Selection Committee

The selection process for the Rotterdam Photo contests consists of three rounds of evaluation. In each round, the photography experts panel (selection committee) will individually review entries and select a group of entries in each category to proceed to the following round.

Entries will be judged based on creativity, photographic quality, and effectiveness in expressing the contest theme. Winners will be announced on this website as well as on social media channels.

 

Meet the selection committee 2025:

Dutch Talent Project Grants

 

Mira Matić

Curator, Spatial Designer

Mira Matić is an experienced and passionate curator and spatial designer. 20 years of work in the Dutch Photography Museum has taught her to connect the conceptual realm of the artist with the practical world of exhibitions and interiors. She has worked with various people from diverse artistic backgrounds and photographers like Alfredo Jaar, Sebastio Salgado, Bruce Davidson, Martin Schuler and Jacqueline Hassing. Working with these artists has opened her eyes to the magic of integrating photography and art in spatial design. She thoroughly enjoys translating conceptual ideas into space, material and colour and has the technological knowledge and hands-on mentality to get things done.

 

Marcel Kollen

Freelance photographer. Managing director of Rotterdam Photo

Marcel Kollen is a photographer from Rotterdam. Besides his visual practice, he is a renowned entrepreneur in the cultural life of Rotterdam. He organized festivals such as Route du Nord and led projects for Kunsthal Rotterdam and Het Nieuwe Instituut, among others. In 2015, he initiated Rotterdam Photo to generate a wider stage and support for national and international photographers during Art Rotterdam Week. He likes to create new activities for image-makers and wants to propagate image culture in all its facets in the Rotterdam region.

 

Jaasir Linger

Interdisciplinary Visual Artist, Photographer and Filmmaker

Jaasir Linger is an interdisciplinary visual artist, photographer and filmmaker with Surinamese roots, living in Rotterdam. Based on research into his Surinamese roots, the traditional Afro-Surinamese Winti religion and Suriname’s shared history with the Netherlands, he develops ideas that he translates into installation art, among other things. In 2019, Linger graduated from the Fotoacademie Amsterdam as an autonomous image maker, and he subsequently earned his Master of Arts from the Sandberg Institute. During Linger’s academy time, he won the “Golden Freelancer Award 2016/2017” with the interactive VPRO documentary “Gliphoeve – A Forgotten Struggle. In addition, Linger is a former visual arts advisory committee member of the Amarte Fund. Linger’s works have been exhibited at Museum Het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam Museum, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Völkerkundemuseum Herrnhut, Bijbels Museum and Documenta Fifteen, among others.

 

General Open Call – shared/connected

 

Aya Musa

Curator at FOAM

Aya Musa is a curator at Foam. Prior to this, he was a curator and head programmer at the Nederlands Fotomuseum. In his work, Aya combines social developments with new exhibition forms, where photography is not subordinate to the context from which it arises, but at the same time never loses sight of this context. In this way, he gives photography a stage that goes beyond existing clichés. Since 2001, he has combined his work in the Netherlands with empirical ethnographic research into the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Currently, Aya is studying the photographic representation of victims of sectarian violence in the region.

Sam Barzilay is the Creative Director & Co-Founder of Photoville—a New York-based non-profit organization that works to promote a wider understanding and increased access to the art of photography for all. He is also one of the founding producers of the T3 Photo Festival in Tokyo, Japan. His curatorial practice is focused on creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, centered on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion.

Vanya Pieters is a freelance picture editor and mainly photography enthusiast based in Berlin. Different clients are: DIE ZEIT, DIE WELT, Prinzip Apfelbaum, WELTKUNST, C3, HKU and more. she was a member of Fototreff Berlin, a bi-monthly talk show on photography. Before moving to Berlin, she worked for several art- and journalistic platforms as World Press Photo, Unseen Photo Fair and Narrative Journalism Foundation.