POTY 2020 Winners and Special Mentions

Here are the winners and special mentions from Photo Of The Year 2020.

05.10.2020

First prize

Mickael Minghetti (FR)
TU Delft (NL)
Electronic Contact

Motivation from the jury:
An unanimous jury chose ´Electronic Contact´ as this year’s winner of Photo Of The Year. The five black and white photos create a narrative that beautifully visualize the current state of living, where lack of proximity and consequences of social distancing – especially for the elderly – are prevalent. With a sharp eye for details and spaces the photographer composes a both poignant and poetic, realistic and respectful portrait of an elderly woman, who seems to be isolated in her home. The camera connects her embodied presence and traces of her personal life with the electronic devises that serve as different kinds of life lines. The series is a remarkable example of architectural photography, with original angles and strong composition, which elegantly includes architectural elements like plan, section and detail – of human life. Each photograph holds an aesthetic and atmospheric density that opens for further interpretation and the series stays with the viewer for a long time.

Second prize

Alexander Auris (PE)
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (BE)
Vestigo Futuro

Motivation from the jury:
This series of visually convincing, large-scale topographical photographs is a strong reminder of how climate change, pandemics and colonialism before and now have caused displacement, forced migration, and land exploitation. The ruins of the settlements of native Peruvians searching refuge from the Spanish colonizers are important traces of the past and the photographs prompt us to speculate if the place today might be virtualizations of the future. The foreground is dominated by a lavish yet mysterious landscape, whose ruins contextualize the contemporary architecture in the distance and draws the viewer into the photographed space. In a documentary yet suggestive way, the silent grandeur of work connects past and present and future, people, landscape and architecture.

Third prize

Philip B. Stiernström (SE))
Aarhus School of Architecture (DK)
Ripples from Movement

Motivation from the jury:
This almost abstract photographic series is characterized by a striking, minimalist composition. The traces of human behavior make the feet, that are seen from below, look like bacteria in petri dishes, – and like bacteria they multiply when they meet or touch each other, referencing the spreading of the current pandemic. The photo shopped technique gives the series a universal, clinical character, and an openness for interpretations. With its quadratic format the structure reminds us of a 6×6 slide, waiting to be developed. The sci-fi aesthetic reflects the establishment of a new normal of sharing space, pointing to the fear of walking in crowded spaces – or on glass high above.

Special Mentions

Jakub Ivancik (SK)
Aarhus School of Architecture (DK)
Revisiting the Public Space

Motivation from the jury:
At first glance the work almost look like movie stills but at a close look it points to the political and social consequences of the pandemic in a rural Danish context. The cinematic approach gives the series a disorienting, super naturalistic character. The figure seems to be an outsider or stranger on a bench waiting for something, a bus, a home, a relation, and the visual narrative is indicating a feeling of alienation in the spatial periphery. The series represents a certain disconnectedness and a search for proximity or belonging.

Special Mentions

Bisher Tabbaa (JOR)
Columbia University (US)
The Sacred Unit

Motivation from the jury:
With its precise drone view of white sprayed circles, and the casually elongated bikes, people and objects within the circles, The Sacred Unit documents the current 6ft social distancing regulation in the US. The photo becomes an aesthetic, poster like documentation of life in Corona times. Circles and squares sprayed directly on the ground have become part of the new urban fabric, but compared to chalk circles in countries with a denser and poorer population this photo is characteristic for a privileged western lifestyle, where people create boundaries for sunbathing rather than queing up for water or food.

Special Mentions

Antonia Leicht (DE)
TU Berlin (DE)
Berlin vice versa

Motivation from the jury:
The jury highlights the strong composition, the sense of color, and the contrasts between shadow and sun in this beautiful, contemporary photo. The photo could be taken anywhere, but it keeps being enigmatic. A young man, isolated – is he longing for the city outside or is he comfortable in the interior and the gaze from the photographer?

Special Mentions

Luciana Faustini (AR)
Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo, Buenos Aires (AR)
Too Close

Motivation from the jury:
The photo is a critical and humorous comment to how technology especially during lock down has become an essential part of our lives, even when taking a bath. Through the absence of people or personal belongings the scenery establishes an alienated feeling, reminding of Hannes Meyer’s manifesto Co-op Interieur (from 1926) that proclaimed an alternative principle of housing and living for a new world. What is architecture´s role in a world where all you need is a screen and everything can be fixed, ordered or lived from your bath? Is this ´Psycho` 2020?

Special Mentions

Luca Bilbo Rasmussen (DK)
Aarhus School of Architecture (DK)
The Space Between Us

Motivation from the jury:
An engaging narrative of separation and distance between an elderly woman and what could be her grandchild. The photograph suggest they might be in different spaces and their gazes and reflections overlap in complex ways. So close, and yet so distanced. And even when they meet IRL precaution has to be taken in the form of latex gloves. The photographer’s focus on windows and mirrors caught the jury´s attention, extending our architectural perception of the room or house. Combined with the motif of the two pair of hands on the table the photos constitute the theme of the competition, adding a flair for architectural composition through photography.

Special Mentions

Sarthak Rawat (IND)
Delhi Technical Campus (IND)
Not So Alone

Motivation from the jury:
Naked architecture and tectonic to the bone, this photo despite its bold and unsentimental clarity evokes emotions. The greatness of the abandoned masterpiece and its fine architectural cropping caught the jury’s attention.

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