Disorder as an impulse – space for new images
Disorder is a state full of contradictions. When familiar things fall apart, spaces for change, new orders and altered perspectives are created at the same time. It is not a mere loss, but a process in which existing structures dissolve and new things become visible.
More than just the opposite of order, disorder indicates that nothing can be taken for granted, nothing is permanent and everything remains in flux. In times when social, ecological and digital systems are becoming fragile, an in-between space opens up: a moment of instability in which changes become tangible and new narratives begin.
Photography can make these ruptures visible – or overlook them. It can uncover traces, mark shifted boundaries or suggest new coordinates. How can the uncertain be brought into the picture? How can a photographic series not only tell of decay, but also of the openness of the unclear, of transition, of the not-yet-formulated?
Against this backdrop, the call invites you to rethink and experiment with photography. Familiar ways of seeing can be questioned, the familiar can be reinterpreted and the Other can be demanded as an image. Disorder does not appear as a final state, but as a productive space in which the hidden is revealed – fragmentary, ambiguous and processual.
A field opens up for artists to capture moments of transition photographically, to use disorder as a metaphor for individual and social experiences and to work with new perspectives, visual strategies and narrative forms.
The BB Foundation’s 5×1000+ competition is aimed at professional photographers who deal with the theme of disorder in a series of 3 to 7 photographs.
The selected positions will be supported with prize money/fees of €1,000 as well as reimbursement of costs of up to €1,000 for technical production and travel-related expenses (against receipt).
The selected positions will be presented as part of an exhibition during the Stuttgart Summer of Photography 2026 . The exhibition will be set up from Monday, 06.07.2026. The exhibits should be delivered or sent in by this date. Conditions for transportation and hanging will be agreed individually with the scholarship holders after acceptance.
Application deadline: April 13, 2026