About the Open Call

The 'Present Tense' open call invites photographers to explore the present as an unstable, open state where perception and reality are negotiated. Unlike AI and generative systems that derive ideas from the past, this prize emphasizes photography that arises in dialogue with people, architecture, and social experiences. The curators are looking for work that makes the complexity, fractures, and contradictions of the current moment palpable, using the medium as a means of sharpening perception and enabling experience.

What is Offered

10th Merck Prize award and inclusion in the Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie.

Requirements

Submissions must be works made in direct contact with the world, shaped by place, encounter, and dialogue with other perspectives. The call distinguishes photographic practice from AI-generated imagery.

How to Apply

Submissions are hosted on the Picter platform. Applicants must start their submission at https://app.picter.com/contests/de0906c2-015a-4621-b7be-0a55b21736a4/start