Contemporary photographic positions – A year between exhibitions, studios, and international dialogue

Artistic highlights

The 2025 review of the year showcases genuine highlights from Thomas Kellner's artistic activities: a year full of exhibitions, international projects, and intensive studio work. From Siegen to Chisinau, from Germany to France to China—Kellner's photography has once again resonated around the world. The focus is on both long-standing series of works and new projects such as Facets of the City after August Sander and Fragmented Icons, which artfully combine social, architectural, and art-historical themes. At the same time, the retrospective reflects the adaptation to changing media landscapes, new channels of communication, and continuous dialogue with audiences and institutions. 2025 was also a year marked by hope: hope for an end to the war in Ukraine and for new economic stability. 

International projects and collaborations

It was a strong year that once again demonstrated how closely Thomas Kellner is connected both regionally and internationally. Major projects were implemented, new collaborations initiated, and important milestones achieved. With his sights set on 2026, Kellner continues his artistic journey: new exhibitions, publications, international collaborations, and the further development of his projects are on the horizon. 

Social context and artistic relevance

This retrospective highlights an artist who combines tradition, innovation, and social relevance, and who understands photographic art as a living, dynamic process.

Portraits after August Sander: Microcensus in Siegen

Rarely has a year in Thomas Kellner's studio been as intense as this one. For the project Facets of the Big City – after August Sander, he portrayed a total of 334 people in 2025 – or more precisely: 333 real people and one deliberately chosen exception. 

The AI mayor as a cultural policy statement

One character was created as an AI-generated mayor, intended as a cultural policy statement in the context of the local election campaign in North Rhine-Westphalia. The diversity of the people portrayed reflects the social reality of the region: athletes from numerous clubs, members of the carnival association, employees of the Diakonie Südwestfalen, employees of the Siegen-Wittgenstein district, and three choirs shaped the image of this diverse society. Kellner found the portraits of couples particularly touching – from newlyweds to long-time companions to those celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary. He is grateful to all of them, as well as to the clubs, institutions, administrations, and supporters who made this extensive project possible. 

Preparing new series: Europe 1st

While one major project is nearing completion, the next one has long since begun: Europe 1st, the working title, takes Thomas Kellner through the metropolises of Europe. The exhibition in the Moldovan capital Chisinau proved to be the ideal start, as it allowed Kellner to create one of his characteristic contact sheets and make the new project visible for the first time. For many years, the idea of re-measuring Europe photographically has been maturing—not as a political entity, but as a cultural resonance space. Now the moment seems to have come to realize this ambitious project. “Europe 1st” promises a multi-layered inventory of a continent in transition, seen through the precise and at the same time poetic gaze of an artist who translates structure and time into images.

Solo exhibitions in Germany and Moldova

In 2025, the international reach of Thomas Kellner's work once again became clear: A total of eleven group exhibitions, a presentation at an art fair, and three solo exhibitions documented his presence in Germany—including in Frankfurt, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Siegen, Dortmund, and Hamburg—as well as in Poland (Poznan), China (Taizhou), Moldova (Chisinau), and France (Lyon). Particularly noteworthy was the first solo exhibition in a national museum in Moldova, which presented Kellner's new series Facets of the Big City after August Sander. At the same time, the highly acclaimed, almost retrospective exhibition Sights at the Landesmuseum Kunst und Kultur Oldenburg came to a successful end in early 2025.

Logistical masterpiece: International transport

Kellner thanks his partners for the logistical coordination of international projects in particular, above all the Burbach-based company Kühne & Nagel, whose commitment made punctual transport possible – a decisive factor for exhibitions outside Europe. Kellner was nominated for the State Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia for the second time and presented the work of the Werthenbach Chapel School at the Museum of Art and Cultural History in Dortmund.

Review of previous exhibition statistics

Kellner can now look back on almost 600 exhibitions and exhibition participations: 125 solo exhibitions, 363 group exhibitions, and 102 art fairs. Permanent presentations, such as at the Capitol Bad Berleburg, also showcase his work regionally, complemented by special formats such as the “Thomas Kellner Room” at the Hotel im Auerbachtal.
However, the exhibition scene also presents structural challenges: dates postponed due to the pandemic are still reducing the space for new projects, while declining budgets, inflation, and a dwindling appreciation for culture in households are further complicating the situation. Despite these hurdles, Kellner demonstrates a keen sense of how to transfer locally developed projects into national or international contexts. Examples of this include exhibitions on the half-timbered houses of Bernd and Hilla Becher and on August Sander, two of the most influential photographers of modern times, whose work he relates to his home region, thus connecting the past, present, and artistic continuity.

Public collections and museum presence

Around 45 museums and public collections now hold at least 360 works by Thomas Kellner, and this number is rising. Interest in museum presentations that place his works in ever-changing contexts is growing accordingly. Whether regionally anchored in the Siegerland and South Westphalia, culturally and historically situated at the intersection of industry, work, and religion, or socially reflective of current issues, Kellner's work offers a variety of points of reference. 

Architectural, art historical, and social interpretations

Architectural, art historical, and scientific interpretations are also gaining in importance. 

The uniqueness of analog photography in the digital age

While artificial intelligence increasingly generates images from statistical probabilities, Kellner has been consciously working with chance, error, and structure for three decades. This is precisely what gives his photographs their special quality: they are not simulations, but visual testimonies of a real, experienced world in which time, space, and perception are rearranged.

“Facets of the Metropolis According to August Sander” The 34th monograph

The new catalog “Facets of the Metropolis According to August Sander” is a real milestone, shining particularly brightly in economically challenging times and casting light on the new year 2026. “Facets of the City According to August Sander” is the latest photo book and exhibition project by German photo artist Thomas Kellner – his 34th monograph and an artistic homage to the important portrait photographer August Sander.

He was one of the reasons why Kellner stayed in the Siegerland, Wittgenstein, Central Hesse, and Westerwald region after completing his studies. At the heart of the project is a contemporary documentary portrait series in which Kellner photographs 1% of the population of the city of Siegen—around 1,056 people—according to demographic criteria, similar to a visual microcensus.

This classic photographic project takes up Sander's traditional concept of using portraits to visualize social diversity, but reinterprets it in color and with contemporary photographic methods.

Essays and curatorial commentary

The book of the same name, published in fall 2025, presents 60 selected works from the series and is accompanied by essays that offer sociological (Thomas Meyer), art historical (Moritz Neumüller), and personal perspectives (Noa-Kristin Strunk) on Kellner's work.

In its selection, “Facets of the Big City” reflects on questions of identity, social structure, and urban presence, thus opening up a contemporary view of urban life in the 21st century.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who participated in the crowdfunding campaign for the exhibition catalog for the exhibition at the Art Gallery Siegen and the National Museum of Arts in Chisinau, both privately and via the Kickstarter platform.

Crowdfunding and cooperation with seltmann publishers

Thomas Kellner is a little proud to be able to present the fourth catalog in this review. Special thanks go to seltmann publishers, who remain loyal to Kellner, and to all those who have now saved the project Facets of the City after August Sander, which began in 2025, through crowdfunding. Even the double page in the publisher's brochure is an eye-catcher.

• Oliver Seltmann (ed.), Thomas Kellner. Facets of the City after August Sander / Thomas Kellner. Facets of the City after August Sander, Berlin 2025.

Further catalogs

In addition to monographs, other exhibition catalogs from renowned exhibitions and awards such as the Manufactum State Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia ensure that the artistic work is remembered for a long time to come.

• West German Chamber of Crafts (ed.), Manufactum State Prize. State Prize for Applied Arts and Design in Crafts North Rhine-Westphalia 2025, Düsseldorf 2025.

Local reporting in the print media

Special thanks also go to the editorial teams at Westfalenpost and AK-Kurier, which are becoming increasingly important for daily reporting in Siegen and, above all, still have an ear and ink for culture. (I think this is only right for the second-largest economic sector in North Rhine-Westphalia).

• Florian Adam, Siegen: This new mayor doesn't even exist, in: Westfalenpost, August 20, 2025.
• Daniel-D. Pirker, Artificial intelligence takes over: Siegen presents its first AI mayor, at: www.ak-kurier.de/akkurier/www/artikel/160063-kuenstliche-intelligenz-uebernimmt--siegen-praesentiert-die-erste-ki-buergermeisterin.
• Hendrik Schulz, Photographer shows facets of work and life. Thomas Kellner is still looking for around 400 models for portrait shots. Works will be part of an exhibition, in: Westfalenpost, May 24, 2025, PSI_4.
• Steffen Schwab, Siegen: This new mayor does not exist, in: Westfalenpost, August 20, 2025.

Regional radio about Thomas Kellner

The studio is always delighted to receive requests from radio stations. Radio Siegen had Thomas Kellner on air twice in 2025:

• Marco Federhenn, Let's Talk 2025.
• Schirmer, Tom and Bald, Paul, AI – Artificial Intelligence. AI Mayor at Facets of the Big City 2025.

Online publications

The future certainly lies in online publications by bloggers, magazines, and newspapers, but also by institutions. So far, we have not included exhibition venues and galleries in our publication directories, as they are already listed as such. However, many of them are very committed writers, and we should take their articles into account in the future. Sights in Oldenburg, Fragmented Icons in Frankfurt, and the Facetten der Großstadt (Facets of the Big City) project found media coverage online. Thank you for the reach!

• David Brautmann, Thomas Kellner. Fragmented Icons in the PanGallery, at: www.frankfurtexperience.art/kalender/thomas-kellner.
• German Society for Photography, Thomas Kellner - Fragmented Icons, at: www.dgph.de/ausstellungen/thomas-kellner-fragmented-icons.
• Inas Fayed, Playing with Perspectives, at: lfi-online.de/de/stories/spiel-mit-perspektiven-21194.html.
• Manuel Freudenstein, “Your face counts” District Administrator Andreas Müller supports art project by Thomas Kellner, at: www.siegen-wittgenstein.de/Kreisverwaltung/Aktuelles/Pressemeldungen/-Dein-Gesicht-z%C3%A4hlt-Landrat-Andreas-M%C3%BCller-unterst%C3%BCtzt-Kunstprojekt-von-Thomas-Kellner.php.
• Hendrik Klein, Your Face Counts, at: web.archive.org/save/https://www.mk-journal.de/index.php/2025/07/31/dein-gesicht-zaehlt/.
• Anja Mohr, Suggestions for teaching: Category Image Design. 6 (Un)Safe Bridges and Destructive Waves, at: atruvia.scene7.com/is/content/atruvia/Magazine_Teaching_Examples_Image_Design%20(1)pdf.
• Damian Zimmermann, Thomas Kellner – Fragmented Icons, at: www.fotomagazin.de/event/thomas-kellner-fragmented-icons/.

Reports on curatorial projects by the photo curator

It is always particularly pleasing when Thomas Kellner's curatorial projects, even if they only take place in the distance, find resonance in print and online. Durchblick, with its very high circulation, in particular has what it takes to become the print medium with the longest publishing history.

• Sarah Alexandra Fechler, exhibition “Where Time's Echoes Repeat” in Pingyao - photoscala, at: www.photoscala.de/2025/08/29/internationale-gruppenausstellung-where-times-echoes-repeat-in-pingyao/.

• Tilla-Ute Schöllchen, Thomas Kellner exhibits in China, in: durchblick, 29, 4/2025, 2025, 4.

   

Concept and Curatorial Intention

Under the programmatic title Platz für Neues (Space for New Things), Thomas Kellner opened a special space for art, encounters, and new beginnings in the fall of 2025. From October 25 to November 30, the photo artist invited visitors to an extensive art clearance sale on the 4th floor of the FJM Quarter in Siegen. On weekends, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., a broad cross-section of his photographic oeuvre was made available there. The occasion was as pragmatic as it was symbolic: the aim was to create space – both physically and mentally – for new projects, new ideas, and new perspectives. At the same time, art lovers had the rare opportunity to purchase works by an internationally established photographer at reduced prices.

Work phases and special offers on display

The KSV, as the art clearance sale was deliberately named, was more than just a sale. It saw itself as a temporary meeting place, a pop-up format between studio, gallery, and marketplace. Works from different phases of his career were on display: iconic contact sheets from the Monuments series (1997–2010), the dynamic cityscapes of the Tango Metropolis series (2003–2018), and the poetic, abstract water studies of the Flucticulus series (2015–2020). The exhibition was complemented by photo books, editions, posters, and selected objects. New special offers were available every week, and the entire range was also accessible via an accompanying online shop—art purchasing without any barriers, directly from the studio.

Collaborations with regional partners

The art sale was organized in collaboration with Sparkasse Siegen Immobilien and IBF Siegen, two regional partners who not only broker real estate but also actively shape the cultural landscape. Their commitment underscores the fact that art, urban development, and economic responsibility belong together. The location itself—the FJM Quarter—thus temporarily became a cultural meeting place where collectors, curious visitors, and art lovers came together.

Biographical significance and reorientation

However, there is also a biographical turning point behind the project. The closure of the studio on Friedrichstraße in 2019 marked the end of a chapter that had produced exhibitions, international collaborations, and the photographers:network over two decades. The loss of this location meant both a turning point and a reorientation. Platz für Neues is therefore more than just a sale: it is a transition, a conscious step forward. It creates space for upcoming projects such as Facetten der Großstadt (Facets of the Big City) or Zerlegte Ikonen (Deconstructed Icons) and invites people to become part of this movement. Those who purchased a work here did not just buy photography—they participated in the continuation of an artistic history.

Interns

2025 was another year with wonderful interns in my studio. The mix was interesting. Nemo le Marié and Remi Bouisou came from the University of Orleans, where they were studying economics and communication, while Charlotte Marquardt was studying language and communication as well as literature, culture, and media, with a focus on English. Inola Tarres applied from Reins, France, with the clear goal of learning English and gaining skills in social media, and worked intensively here on modern video in social media formats. Iuliano Moretti Paredes impressed with his knowledge of art history from Goethe University Frankfurt.

Pingyao International Photography Festival, China

In 2025, Thomas Kellner continued his curatorial work on the international stage, presenting an outstanding group exhibition at the renowned Pingyao International Photography Festival in China. Under the title Where Time’s Echoes Repeat, Kellner brought together seven international positions that address the question of how memory lives on in images from a wide variety of perspectives. The result was not a thematic harmony, but a subtle inner kinship: the works resonate through the tension between individual approaches and collective horizons of experience.

Where Time’s Echoes Repeat: Concept and Artistic Constellation

The exhibition focuses on echoes—the reverberations of the past that shape our present perception. Memory is not presented as a closed archive, but as an open structure in which subjective and social history are just as present as atmospheric traces and materialities. Galina Kurlat, Stig Marlon Weston, and Falk von Traubenberg reflect on the environment as a space of memory, while Ari Salomon and Jolana Havelková examine urban and social traces of absence, pandemic, and lived experience. Frauke Thielking celebrates the ephemeral and childlike in poetic moments. Litera, in turn, transforms everyday objects into complex installations that make social upheavals and transformations tangible.
The exhibition was created as a constellation of perspectives in which the individual works do not appear in isolation, but form a resonant ensemble. In its entirety, Where Time’s Echoes Repeat opens up threshold spaces between permanence and transience, between visibility and concealment, between humans and nature—an exemplary example of Kellner’s curatorial sensibility, which recognizes current trends, highlights international talent, and understands photography as a dynamic, reflective dialogue with time and memory. The exhibition not only won awards, but also reaffirmed Kellner's role as a central voice in contemporary photographic art.

Curatorial projects at Art Galerie Siegen

At Art Galerie, we presented exhibitions by Robert Bailey, Uwe Reber, Matt Busch, Patrick Preller, Falk von Traubenberg (alias Falk.brvt) as a photographic position, which I also showed in Pingyao, Ed Heck, and Ingo Schultze-Schnabl, offering the public a truly diverse program. The current exhibition Star Wars, featuring works by Robert Bailey, Uwe Reber, and Matt Busch, runs until January 31. We would also like to thank Kirsten Schwarz and Noa-Kristin Strunk for their informative and entertaining opening speeches.

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