Biography

Ute Behrend is a German artist, publisher and tutor. Another focus in her work is the art of visual editing. She is co-founder of BUMMBUMM BOOKS publishing and a member of the DGPH. Moreover, she is a member of the presidium of the German Photographic Academy (DFA).

Behrend's photographs and video installations have been exhibited internationally and are part of numerous public collections. After studying photography, she published her first book "Girls some Boys and Other Cookies" with Scalo Publishers in Zurich in 1996.

There are six monographs published by Ute Behrend to date.

Her book "Bärenmädchen / Bear Girls" was published in 2019. It was shown in Israel, Spain, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, Switzerland and the Netherlands and received numerous honorable mentions as well as the Julia Margaret Cameron Award and the German Photo Book Prize.

Her work "Back to Nature" was nominated for the Merck Prize in 2020.
In 2021 this work was shown as one of 6 solo exhibitions at the Copenhagen Photofestival.

Her latest book "Cows and Cars" was published in 2023/24.

Ute Behrend lives and works in Cologne.

 

Foto: Katja Vellmann
 

Scholarships and Awards (Selected)

2022 8th International Marianne Brandt Award (Short List)
  Krappy Kamera Competition 2022, 2nd place, Ahl Säu, Soho Photo Gallery, New York
  Athens Photo Festival 2022, Shortlist
  Stiftung Kunstfonds Sponsorship, Cowboys/Work in Progress
2021 Scholarship for research from the city of Cologne (D)
  Sink or Swim! Photography Contest, The Curator Ship, Winner
2020 8. Merck Preis, Nominated (D), "Back to Nature"
  Verzasca Foto Festival Award, Finalist (CHE)
2019 14th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, open theme, Professional Section, Winner (ESP)
  The Emerging Photographer Fund, Shortlist (USA)
  Felix Schoeller Photo Award, Portrait, Shortlist (D)
  Art Photography Award / Lens Culture, Finalist (NL)
  Hellerau Photography Award, Nominated (D)
  Deutscher Fotobuchpreis, Bronze (D)
  Helsinki Photo Festival, Award, Finalist (FI)
2014 Espy Photography Award, Shortlist (GB)
2012 Kolga Award, Shortlist (GEO)
2011 Künstlerhaus Lukas, Ahrenshoop, Residence Scholarship (D)
2009 Dr. Dormagen – Guffanti Foundation Award, (D)
  Welde Art Award, Finalist (D)
2008 German Photobook Award 2009, Zimmerpflanzen, Shortlist
2007 Foundation Kunstfonds sponsorship | Book project "Zimmerpflanzen"
2004 Toyota Photo Art Prize (D)
2002 European award for women photographers, Florence (I)
2001 Scholarship of the State of North-Rhine-Westphalia without change of residence
2000 Commendation, DGPH Otto Steinert Award (D)
1997 Promotional Booth/Förderkoje, Art Cologne
1990 DAAD-Scholarship

 

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selected)

2023 Cowboys and Gods in the Garden, (with Allison Plass), Kunstraum ELSA, Bielefeld
2021 Double Dialogues, Museum für Photographie Braunschweig, Brunswick (with Ute Mahler)
  Back to Nature, Copenhagen Photofestival, (DK)
2018 Being a Child, Kunstmuseum Mühlheim an der Ruhr, Mühlheim an der Ruhr
  Fassade und Tarnung, Scope Galerie, Hannover
2016 Singapore International Photography Festival
2014 Second Glance / Small Silent City, Galerie im Kreuzgang, Kloster Obermarchtal, Germany
  Second Glance / Small Silent City, FHV Galerie Dornbirn, Dornbirn, Austria
2013 Zimmerpflanzen / Small Silent City, Kulturhaus Osterfeld e.V., Pforzheim
  Conifer Club / Second Glance, Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung, Berlin
2012 Mermaids, Museum Kunst der Westküste, Alkersum/Föhr, Germany
2009 The room behind the wall | Dr. Dormagen Guffanti foundation, Cologne, Germany
2008 Sabine Schmidt Galerie, Cologne, Germany
2007 Sabine Schmidt Galerie, Cologne, Germany
2005 Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Germany
  Gallery 11, in the Gruner + Jahr publishing house, Hamburg, Germany
2004 Sabine Schmidt Galerie, Cologne, Germany
  Gallery Goethe-Institut Sofia, Bulgaria
2000 Gallery Bodo Niemann, Berlin, Germany
1999 Sabine Schmidt Galerie, Cologne, Germany
1996 Sabine Schmidt Galerie, Cologne, Germany
  Leckri Fotografie Group, Gent, Belgium
1995 Sabine Schmidt Galerie, Cologne, Germany

 

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected)

2023 Photo festival Darmstadt Photography Days, Darmstadt
  The Silent Post Project, Textile Factory, Trier
  Draußen / Outside, Galerie Koschmieder, Berlin
  Retrospective, Helsinki Photo Festival, Helsinki (F)
2022 Connectedness — Experiments on a new relationship with nature : 8th International Marianne Brandt Award
  Krapp Kamera, Soho Photo Gallery, New York (USA)
2021 Menschenbilder (images of Humanity), Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
2019 Anarchy, Helsinki, Photo Festival
  100 Years GDL/DFA, Bear Girls, House of Photography, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
  Phantasie, Israel, Photo Festival
  Fotofestival Athen, Photobookshow
  Nida International Photography Symposium, Photobookshow, Litauen
2016 Mit anderen Augen – Das Portrait in der zeitgenössischen Fotografie | Kunstmuseum Bonn
  Mit anderen Augen – Das Portrait in der zeitgenössischen Fotografie | Kunsthalle Nürnberg und Kunsthaus Nürnberg
2014 Espy Photography Award 2014, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, UK
  elf uhr elf | Photographs about the Cologne Carnival, Laif Gallery, Cologne
2012 Paris Photo, Au Grand Palais, Paris
  views and windows | Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich
  Kolga Award 2012 »The best Photos of the year« Tbilisi, Georgia
  Mistigris - Contemporary German Photography, Tbilisi, Georgia
2010 Shifting Realities... Photography and its Realities | HALLE ZEHN / Cap Cologne e.V., Cologne
2009 Welde Art Award | Savings Bank Schwetzingen
  Revision | Sabine Schmidt Galerie, Cologne
2008 Mistigris- Contemporary German Photography | Gallery Lichtblick, Cologne
2007 Art Cologne
  University of Texas, Dallas
  Small Silent City | Sabine Schmidt Galerie, Cologne
  Quiet Afternoon | Gallery Claudia Delank, Cologne (with Anna Vogel)
2006 Der Palast der Drachenkönigin | Gallery Claudia Delank, Cologne
  Galerie Burg, LE-Musberg
  Märchen / Fairy Tales, DFA in Leinfelden
2004 Hotel Eden, Ludwigturm, Duisburg
  44 in 10, Sabine Schmidt Galerie, Cologne
  KunstKöln, special show
2003 kunstKöln
  Museumsmühle Küppersbusch, Duisburg
  Art Cologne
  Paris Photo
2002 European award for women photographers, Florence, Italy
  Heimat/Homeland | Kunsthaus Dresden
  Municipal Museum Saarbrücken
  kunstKöln
  Reykjavik Museum of Photography
  Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden
2001 kunstKöln
  Art Cologne
2000 ARCO Madrid
  Art Cologne
1998 ARCO Madrid
  Kunsthalle Koblenz
  Kunsthalle Hamburg
  sunnyside | Gallery Crista Burger, Munich
  Art Cologne, Promotional Booth/Förderkoje
1997 Kunsthalle Nürnberg
  Museum for Applied Art, Gera
  Some Kind of Heaven | South London Gallery, London
  Someone Else with My Fingerprints | David Zwirner Gallery, New York
  John Hansard Gallery, Southampten
  The Garden of Eden | Noorderlicht Photofestival, Groningen
  Respekt, Glossy Munich
1996 Fotogalerie Kulturamt Friedrichshain, Berlin
  LEKRI (Galerijgroep Fotografie), Gent
  Gallery Christa Schübbe, Düsseldorf
  The Social View : Der soziale Blick | Art Frankfurt
  Artforum Berlin
  Stadt-an-Sichten | Otto-Nagel-Gallery, Berlin
1995 Museum for Applied Art, Gera
  Days of Photography Herten
  Art Multiple, Düsseldorf
1994 City & Region Trustee Savings Bank Pforzheim, Pforzheim
  Gallery Acud, Berlin
  Stadtkunst, Köln
1993 Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finnland
1992 Museum of Art and Cultural History, Dortmund

 

 

Teaching assignments

2015 Teaching assignment, Academy for Communication Design, Cologne, Germany
2008–2009 Teaching assignment, College of Higher Education Bielefeld, Germany
2007 Teaching assignment for Visual Communications | Merz Akademie, Design Academy Stuttgart, Germany
2005 Teaching assigment, College of Higher education Voralberg, Austria
2002 Art goes School | State Chancellery, Saarland, Germany

 

 

Education

1993 Diploma with André Gelpke
1990 Academy of Fine Arts, Leipzig
1987–1993 Academic studies: Photographic Design | University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Dortmund, Germany
1985–1987 Academic studies: Communication Design | University of Applied Sciences, Wiesbaden, Germany
1979–1982 Apprenticeship as carpenter

 

 

COLLECTIONS (SELECTED)

  Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
  Collection FC Gundlach
  Kasper König Collection
  Sprengel Museum Hannover
  Kunstmuseum Mühlheim an der Ruhr
  Artothek Köln
  LBBW Landesbank Baden Württemberg