Short Bio

'I studied art history, political science and history in Heidelberg and worked as a bartender, zookeeper and landscape gardener to finance my studies. Since my studies, photography has been the focus of my professional activities. Internships at FC Gundlach and Rudolf Kicken helped me to better understand the diversity of the medium of photography. Later I produced image films, before I managed the photo gallery Alte Feuerwache from 1996. From there I went to the rem in Mannheim in 2005, where I conceived and directed ZEPHYR until the end of May 2022. I have curated exhibitions in many cities and some countries. Today I am a "free agent" and passionately conceive and edit photo books and exhibitions.'

Curatorial Statement

'As a curator, I am interested not only in researching popular-cultural phenomena, but above all in those varieties of photography that have social relevance. Ideally, this means that after visiting an exhibition or reading a book, the visitors or readers not only have more aesthetic pleasure, but also more insight or knowledge.

I have already worked with a number of members of the DFA in the past. But today's selection is less about my view than about the view of the selected women photographers. Do women look at the world differently? If so, what constitutes the female gaze? We can already see in my selection only a part of the female members of the DFA and still recognize a considerable range. Does this selection even carry that way? I hear the questions, but I can't answer them yet, maybe we can do that better together in conversation.'

Portrait of Thomas Schirmböck with a photo of Gerhard Vormwald: © Eberhard Reuss

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