c/o berlin talent award 2026

With its unique structure in Europe, the C/O Berlin Talent Award honors both artistic and theoretical practice, presented annually in the categories Artist and Theorist. Established in 2006, the award has introduced more than 90 emerging artistic and scholarly talents to a wide audience and will have its 20th anniversary in 2026 – an occasion to update C/O Berlin's supporting program for emerging talents with annually changing themes. Since 2020, the award has been made possible by the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung.

The theme of the C/O Berlin Talent Award 2026 is Body Politics – a term describing the interplay of power, institutions, and discourses that shape and control bodies, or make them (in)visible. In a time marked by multiple overlapping crises, the body resurfaces as a site of resistance, identity, and memory. What role do photography and lens-based media play in making these tensions visible and open to reflection? This year's theme invites applicants to explore the body as a political field, an archive of experience, or a medium at the intersection of the individual and society.