Black & White Spider Awards™| The Jury

The International Award Honoring Black & White Photography

Jury

THE JURY

For sixteen years Black & White Spider Awards has been committed to bringing you world-class Juries selected from the most influential names in the industry. Annually a new jury pool is created to ensure the program's reputation for recognizing first-movers, new emerging talent and current trends across the industry. Jury members are selected by exclusive invitation to join the international panel and sent ballots to log on, review the entries and nominate their selections. Only by having the greatest talent from both sides of the lens do we produce the intoxicating and diverse photography collections the awards is renowned for showcasing.

 

16TH ANNUAL JURY

MUSEE DE L'ELYSEE - Lausanne

Pauline Martin - Curator / Head of Exhibitions

The Musee de l'Elysee is one of the world's leading museums entirely dedicated to photography. Based in Switzerland, it presents four major exhibitions in Lausanne each year and an average of fifteen in prestigious museums and festivals around the world. It holds a unique collection including more than 170,000 positive prints, 800,000 negatives on glass and flexible supports, more than 100,000 plates and slides, around 1,000 albums and portfolios, more than a dozen Collections and full Archives including those of Charles Chaplin, Rene Burri, Nicolas Bouvier, Ella Maillart. By supporting young photographers, offering new perspectives on the masters and confronting photography with other art forms, the Musee de l'Elysee experiments with the image. Regional by character and international in scope, it seeks to constantly develop new and exciting ways to interact with audiences and collaborate with other institutions.

MUMOK - Museum Moderner Kunst - Vienna

Heike Eipeldauer - Curator

The mumok is the largest museum in Central Europe for art since modernism. It makes the various aspects of the international and Austrian avant-garde accessible to everyone interested in the arts. The striking dark grey cuboid structure clad in basalt stone in the middle of the MuseumsQuartier's Wien houses an unusual collection featuring important works from Classic Modernism, Pop Art, Fluxus, and Viennese Actionism to present-day film and media art. From Pablo Picasso to Andy Warhol and Franz West, the collection and special exhibitions represent a blend of tradition and experiment, past and present.

SPURS GALLERY - Beijing

Jia Wei - Managing Partner

Spurs Gallery is one of the leading contemporary art galleries in China. Founded in 2005 as Universal Studio Beijing, later known as Boers-Li Gallery, the gallery has staged more than 90 exhibitions representing all generations of Chinese contemporary art, exploring its history since the first avant-garde movements emerging after the Cultural Revolution. This includes artists from the 1970s underground period of the Stars and No Name Groups, the Beijing Abstract Art Movement in the early 1980s, the 85 New Wave Movement, the New Media Movement in the 1990s, and the pioneering young artists of the Post Internet era. Spurs Gallery represents more than 25 artists and has collaborated with many more internationally. Led by Jia Wei and Sherry Lai, Spurs Gallery participates in various international art fairs such as Frieze New York and Frieze Masters, Art Basel in Hong Kong and in Miami, FIAC in Paris and regional fairs in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and more.

HACKELBURY FINE ART - London

Phil Crook - Gallery Director

HackelBury Fine Art was founded over twenty-two years ago by Marcus Bury and Sascha Hackel. The London based gallery is committed to championing artists working with the visual arts who push the boundaries of their medium to create meaningful and contemplative work. Initially showcasing classic photography from the 20th century including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Berenice Abbott, and Malick Sidibe. The transition from traditional photography to more conceptual work was as intuitive as it was organic, beginning with artists such as Pascal Kern, Doug and Mike Starn, Garry Fabian Miller, Katja Liebmann, Ian McKeever, Stephen Inggs and Bill Armstrong. In recent years the gallery has also taken on emerging artists such as Oli Kellett, Nadezda Nikolova-Kratzer and Alys Tomlinson. Each artist, whether emerging or established, creates work defined by a depth of thought and breadth and consistency of approach.

MARLBOROUGH GALLERY - New York

Diana Burroughs - Director

Ms. Burroughs graduated with a degree in history from the University of Wisconsin. After spending two years in Egypt, where she taught in a private elementary school and successfully competed in the equestrian world (she won best dressage rider in Egypt), she returned to New York. There she worked at the American-Arab Association for Commerce and Industry. Ms. Burroughs returned to school and got her MA and PhD in Near Eastern Studies (China's relations with the Arab world) at Princeton. She worked for a number of years in the art world, where she was president of Jason McCoy Inc., a contemporary art gallery. In the mid-90s she left the art world and became involved in education, first as co-founder and executive director of PENCIL, then as Manhattan Deputy to the Chancellor of the Board of Education, and finally as the co-founder and executive director of TeachersCount. She returned to the art world in 2010 and is currently one of two senior directors at Marlborough Gallery in New York.

GALERIE THOMAS ZANDER - Berlin

Thomas Zander, Director

Galerie Thomas Zander was founded in Cologne in 1996. In six to nine exhibitions per year, the gallery presents expanded photography as well as media and conceptual art. The gallery regularly participates in international art fairs such as Art Basel, FIAC Paris, Art Brussels, Art Cologne, Paris Photo and Photo London. In 2012 the additional exhibition space Second Floor, located above the main gallery, was opened. The gallery represents international artists from the 20th and 21st centuries. The gallery's photography section, established since the very beginning, is the foundation of the programme. It centres on artists considering their medium within the larger concerns of contemporary art, taking Walker Evans' documentary style as a main reference point. The acclaimed photographers from the exhibition New Documents (MoMA, 1967), Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand, as well as Henry Wessel and Robert Adams, representatives of the New Topographics movement, are at the core of the programme. Mitch Epstein's work, emerged in the New Color Photography of the 1970s, takes up this legacy, while the artists Jean-Paul Deridder and Max Regenberg are outstanding representatives of documentary portraiture in Germany. In addition to the gallery exhibitions, the work of the gallery includes long-term consulting for collections, curating and arranging exhibitions in collaboration with international institutions as well as publishing monographs and catalogues.

ISTANBUL MUSEUM OF MODERN ART - Istanbul

Demet Yildiz - Director of Photography

Demet Yildiz is based in Istanbul, Turkey and Photography Department Director at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art. She taught several courses on art at the Sabanci University and continued her career in contemporary art at the Istanbul Biennial before taking up her current position at Istanbul Modern in 2015. In addition to curating photography exhibitions, Yildiz contributes to various publications and holds jury membership and nominator positions at various international photography festivals and events.

GALERIE KRINZINGER - Vienna

Thomas Krinzinger - Director

Founded in 1971, Galerie Krinzinger features established and emerging artists from Austria and beyond. It runs an international residency programme, Krinzinger Projekte, for young national and international artists which currently includes destinations in Austria, Hungary and Sri Lanka. Galerie Krinzinger regularly participates in the world's most important art fairs, among them: Arco Madrid, The Armory Show New York, Art Dubai, Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Brussels, Art Basel, Frieze London, Fiac Paris, Shanghai, Art Basel Miami Beach.

ALESSIA PALADINI GALLERY - Milan

Alessia Paladini, Founder / Director

Alessia Paladini Gallery is dedicated to photography in all its forms. The Milan based gallery offers a varied and stimulating exhibition program: new proposals, with a focus on female photography but also historicized artists and a continuing collaboration with Contrasto. In addition to the new proposals, in the gallery it is possible to view and purchase a wide selection of modern and vintage works by the most important Italian and international photographers. The gallery also offers consultancy for the establishment of private and corporate collections, advice on the conservation and restoration of photographic works, solutions for framing and enhancing photographic works in the best possible way. Alessia Paladini Gallery can search for works by other artists at the request of its collectors.

ARTFACTORY CLUB - Vienna

Dr. Stefan Kallinka - Director

The ARTFACTORY CLUB is a contemporary art gallery in Austria and was established in 2014. It is dedicated to the promotion of Avant-Garde Art of contemporary European artists, providing original fine art to established and emerging collectors. The ARTFACTORY CLUB is specialized in the world-famous artists Gerhard Richter, Franz Gertsch and Helmut Ditsch. Their works stand out for the high quality and impressive power they perform on the viewer. An important characteristic of the ARTFACTORY CLUB is the realisation of exhibitions at public spaces with free entry to provide art to all interested people, regardless of their social background. Therefore the art gallery organized the Gira Nacional in cooperation with Helmut Ditsch in 2014, an exhibition tour which the Argentinian artist originally started in 2010 in his home country. During the tour his paintings were shown in several cities in the interior of Argentina with hundreds of thousands of visitors. After a successful first year the ARTFACTORY CLUB decided to open a second branch in Vaduz, Liechtenstein in 2015. In 2016 the ARTFACTORY CLUB started exhibiting at international art fairs.

GALERIE SPRINGER BERLIN - Berlin

Heide Springer, Director

Galerie Springer Berlin programme focus is on classic and contemporary photography and comprises a group of international artists whose works form insightful dialogues. Besides four to six exhibitions in Berlin and the participation in national and international art fairs, our activities are completed by support service for private and public collections. The gallery was founded in 1991 in Frankfurt (Main) as Springer & Winckler Galerie. In 1998 it moved to Berlin into the legendary spaces of Rudolf Springer. Since 2012 the gallery is run by Heide and Robert Springer as Galerie Springer Berlin, a name full of tradition.

DROGA5 - New York

Paul Meates, Creative Director

Paul Meates currently lives in Brooklyn and is Creative Director at Droga5 NY. Founded in 2006, Droga5 is a highly-acclaimed creative agency with more than 500 employees in New York and London. Since its inception, Droga5 has become synonymous with ambitious, influential and industry-challenging work; recent examples include award-winning work for Amazon Prime Video, Tourism Australia, The New York Times, IHOP and Game of Thrones' epic Super Bowl surprise. The agency has been named Agency of the Year 20 times by organizations ranging from Adweek and Advertising Age to Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the North American Effie's.

HULSBOSCH - Sydney

Marcel Wijnen, Creative Director

Marcel has over 20 years experience advising companies to challenge their sectors, reinventing their brands and creating new iconic identities and new engaging experiences. His career spans across Asia, Europe and Australia where he has helped a broad spectrum of companies from airlines, banks, telcos, retailers, FMCG, industrial, governments and fashion brands. Marcel is currently located in Sydney where he is Creative Director of Hulsbosch. Previously, Marcel was Creative Director of Marque Branding Consultants and Anthem Worldwide, Executive Creative Director, South-East Asia at Interbrand in Singapore - one the world's largest and leading brand consultancies.

SILVAN FAESSLER FINE ART - Zug/Switzerland

Silvan Faessler, Director

Silvan has been working in leading positions in the international art market since 1994, amongst others in the position of director of a renowned European art gallery for Classic Modern and Russian avant-garde, as well as specialist of Post War and Contemporary Art at Christie's International. He founded the Silvan Faessler Fine Art in Zug/Switzerland, in spring 2006. Silvan is a member of the board of the Swiss Art Trading Association since 2012 and holds a mandate as consultant to a Swiss auction house. He is also active in cultural foundations as conservator and exhibition curator, member of art foundation boards and art prize juror. Silvan published articles specialized in art of the 20th Century, and he is a co-author of the biographic encyclopedia of Swiss Art edited by the Swiss Institute for fine arts, Zurich.

CASSINA PROJECTS - Milan

Irene Cassina - Co Founder / Director

Cassina Projects was founded in New York in 2016 by siblings Irene and Marco Cassina. The gallery has since its inception set off on a mission to develop a cross-generational international programme establishing a dialogue between prominent artists with strong critical acclaim, mid-career and new emerging talent. Through a multidisciplinary approach and collaborations with institutions, critics, curators and art historians, Cassina Projects is devoted to engage with the contemporary art discourse and be part in the broader conversation about world and society at large. After three years in Chelsea, NYC, in 2019 Cassina Projects relocated to Milan taking over a 1250 sqm former aircraft factory built in 1920 and converting it into exhibition space. The new premises have been designed to also include viewing rooms, storage, offices and CP Studios, an independent space dedicated to host a residency program for international artists. In this original venue where industrial archeology architecture meets white cube style renovations; solo shows by gallery artists: Louisa Clement, Marcel Eichner, Georg Herold, Gerold Miller, Yves Scherer, Gert & Uwe Tobias; curated exhibitions; and site-specific projects rotate. This year the gallery has made a statement of its vision showing the ambitious duo exhibition featuring German master Georg Herold in dialogue with Louisa Clement. A solo presentation of multimedia works by Gert & Uwe Tobias will follow marking the artists return to Italy after their institutional debut at Collezione Maramotti.

GALERIA SAO MAMEDE - Lisbon

Francisco Pereira Coutinho, Owner/Director

Francisco Pereira Coutinho was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1964. He graduated in Economics in 1988 and worked as a manager and administrator in three different companies. In 2003 he acquired the Sao Mamede Art Gallery (which had been founded by his father in 1968) and has been running it ever since. Sao Mamede is a historic Art Gallery and one of Portugal's first. Over the course of its history it has exhibited and promoted works from the country's most notable artists (such as Vieira da Silva, Paula Rego, Almada, and Nadir Afonso), as well as many contemporary and upcoming talents. With its ancient brick archways and stone floors, the Gallery is considered a local landmark. It is located in the heart of the city, in Principe Real and features a wide variety of rooms with ample displays and several ongoing exhibitions. As of 2018, the Gallery has annexed an exhibit space within a short 30-meter walk. The new venue is comprised of two different levels, with concrete floors and expansive white walls, in a total area of 500 square meters. In this additional space, further modern and contemporary works are showcased.

GALLERI RAMFJORD - Oslo

Elisabeth Ramfjord - Director

Galleri Ramfjord was founded 16 years ago by Elisabeth Ramfjord. Centrally located in Oslo, our premises hold three exhibition spaces constituting more than 4,300 sq. ft. in total area. Historically, the gallery's primary focus has been emerging artists, and it is still our mission to champion newcomers. However, since the artists who joined our stable 16 years ago have now made names for themselves, we currently also represent well-established artists. A dynamic exhibition venue in downtown Oslo, Galleri Ramfjord is known for its frequent cross-disciplinary events and artistic stunts. While now a well-established gallery in Norway, we consider ourselves "up-and-coming" on the international art scene. Over the past two years, we have collaborated with partner venues in New York, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Our very first entry onto the international art fair circuit occurred at Art Copenhagen in August 2013 and proved a great success, attracting much attention both to the gallery and to the represented artists. As one of very few fair exhibitors, Galleri Ramfjord was featured in primetime on Danish National Television. We also participated at SCOPE during Art Basel Miami week in December 2013 with great success.

GALERIE BUGADA CARGNEL - Paris

Claudia Cargnel, Founder

Founded by Claudia CARGNEL and Frederic BUGADA in 2002, BUGADA & CARGNEL (formerly known as COSMIC GALERIE) occupies 500 sq. meters in a freehold industrial building, a former garage form the early 30s and represents French and international emerging or established artists.

CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERIES - Cologne | Hong Kong | Sydney

Conny Dietzschold - Director

Conny Dietzschold is the Curator and Director of Conny Dietzschold Galleries, Cologne, Sydney and Hong Kong and curates exhibitions for art institutions, writes for art magazines and lectures at museums on art and values in Germany and Australia. The gallery expanded in 2013 with the Conny Dietzschold Gallery Project Room. Ms. Dietzschold is a member of the selection committee of Art Central Hong Kong (Art Fair) and a freelance academic lecturer on motivation and creative innovative thinking and professional practice at COFA, University of NSW. Actively involved in the international visual art scene, the gallery attends major international art fairs in Cologne, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Seoul.

ALFRED EHRHARDT FOUNDATION - Berlin

Dr. Christiane Stahl, Director

The Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung is committed to promoting the study of the work of Alfred Ehrhardt, a photographer, documentary filmmaker and outstanding representative of the New Objectivity movement. In addition to operating as an archive, the foundation is also committed to presenting contemporary photography and media art. Exhibitions have a special dialogical approach, which provides an encounter between contemporary positions addressing themes intrinsic to Ehrhardt's work-nature and the construct of the natural - and original photographs and films by Alfred Ehrhardt. In January 2010 the foundation moved from Cologne to Berlin, a step made to enhance the foundation's public presence. The foundation also oversees the ALFRED EHRHARDT HOUSE, which opened in Triptis, Thuringia in the spring of 2008. Built around 1800, the birth house of the artist was very dilapidated after a long period of vacancy. The house was extensively renovated, and an exhibition space designed by an architect from the Dessau Bauhaus was installed to provide an overview of Alfred Ehrhards artistic oeuvre.

AEROPLASTICS CONTEMPORARY - Brussels

Jerome Jacobs, Director

Since 1998 AEROPLASTICS contemporary has been an unconventional gallery in Brussels and alternates between extensive group and monographic exhibitions including a important part with photography. Gallery director and curator Jerome Jacobs encourages confrontation between both established and emerging artists, giving preference to works with a direct language and immediate visual accessibility. During an age dominated by neo-conceptual aesthetics, Aeroplastics differs markedly in its programming by focusing on the image and the panoply of challenges this presents.

GOLDSMITHS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Conrad Hechter, Correspondent

Conrad Hechter studied film-making and photography in Sydney where he ran a school for foreign students and revelled in the exceptional light quality of Terra Australis. Moving to USA Conrad worked as Gallery Director at Michael Shapiro Gallery, San Francisco and David Aden Gallery in Santa Monica. He was the Business Director of FotoFactory Press and helped curate numerous catalogues and shows. He was correspondent for Studio Magazines (Black + White and Blue) and is currently based at Goldsmiths, University of London.

DAVID CLARKE - London

David Clarke, Curator, Fine Art Photography Specialist

David Clarke has been a fine art photography professional for over 30 years. Head of Photography for the Tate Gallery from 1994 to 2014, he oversaw management of 11 staff at 5 Tate sites and the implementation of his main objective, to digitize and publish all works of art in the Tate Collection. The Collection consists of over 90,000 paintings, sculptures and works on paper. David was also ultimately responsible for all photography carried out at Tate, including scientific, press, promotion and the image management systems which make the images accessible to staff and public alike. Mr Clarke's personal work has been exhibited at galleries and museums from London to Beijing. He is also a founding member for the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography which is an international membership organization founded to support and promote fine art photography.

ANDREA DE POLO - Florence

Andrea de Polo, Cultural Photography Specialist

Andrea de Polo has been a Photography Heritage Specialist for over 25 years. Andrea joined Fratelli Alinari Photography Museum in 1994 and was responsible for developing its new technology department. He became Head of the Photographic Conservation and Supervisor of the Digital Workflow and responsible for aggregating new content and scouting for new potential photographic partner agencies worldwide. By working at Alinari, the oldest photo archive in the world with over 5.5 million images from 19th and 20th century, Andrea has been involved in projects in thematic research topics: IPR and content protection, digital rights management, intelligent visual search, best practice digitization and preservation issues, integration and content sharing across large multilingual networks and digital libraries. Andrea has been a member of many affiliate groups including the Appraiser Association of America, Inc., IEEE, IS&T, PMA, PIEA, I3A, American Institute of Conservation, CEPIC, IPTC-Photo metadata group and Society of Imaging Science and technology. Andrea has a Museum Studies certificate in photo conservation and a BFA Fine Art, RIT University, Rochester, USA.

DIANE RUGGIE - Chicago

Diane Ruggie, Creative Director, Writer, Editor

Award-winning Chicago-based creative director, writer and editor with 30 years of experience creating standout brand personalities for top marketers across the globe, primarily in the food, fashion, home furnishing and philanthropic categories. She has won more than 40 of the advertising industry's most prestigious international awards and is profiled in the book Copywriting: Successful Writing for Design, Advertising and Marketing. Brand Expertise for: Soft Surroundings, Payless ShoeSource, LensCrafters, JCPenney, Playtex/Hanes, Frontgate, Aveeno, Janssen Cosmetics, Sephora, Sears, Unilever, Henkel, Bally Shoes, McDonald's, Safeway, Sargento, General Mills, Anheuser-Busch, Tyson, Wrigley, Dell Computers, Nokia, Discover Card, Disney Home Video, Rubbermaid, American Cancer Society, Alzheimer's Association and Chicago Field Museum.

MWWM - New York

Wes Phelan, Creative Director

Wes Phelan is Creative Director and founding partner of MWWM in New York City. Before launching his latest venture with long time creative partner Matt Edwards, Wes worked at Johannes Leonardo across a number of the agency's accounts, most notably on Adidas Originals and TripAdvisor. His work on these brands resulted in significant business growth and impact as well as a successful international awards tally with multiple Cannes Lions, including the first Grand Prix awarded in the new Music Entertainment category in 2017 for the Adidas 'Original is never finished' campaign. Most recently he had focused his efforts on the Adidas Originals business, where he oversaw all global creative communication for the brand. In Adweek's "2017 top 100", Wes was recognized as one of the top 22 creative directors "who is completely reimagining what's possible". Wes has been featured in the Cannes Game Changers book and exhibition, celebrating 60 years of advertising that has transformed the landscape of the creative industries. Phelan has an intense passion for film and has directed several commercials, short films, and music videos. Prior to joining Johannes Leonardo, his provocative ideas and talent saw him quickly rise to be one of South Africa's youngest creative directors at WPP company, MetropolitanRepublic in Johannesburg, where he was instrumental in acquiring the MTN Telecommunications' account throughout Africa. Wes is foremost committed to winning hearts, rather than trophies and is continuously striving to connect the audience with the brand in a unique and memorable way.

CENTRO PORTUGUES DE FOTOGRAFIA - Porto

Bernardino Castro, Director

Bernardino Castro is Director of the Portuguese Center of Photography (CPF). A visiting professor at the Universidade Portucalense in the Specialization Course in Documentary Sciences; Senior Archival Technician at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto and on the General Archive of the Porto City Council. Author and collaborator in communications and publications in the areas of archiving and photography, Mr. Castro also guests as a Jury member in various photography programs and competitions. The Portuguese Photography Center aims to ensure the valorisation, conservation and legal protection of photographic heritage by supporting policy-making, archival technical treatment and promoting access to photographic information for the benefit of present and future generations as a source knowledge for cultural, social and economic development.

BRAND NEW GALLERY - Milan

Chiara Badinella, Co-Director / Curator

Brand New Gallery is a space devoted to Contemporary Art, suspended halfway between a gallery and a center for cultural promotion, a platform where artists, curators and collectors can meet and exchange ideas.

NSU ART MUSEUM FORT LAUDERDALE

Ariella Wolens, Curator

Founded in 1958, NSU Art Museum is a premier destination for exhibitions and programs encompassing all facets of civilization's visual history. The Museum is the hub of the South Florida Art Coast, situated midway between Miami and Palm Beach in the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale, one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S. Its distinctive modernist building which opened in 1986 was designed by the renowned architect Edward Larrabee Barnes. Located in Fort Lauderdale's active Arts and Entertainment District. NSU Art Museum's 83,000 square-foot building contains 25,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 256-seat auditorium, Museum Store and Cafe.