THE OMNIPOTENCE OF THE ALGORITHM?
ESTELLE BLASCHKE
Born 1976 / Studied art history at Berlin’s Humboldt University / 2011 PhD in visual arts from the Paris Sorbonne / 2012 German Photographic Association Research Award / Postdoctoral researcher funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation at the University of Lausanne / Teaches the history and theory of photography at ECAL in Lausanne / 2009 to 2011 and 2014 fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin / 2013 co-curated Double Bound Economies: Reading an East German Photo Archive (1967–1990) for the Thomas Fischer Gallery, Berlin / 2015 Banking on Images: The Bettmann Archive and Corbis (Spector Books) / 2016 member of the editorial team of the new scholarly journal Transbordeur. Photographie, Histoire, Société (Macula) / Currently researching the history and imagery of microfilm / Estelle Blaschke lives and works in Lausanne.
SIMON KARLSTETTER
Born 1985 / Studied graphic design and fine art at Augsburg University of Applied Sciences / 2008 to present: founder and artistic co-director of Der Greif magazine for photography and literature, winner of a 2014 Lucie Foundation Award for Photography Magazine of the Year / 2014 co-curator of Der Greif: A Process photography exhibition at Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus, Augsburg / Co-founder of interdisciplinary artist collective Studio Furio, which combines dance, theatre, music and media art / Freelance artist, musician and cultural entrepreneur who uses photography, drawing, manual printing techniques, performance, music and sound in his works / Artist talks at institutions and events including Unseen Amsterdam, C/O Berlin, LCC London, Kunstverein München, Rodchenko Art School Moscow, and Krakow Photomonth / Simon Karlstetter lives and works in Augsburg and Munich.
SEVERIN MATUSEK
Born 1984 / 2006 to 2007 BA in philosophy at the University Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, Paris / 2007 to 2009 MA in philosophy at Vienna University / 2005 to 2011 managing director of the Lomography analogue photography platform / Published books including The Big LC-A Book (2008), Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Lomography (2010) and the Lomography city guides / Directed branding and launch communication of the Spinner 360 and Lomo LC-Wide cameras / 2011 to present: head of content and community at EyeEm, the photo community for licensing images / Oversees a network of 18 million photographers in over 150 countries / Works with brands including Google, VICE, Getty Images, and Mashable on publications, exhibitions, partnerships and participatory projects / 2013 to present: director of the EyeEm Festival & Awards / Severin Matusek lives and works in Berlin.
ANIKA MEIER
Studied art history and German literature at Heidelberg University / Received study scholarships to the German Literature Archive at Marbach and the German Forum for Art History in Paris / 2010 to 2012 taught in the Art History Institute at Heidelberg University / 2012 junior visiting fellow at the Institute for Germanic and Romance Studies at London University / 2014 awarded an August Hoff Scholarship for Art History Research by the Letter Foundation / Currently writing her PhD thesis Poetry of Silence: Stefan George’s Images as a Paradigm of Aesthetic Conservatism and a book on social photography / Freelance writer of articles on art and social media for Monopol magazine and the artefakt blog / Posts on Instagram under the handle @gert_pauly / Founder of the This Ain’t Art School art collective / Anika Meier lives and works in Hamburg.
MICHAEL SCHULZ
MA in Electronic Business from the University of Arts (UdK) in Berlin / 2010 took first iPhone picture and uploaded it to Instagram / 2013 iPhonegraphy account Berlinstagram, one of the most popular German Instagram accounts with 300,000+ followers / 2014 quit regular job to focus on Instagram-related activities / Consults with brands, working on visual marketing campaigns and creating content for brand channels and his own Instagram account / Has worked with brands including Levi’s Europe, with whom he founded the brand’s successful #makebikeportraits photo contest, Generator Hostels, Sony, Converse, Mercedes, Turkish Airlines, Adidas, C/O Berlin / Michael Schulz lives and works in Berlin.
DANIEL FINGER
Regular co-host with Sven Oswald for the Zwei auf Eins radio show on RadioEins in Berlin / Co-host with Polish colleague Ola Rosiak for the German-Polish TV magazine program Kowalski trifft Schmidt broad cast fortnightly on RBB in Germany / 1999 to present: member of the Men in Text collective, creating content for theatre, radio, T V, podcasts and the Internet / Co-host with Sven Oswald at events, trade fairs and conferences with a focus on science, technology, and research, including the Long Night of the Sciences in Berlin, the Berlin Air Show and the German federal government’s IT summit / Develops concepts and writes scripts for TV, radio and computer games / Teaches interactive storytelling and game writing at the Berlin Games Academy / Daniel Finger lives and works in Berlin.