BREMEN.- In 2026, the Pauli Preis will be awarded for the 50th time at Kunsthalle Bremen. Established in 1955, the prize is supported by a dedicated group of private patrons who fund not only the €30,000 award, but also the exhibition, catalogue, and acquisition of a work of art. It is among the most generously endowed art prizes in Germany.
This year’s Pauli Preis exhibition, on view from August 8 to October 4, 2026, brings together works by eight nominated artists, with the winner to be announced on September 15, 2026.
Annette Kelm is among this year’s participating artists and has been nominated for the prize.
Formerly known as the Bttcherstrae Art Prize, the Pauli Preis recognizes artists living in German-speaking countries for outstanding contributions to contemporary art. It is considered one of Germany’s most prestigious awards in the field.
Annette Kelm was born in 1975 in Stuttgart, Germany. She lives and works in Berlin.
Annette Kelm studied at Hochschule fr bildende Knste, Hamburg. She received numerous awards and prizes, among them Camera Austria Prize (2015); Preis der Nationalgalerie, Audience Award (2009); and Art Cologne Prize for Young Artists (2005).
Annette Kelm’s photographic œuvre offers a unique outlook onto the socio-cultural history of the material world. The artist uses a vast array of motifs as vocabulary to address specific moments in this history, whether it is the commodification of design objects, various forms of political critique or value systems such as money and finance.
Kelm’s exhibitions gather images of floral sculptures, landscapes, portraiture, photographed buildings, and ephemeral objects of all scales. Meticulously picked, the artist’s subjects enter in collision and contrasts where the objective converges with the subjective, the every-day encounters the historical, and the impartial becomes political.
Her practice draws from conventional studio photography techniques: employing a large-format camera and depicting her subjects in front of a backdrop. The arrangements that the artist sets up at her studio are often playful, retain an experimental character or are seemingly captured glimpses of time. Kelm’s distinctive approach to the photographic medium made her a prominent figure of contemporary photography in Germany and worldwide.
Annette Kelm’s selected solo exhibitions include: Annette Kelm: Speak, Volumes, Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow (2026); Die Bcher, Deutsches Fotoinstitut, Dsseldorf (2025); WIR. 19 Grundrechte. 19 Knstlerische Positionen. Ein Gesprchsraum., Forum Kunst im Bundestag, Berlin (2025); Die Bcher, ICA Milano, Milan (2022); Die Bcher, Berlin Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin (2022); Die Bcher, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel (2022); Geld, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main (2020); Annette Kelm, Auswrtiges Amt, Berlin (2019); Tomato Target, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2018), Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation, Aachen (2018), and Fosun Foundation, Shanghai (2018); Leaves, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover (2017); Detroit Affinities, Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit (2016); Home Home Home, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld (2015); Staub, Klnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2014); No such Things as History. Four Collections and One Artist, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Mnchen (2014); Hallo aber, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2011); Annette Kelm, Kunsthalle Zrich, Zurich (2009); Annette Kelm, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2009); Annette Kelm, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco (2008), and Annette Kelm, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam (2008).
Her work was presented in international biennials and survey exhibitions, among them Illuminations, 54th Venice Biennial, Venice (2011).
Recent selected group exhibitions include: Nationalgalerie: A Collection for the 21st Century, Hamburger Bahnhof, Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin (2026); Seeing Words, Reading Images, Deutsche Bank Collection, Palais Populaire, Berlin (2026); Wir. 19 Grundrechte. 19 knstlerische Positionen. Ein Gesprchsraum, Forum Kunst im Bundestag, Berlin (upcoming); Pauli Award, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen (upcoming); So wie wir sind, Museum Weserburg, Bremen (2026); Das Bild ist, was es tut, Sprengel Museum, Hannover (2024); Future Perfect, Contemporary Art from Germany, Gallery–Legacy of Milica Zorić & Rodoljub Čolaković, Belgrade (2024); Photography from the Tang Museum collection, Tang Museum, New York (2024); Fokus Sammlung, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim (2024); Nationalgalerie. Eine Sammlung fr das 21.Jahrhundert, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2023); The King is Dead, Long Live the Queen, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden (2023); Deep Deep Down, The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2023); Something New, Something Old, Something Desired, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg (2022); Changes, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna (2022); Die Sonne um Mitternacht schauen, Lenbachhaus Mnchen, Munich (2021); New Visions – The Henie Onstad Triennal for Photography and New Media, Hennie Onstad Art Center, Oslo (2020); Das Abenteuer unserer Sammlung II, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld (2017); Invisible Adversaries, Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson (2016); Broken White, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2016); Ftishismarchandise, Centre de la photographie, Geneva (2015); AIMIA Photography Prize, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2015); Camera of Wonders, Centro de la Imagn, Centro Histrico, Mexico City (2015), and Future Perfect. Contemporary Art from Germany, Centre for Contemporarya Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (2014).
The artist’s work is held in the collections of various institutions including: 33 Art Center, Guangzhou; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-On-Hudson; Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld; Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Halle an der Saale; Kunsthalle zu Kiel; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Kunsthaus Zrich, Zurich; Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart;
Lenbachhaus Mnchen, Munich; LWL Museum fr Kunst und Kultur Mnster, Mnster; MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles; mumok, Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum of Modern Art New York, New York; Sammlung zeitgenssischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Sprengel Museum, Hannover; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Tate Modern, London; Walker Art Center Minneapolis, Minneapolis; FRAC Grand Large - Hauts-de-France, Dunkerque; Louis Vuitton Stiftung; and Mudam Luxembourg.
