Results to be announced end of summer 2021

Applications Now Closed

Hariban Award
International Collotype
Photography Competition

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Juror Interview｜Pauline Vermare
Cultural Director Magnum Photos

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Hariban Award 2020
Grand Prize Winner
Interview｜Maude Arsenault

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About

Presented by Benrido, the Hariban Award combines a 160 year old analog technique with contemporary photography. Glass plates have been used as the base for collotype printing plates which still continues today. The award is called “Hariban ” as “Hari” means glass plate and “ban” means printing plate in traditional Japanese. This Award invites professionals and amateurs alike to submit black and white photographs for a chance to win. Submissions are judged by an international group of Jurors and the Grand Prize Winner receives a two-week residency in Kyoto, Japan to collaborate with the master printer’s of Benrido.

BENRIDO & COLLOTYPE

Established in 1887, Benrido has specialised in the unique printing technique known as Collotype and today remains as one of only a few studios left in the world capable of making fine colour collotype prints.

Collotype is an alternative printing process that was invented in 1855 by the French engineer Alphonse Poitevin as a method for photographic fine art printing. Photographic prints of the 19th century had poor image preservability, and over time gradually faded and discoloured. To compensate for this, various printing methods using pigments were devised, one of the established techniques among them was collotype.

PRIZES

Grand Prize Winner

Two-week residency

The imperial capital of Japan for more than a thousand years, today the city of Kyoto is the last bastion of many traditional arts and artisan crafts. In autumn/winter 2021, the Grand Prize Winner of the Hariban Award will travel to this major cultural heritage site. Flights and accommodation expenses will be paid.

Benrido Experience & Collotype Prints
While in Kyoto, the Grand Prize Winner will collaborate with master printers of the Benrido Collotype Atelier. Working closely with printers of superlative technical expertise, the artist will enjoy a rare opportunity to participate personally in the complex process of collotype printing and will produce of eight museum-quality collotype prints of their winning photographs.

Solo Exhibition 2021

The Grand Prize Winner’s collotype prints will be exhibited in a solo exhibition of their works in 2021. Previous venues have included: Kousei-in Temple (Awoiska van der Molen solo exhibition, 2014), Sfera Exhibition (Antony Cairns solo exhibition, 2015), Hakusasonso Hashimoto Kansetsu Garden & Museum – Zonkoro (Claudio Silvano solo exhibition, 2016), Kiyomizu-dera Temple – Jojuin (Stephen Gill solo exhibition, 2017), Hurin-an (Esther Teichmann solo exhibition, 2018), Noguchi Residence – Karaku-an (Margaret Lansink solo exhibition, 2019). Media Shop (Maude Arsenault solo exhibition, 2020)

Jurors Choice Award

Selected by each Juror, an applicant will be selected from the pool of submissions by each Juror as their nomination for the Juror’s Choice Award. The Juror’s choice award winners will receive a dedicated text by their respective Jurors that will be printed and published along with a selection of their work in the annual Hariban Award Catalogue. All Juror’s Choice winners will also receive copies of the limited-edition award catalogue for their personal use.

Benrido Award

Selected by Benrido CEO Takumi Suzuki, the Benrido Award winner will receive a dedicated text written by Mr. Suzuki and will have an image printed and published in collotype within the annual Hariban Award catalogue. The Benrido Award winner will also receive copies of the catalogue for their personal use.

Honourable Mentions

Runners up from the final round of judging will be given honourable mentions. An image of their submitted work will be printed and published within the official Hariban Award catalogue. The runners up will also receive copies of the catalogue for their personal use.

Competition Catalogue 2021

All finalists will receive a catalogue for the award printed in collotype and hand-bound by traditional binders in Kyoto, Japan.

Jurors

Yanyou Yuan Di

Founder Jiazazhi Press/Library

Yanyou Yuan Di, publisher, founder of Jiazazhi Press / Library. He curated many photobook exhibitions / festivals in Beijing, Xiamen, Lianzhou, Shanghai and Ningbo from 2012 – 2018. Some books edited by him are shortlisted / won in some international photobook awards. Jiazazhi Press / Library takes part in many practices, such as archiving, research, publishing, distribution, and education, makes its effort on broadcasting the photo art book culture in China.

Yasufumi Nakamori

Senior curator of International art (photography), Tate Modern

Yasufumi Nakamori is the senior curator of international art (photography) at Tate Modern. He is responsible for organizing exhibitions and collection displays involving photography, acquiring photographs to the Tate collection and co-curated Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern in 2020. Formerly with the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, he has authored numerous essays and four books, including Katsura: Picturing Modernism in Japanese Architecture, Photographs by Yasuhiro Ishimoto (2010), which won the 2011 Alfredo H. Barr, Jr. award from the College Art Association. His essays are included in Postwar: Art Between the Pacific and the Atlantic, 1945-1965 (Haus der Kunst, 2016) and Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan (Noguchi Museum, 2019). He received a Ph.D. in the history of art from Cornell University.

Image © Daniel Dennehy (original portrait has been cropped and colour edited for award programming).

Oluremi C. Onabanjo

Curator & Scholar of Photography and the arts of Africa

Oluremi C. Onabanjo is a curator and scholar of photography and the arts of Africa based in New York City. The former Director of Exhibitions and Collections for The Walther Collection, she has organized exhibitions in Europe, North America, and Africa. In 2017 she co-curated Recent Histories: Contemporary African Photography, and edited its accompanying publication (Steidl), which was shortlisted for an ICP Infinity Award in Critical Writing and Research (2018) and named “One of the Best Photo Books of 2017” by The New York Times. Onabanjo lectures internationally on photography and curatorial practice, and has contributed to catalogues and photo books published by 10×10 Photobooks, the American Federation of Arts, Aperture, Autograph ABP, The Museum of Modern Art(MoMA), The Studio Museum in Harlem, and Steidl amongst others. A 2020 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grantee, Onabanjo is currently at work on a doctorate in Art History at Columbia University, and holds an MSc in Visual, Material, and Museum Anthropology from Oxford University, and a BA in African Studies from Columbia University.

Image © S*an D. Henri-Smith (original portrait has been cropped and colour edited for award programming).

Pauline Vermare

Curator & Magnum Cultural Director, U.S.A

Pauline Vermare is a French photography curator based in New York City and the cultural director at Magnum Photos, New York. She was formerly a curator at the International Center of Photography (ICP), the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris.

Image © The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S (original portrait has been cropped for award programming).

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Schedule

Application Open: 1 April 2021
Deadline for Submissions: 23:59 June 30, 2021 JST (Japan Standard Time)
*No Shortlist Announcement
Date of winners announcement: Mid/Late August 2021
Grand Prize Winner residency at Benrido Atelier: Autumn/Winter 2021
Grand Prize Winner Solo Exhibition: 2022
Hariban Award Catalogue: 2022

Judging Process

First Round

All four Juror’s take part in the First round of Judging. Points are given to each submission from a 0 – 5 star rating. The submissions which pass the First Round of Judging from the accumulation of points will proceed onto the Final Round. All judging will be carried out individually and online by each Juror.

First Round

All four Juror’s will take part in the Final Round of Judging to determine the Grand Prize Winner and Finalists. Points are given to each submission within the Final Round of Judging from a 0 – 5 star rating. The submission with the highest overall points from the accumulated scores from all four jurors will be awarded the Grand Prize. All judging will be carried out individually and online by each Juror.

*A preliminary selection will be made by Benrido, Inc., if a large amount of applications are received

FAQ

Most frequent questions and answers

Q. How will the residency and award programming be carried out during the covid-19 pandemic?

A. Arrangements on residency dates, travel and exhibition details will be coordinated together with the Grand Prize Winner following international and local safety guidelines.

*Should you have any questions on how the Covid-19 pandemic may impact your application, contact us directly at haribanaward@benrido.co.jp

Q. Can I submit more than 12 photos by completing more than one entry form?

A. No. Each artist is limited to one entry.

Q. Should I submit twelve photos from one series, or can I include work from a variety of projects?

A. The selection of photos is entirely yours, however in our opinion, a coherent series generally makes a stronger impression.

Q. May I submit photos depicting nudity or other controversial subjects?

A. We will accept any images that are not blatantly exploitative or overtly offensive.

Q. Will you accept analogue submissions such as slides?

A. Unfortunately, we are only able to accept digital images submitted using our online form. (All submissions must be made digitally regardless of whether shot on analogue or digital).

Q. What are the details of the winner's trip to Kyoto?

A. The recipient of the HARIBAN AWARD will receive an expenses-paid trip to Kyoto for two weeks in autumn/winter 2021 to work with the Benrido printers. The prints will be exhibited in the winners solo exhibition in 2022 *For the exhibition the artist will be responsible for his or her own travel expenses to attend the exhibition. The exact date for the exhibition is to be announced.

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