The anniversary program of Photo Münsingen 2026

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Photo Münsingen 2026: Colours of Life – Life in all its facets

"Colours of Life," in its broadest sense, represents the diversity of human experiences, feelings, and life paths, which, like different shades of paint, combine to form a personal whole. Life includes joy, pain, everyday life, and exceptional moments, lending it depth, contrast, and intensity. It is important to consciously perceive and shape this diversity in order to experience one's own life as vibrant, meaningful, and unique.

Photo exhibitions

Marginalized people on the fringes of Hollywood glamour

Carlos Leal is a versatile Swiss artist who has made an international name for himself as a musician, actor, and photographer. His powerful photo exhibition «Heroes of Another Story» Carlos Leal directs his empathetic gaze towards the unseen inhabitants of Los Angeles. His minimalist, understated visual language captures moments of quiet strength and inner resilience, meeting his subjects with profound respect and on equal terms.

Birds are becoming rare – increasingly rare.

Human activity, the decline of their habitats and stopover sites along migration routes, endanger the birds. Their colors, songs, and graceful beauty are being lost. The photo exhibition «Aux Oiseaux» Lili Roze He seeks an artistic approach to this coexistence. If beauty can save the world, then we begin with the beauty of birds.

Punks in a socially deprived area

Blackpool, the once magnificent seaside resort northwest of Manchester, has long since seen its best days. The punks, who gather there every August, have also lost their revolutionary status. Both seem out of step with the times. Their despair and pessimism, but also their motto "Punks not dead," reflect this. Boris Müller in his photo exhibition «Blackpool».

Art meets science

Giles Revells Visual language blurs the line between still photography and moving images. He uses a high-speed camera to document his work. «DANCER» The dancers of the Royal Opera House. This resulted in works of pure artistic beauty.

My face and my body are the main instruments.

As a model in front of the camera, she uses Katerina Belkina the ancient theatrical practice of role-playing. The photography therefore closely resembles a theatrical performance. Her mixed-media work "Grimms' Fairy Tales" combines classic painting colors, photographic reality and collage tradition with digital brushwork to create dreamlike, weightless light spaces from everyday observations.

Trees in reduced landscapes

The series «Digital Art» Kathrin Federer It explores the quiet presence of individual trees in expansive, minimalist landscapes – often in combination with powerful sky structures and atmospheric cloud formations. It's about reduction, precision, atmosphere, and the question of how little or how much an image needs to be powerful.

Blind spot

Valentina Verdasca On her wanderings, she discovers "blind spots"—striking buildings, surprising perspectives, or hidden places that fascinate through their form, color, or atmosphere. With her friend Oona, she brings these scenes to life: contrasting the emptiness, playing with shapes, and merging with the evocative world of color, as seen in the photo exhibition. "Blind spot".

Club photography

An important element of Photo Münsingen is club photography. The goal of the 43 teams is to capture the «Photo Münsingen Award 2026» to win on the topic of «Colours of Life».

The photo clubs of Regio Photo (A collaboration between three countries) from Münsingen, Riedisheim and Kirchzarten present pictures on the theme "Minimalism" .

PHOTOSUISSE alongside the photo exhibition "Architecture" even the best and "The best of 2025".

Further photo exhibitions

15 photographers exhibit their work in the Photo arena.

Sandra Eigenheer and Marco Zedler celebrate the poetry of nature. Kathrin Federer and Markus Eichenberger explore vast landscapes. Beatrice Hildbrand celebrates the beauty of existence. Joep Hijwegen captures the light of the late hour. Guido Klumpe shows the urban space. Elena Martynyuk It transports us to fantasy worlds. It stages an ode to stillness. Lea Meienberg. David Wagnières celebrates the creativity of theatre.

The photo exhibition «In Colours» showcases the best works from the youth competition «U25 Photo Challenge»The ten most extraordinary books of photo book competition can be seen at the Bookfactory booth.

Photo competitions, photo workshops, audiovisual productions, lectures and events

Photo contests

The best entries from the following photo competitions: “Competition for photo clubs”, «U25 Photo Challenge» and Photo Book Contest They can be seen in the corresponding photo exhibitions.

Photo workshops

With more than 30 photo workshops Photo Münsingen offers a wide range of photographic training courses, which can be booked immediately.

Audio vision

  • One highlight is the multimedia presentation. “Wonder of Earth” Christian KleppThe geoscientist and landscape photographer takes you on a spectacular journey to remote places that tell the story of the Earth's constant change.
  • Four blocks of music are held every afternoon in the fire station hall. audiovisual short productions gezeigt.

Lectures

Lectures on a wide variety of topics Markus Eichenberger, Tobias Ryser, Joep Hijwegen, Miriam Bennouna, Remo Zehnder, Chiara Ruoss, Ralf Turtschi and Christian Reding.

Events

  • For the first time, Photo Münsingen, in collaboration with Stämpfli Kommunikation, is presenting the «PROMPT BATTLE» In this live event, two players at a time are given a task to complete quickly using AI tools. The audience then evaluates the results.
  • Photographing under expert guidance? Photo booth Photo Münsingen 2026 makes this possible for visitors.
  • Felix Maurer He creates portraits on location using his analog instant camera.
  • To mark the 25th anniversary, visitors can enjoy the Photo booth They can even step in front of the camera themselves. Whether alone or in a group, they pose and take their personal souvenir photo with them directly as a high-quality, free print or send it to their smartphone.
  • The awards ceremonies for this year will also take place at PHOTOSUISSE at Photo Münsingen.

 

The winners of the photo book competition and the U25 Photo Challenge

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“Into the great wide open” is the name of the most beautiful photo book in Switzerland. It was done as part of the photo book competition chosen by Bookfactory and Photo Münsingen and comes from Matthias Notter. The price of the U25 Photo Challenge 2024 goes to Micha Bigler.

For the second time, Photo Münsingen, together with the main sponsor Bookfactory, looked for the best, most original or most unusual photo books in Switzerland. After a pre-selection, the jury – consisting of Brigitte Aeberhard-Baur, Sonja Berger and Beat Feller – evaluated the ten best creations.

Matthias Notter won first prize with his photo book “Into the great wide open”. The jury was impressed by its content concept, impressive implementation and very good images. Thanks to originally used AI and good texts with a quiet sense of humor, a travel report becomes a photo book that you not only enjoy looking at, but also read.

Second and third places go to Nadia Knechtle with the book “Stadtmomente” and Manuel C. Studer with “Rayim-Bek”.

The U25 Photo Challenge also went into the second round. Once again, photographers aged 25 or younger were able to demonstrate their passion for photography. This year the theme is “Music”.

Micha Bigler, Amira Kopp and Lukas Affolter are on the podium here. The 28 submitted images were judged by Jan Schmidt, Florian Biedermann and Yves Leneveu. They evaluated image design, quality, creativity and the connection to the topic of “music”.

The most beautiful photo books and the pictures from the U25 Photo Challenge are on display at Photo Münsingen until Sunday, May 12th.

Photo Book Competition and U25 Photo Challenge: Join now!

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The Pho­to Mün­sin­gen is launching two new competitions for this year's edition: together with Bookfactory, we are looking for the best photo books in Switzerland. Together with BERN-OST let's start the «U25 Pho­to Chall­enge». Now it's time to participate and win!

The “U25 Photo Challenge” is aimed at teenagers and young adults born in 1998 or later. The theme of the competition is «Water». What is needed are photos in which water plays a role. Whether landscape shots, studio shots or abstract images - creativity, imagination and good implementation are the focus. It doesn't matter whether the picture is taken with a smartphone or a digital camera, or developed in analogue form and then scanned.

Participation is uncomplicated and takes place via BERN-OST via the following link:

To the “U25 Photo Challenge”…

The submission deadline is March 31, 2023. After that, the submitted images will be judged and exhibited at Photo Münsingen.

You can win vouchers from the Ni­kon Foto School worth CHF 750 for first place, CHF 500 for second place and CHF 250 for fourth place. The third place winner wins 300 francs in cash, sponsored by BERN-OST. The fifth prize is a voucher from Bookfactory worth 200 francs.

The most beautiful photo book in Switzerland

In a second competition, we are dedicating ourselves to the photo book category. Together with the main sponsor Bookfactory, the best, most original or most unusual photo books in Switzerland are sought.

You have until April 23, 2023 to submit your most beautiful Bookfactory photo book using the link below. Convince the jury with your snapshots, the best shots or artfully arranged pictures. Be creative and try something new!

The content, design and overall impression of the photo book are evaluated. The topic is freely selectable. The main prize is a new Fuji camera X‑T5 with lens! The best books are also presented at the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen be visible.

To the photo book competition…