcome as it a cold and wet autumm day. The all-volunteer team is promoting their concept at events and raising funds in order to open a restaurant. If you are interested you can read more here: http://restlos-gluecklich.berlin/
After all the photos were downloaded, we put together a quick slide show to present them to the participants, who were feeling warm after enjoying some delicious soup. We watched and commented them, and after a couple of rounds, all participants selected their favourite series. The people´s choice awards went to:
1. Place: Nr. 96. Juliane Seet
2. Place: Nr. 81. Pepe Nelson Fischer
2. Place: Nr. 85 Steffen Gross
2. Place: Nr. 88 Stefanie Jost
We hope soon to publish some photos of the evening in a photo gallery.
Of course we wanted to acknowledge the winners´efforts, so everyone got to take a prize home: the first prize was a photo-bag from Cullmann, while the second prizes were foldable bags by Crumpler. All participants took home a copy of the Foto.TV DVD on “Travel Photography”
Some participants contributed their impressions to add to the project “Fotomarathon Voices“, sharing their stories and experiences of spending an afternoon taking photos in Berlin. You can listen them on our page Fotomarathon Voices or check out our page on Soundcloud.
If you would like to share your experience of the Fotomarathon to post in that section, leave us a message on our phone 030- 5770 5047 . You don´t need to mention your name, your identify yourself via your Start number. You can read our post with instructions here.
As next step, we will organise a small exhibition with a selection of the Mini-Fotomarathon photos. The team of Restlos Glücklich has kindly agreed be the Jury, and they will select one photo of each topic to show. The six selected photos will be exhibited at the Cafe Fishtank in Neukölln next Saturday 16. January 2016. A Vernissage, featuring delicious food will also be a good excuse to meet old and new Fotomarathon friends.
We thank the friendly teams at Fotopioniere, Fotogalerie Friedrichshain and Restlos Glücklich for supporting the Autumm Mini-Fotomarathon.
Finally, many thank to all participants for their enthusiasm and creative interpretation of the topics, their congeniality in the warm evening we spent together.
Now, after the mini-fotomarathon comes the summer fotomarathon, and we are already in preparations for the 16th edition. Save your calendars for Saturday 11. June 2016!
To ensure we run a great Fotomarathon in 2016, we are looking to strengthen the team with new members. If you are interested, have a look here to learn how you can help or drop us a line at kontakt@fotomarathon.de
