Martin Zeller

born in 1961 in Mannheim, Germany, studied communications design at the College of Design in Darmstadt.

One of his first art project was a photographic journey along the river Rhine by night (412 – 432, 1990). In 1993, Zeller moved to reunified Berlin, where he created photo works of the stone metropolis (Berlin, 1997). Later he turned his attention to the multi-layeredness of the image (The Transfigured Night, 2002). International prizes and scholarships made projects abroad possible, including Roma (1999) and China Transition (2003).

Between 2004 and 2008, Martin Zeller worked in Hong Kong on The Diagonal Mirror – Space and Time in Photographing Hong Kong. In 2009 the Museum of Art in Mannheim, Germany, exhibited these large-scale photo works.

From 2008 to 2009 he worked for the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia as editor and artist on Foodscape – a Swiss-Chinese Intercultural Encounter.

In 2011 Martin Zeller was invited by the Hong Kong Art Promotion Office to take part in the community photo campaign 12 Oil Street.

From 2010 to 2012 Martin Zeller worked with Macau artist Sou Vai Keng on the back side of the eye - Reflections on Edvard Munch’s work, painting and photography on rice paper. From 2010 to 2012 they also realised their second collaborative project New Gardens. Martin Zeller and Sou Vai Keng exhibited their works in Hong Kong, Berlin, Munich, Basel and in 2018 in Lisbon.

In spring 2024 Sou Vai Keng and Martin Zeller released the publication The Passenger at Imago Lisboa. The pictures and texts were created during an artist residency on Peng Chau, in September 2018 when Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong.

From 2018 to 2024 they worked on LX Under Construction, a project on the rapid changes in Lisbon and the metropolitan area. Sou Vai Keng wrote short stories and Martin Zeller took photographs that reflect the urban transformation and its cultural and social consequences.

In 2023 Martin Zeller started to take pictures for a 2nd chapter of The Diagonal Mirror - Space and Time in Photographing Hong Kong. The project covers the rapid changes in the southern Chinese metropolis.

Awards and Fellowships

2010 Foodscape won World Gourmand Foodbook Award for Best Chinese Cuisine Book
1999 Artist Residence, Casa di Goethe, Rome
1998 Fellowship, Foundation for the Arts, Berlin
1996 Work Stipend in the Visual Arts, Senate Administration for Science, Research and Culture,Berlin;
Grand of the Arts Foundation Baden-Wuerttemberg;
Artist Residence, Castle Wiepersdorf, Foundation for the Arts, Berlin;

1995 Award, European Photography Award, German Leasing AG, Bad Homburg v.d.H.

1994 Award, Saar-Ferngas Young Artist Promotion Prize, Saarbrucken
1992 Fulbright Scholarship
1991 German Award Winner Kodak European Photography Award, Arles

Award, Antonie Belser Promotion Prize, Ludwigshafen

1987 Award, Photography in Art, Stadtsparkasse Pforzheim

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2018 Sou Vai Keng and Martin Zeller - Novos Jardins Macau, Centro Científico e Cultural de Macau, Lisboa, Portugal (C);

2016 Sou Vai Keng and Martin Zeller - New Gardens, Gallery Hammer, Basel, Switzerland;

2014 Sou Vai Keng and Martin Zeller - New Gardens II, Diana, Jörg Heitsch Gallery, Munich (C);

Sou Vai Keng and Martin Zeller - New Gardens I, Angelus Novus, KunstBüroBerlin, (C); 

2013 Sou Vai Keng and Martin Zeller - New Gardens, Asia-Pacific Weeks, Federal Foreign Office Berlin;
2012 Sou Vai Keng and Martin Zeller – the back side of the eye, reflections on Edvard Munch’s work, Gallery Julia Philippi, Heidelberg, Germany (C);

Perspektiven. Imre Kinszki und Martin Zeller, KunstBüroBerlin, Germany:
Sou Vai Keng and Martin Zeller – New Gardens, Goethe Institute Hong Kong (C);

2010 Da Berlino a Hong Kong, Philomarino Arte Contemporanea, Naples;
2009 The Diagonal Mirror, Kunsthalle Mannheim (C);

2005 The Diagonal Mirror, Galerie Weigand, Ettlingen;

2003 China Transition, Literaturhaus Basel (C);

The Transfigured Night, Antonopoulou Gallery, Athens (C);

China Transition, Galerie Weigand, Ettlingen (C);
2002 Die verklaerte Nacht, Galerie Haus Schneider, Ettlingen (C);

Die verklaerte Nacht, Price, Waterhouse, Cooper, Berlin (C);

2001 Urbane Reflektionen, Kunstforum der Bausparkasse Schwaebisch-Hall (C);

2000 Berlin, German House, New York (C);

1999 Casa di Goethe, Roma (C);
Berlino, Galleria Photo & Co, Torino;

1998 Berlin, Marburger Kunstverein (C);
Award Winners, Arts Council Baden-Wurttemberg, Stuttgart (with Ingo Baumgarten);

Berlin, Zellermayer Galerie, Berlin (C);
Galerie Monika Beck, Homburg;
Berlin, Max Mueller Bhavan, Goethe Institut New Delhi;

1997 Berlin, Mannheimer Kunstverein (C); Galerie Winkelmann, Dusseldorf;

1996 Berlin, Galerie Conde, Goethe Institut Paris; Kunstverein Wolfenbuettel;

Fotografie Forum International, Frankfurt a. M.;

Zellermayer Galerie, Berlin;
1995 Rigoletto, Staedtische Kunsthalle Mannheim (C);

Staedtische Galerie Rastatt;
Galerie Objektiv im Landesmuseum Oldenburg;

Studio Bildende Kunst, Berlin (with Max Baumann);

1994 Museum für Photographie, Braunschweig;

Das Dreieck, Zellermayer Galerie, Berlin (C);

1993 Das Dreieck, Scharpf-Galerie des Wilhelm-Hack-Museums, Ludwigshafen;

Installation Rampenweg, Kultursommer Ludwigshafen;

1992 Das Dreieck, Galerie am Schlossgarten, Mannheim (C);
1991 Vierhundertzwoelf, Vierhundertzweiunddreissig, Live Galerie, Zurich (C);

Intermediale Inszenierung 412 – 432, Kultursommer Ludwigshafen;

Vierhundertzwoelf, Vierhundertzweiunddreissig, Städtische Galerie Mannheim (C);

1990 Vierhundertzwoelf, Vierhundertzweiunddreissig, Stadtmuseum Ludwigshafen (C);

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024 PORTUGAL INSIDE OUT, Gallery Santa Maria Maior, Lisbon

2008 Von Kunst und Politik. Photography in the Collection of the German Parliament, Art Space o the German Parliament, Berlin;

(Maerkischer) Sand. Spuren zwischen Sujet, Werkstoff und Landschaftsraum, dkw Cottbus,

Brandenburgische Kulturstiftung Cottbus (C);

2006 totalstadt.beijing case, ZKM, Zentrum Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe (C);

Flic Flac – Kunst aus Berlin, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin;

Fremde Stadt, Urbanism in Photography, artmatters Forum, Munich;

2003 25 Anniversary Arts Council Baden-Wurttemberg, Wurttembergische Kunstverein, Stuttgart;

2002 Die Stadt, Staedtische Galerie Delmenhorst;

2001 10 Jahre, Schloss Agathenburg;

4 Fotografen – 4 Positionen, Galerie Haus Schneider, Ettlingen;

1999. Imagine, Galerie Haus Schneider, Ettlingen;

1998 Der Blick in die Landschaft, Aspects of Contemporary Photography, Staedtische Galerie Tuttlingen (C);

Neue Positionen, Photography from Berlin and Brandenburg, Brandenburgische

Kunstsammlung Cottbus, KMZA Berlin und Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen (C);

1997 Award Winners Arts Council Baden-Wurttemberg des Jahres 1996, Kunstverein Heidelberg,

Museum der Stadt Ettlingen, Staedtisches Museum und Galerie der Stadt Engen, u.a.;

Mediale Welten, Award Winners Arts Council Baden-Wurttemberg, Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen (C);

Die Fluechtigkeit der Stadt, Galerie HG, Berlin;

1996 Berlin, une Capitale en Pespectives, Troit de la Grande Arche, La Defense, Paris (C);

Paysage – paysage, Galerie Vrais Reves, Goethe Institut Lyon;

Idee und Idylle, Galerie Raehnitzgasse der Landeshauptstadt Dresden;

Erfundene Wirklichkeit, Schloss Agathenburg (C);

Stipendiaten des Kuenstlerhauses Schloss Wiepersdorf, Wiepersdorf (C);

Nach dem Raum, Designhaus, Berlin;

1995 European Photography Award, Deutsche Leasing AG, Bad Homburg v.d.H. (C);

Der Ton des Raumes, Galerie Angelo Falzone, Mannheim;

1994 Junge Kunst, Saar Ferngas Foerderpreis, Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern und Brandenburgische; Kunstsammlung Cottbus (C);

Leben in Deutschland, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cologne (C);

Installation Rampenweg, Internationale Fototage, Herten;

1993 Der Kontext in der Kunst, Galerie Halskratz, Mannheim;

1992 Mythos Rhein, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen (C);

Architektur subjektiv, Kunstverein Heilbronn;

Die Schatten werden laenger, Galerie Halskratz, Mannheim;

1991 European Kodak Award Winners, Arles (C);

Für eine neue Bildsprache, Fotografie Forum International, Frankfurt a. M.;

Fotografie als Kunst, Stadtsparkasse Pforzheim;

1990 Feierabend, Industrietempel, VEB Stahlgiesserei Karl-Marx-Stadt;

Kunst Statt Kueche, Industrietempel, Braas Werke, Mannheim;

1989 Kunst im Turm, Industrietempel, Wasserturm zu Neckarau, Mannheim, (C);

1987 Fotografie als Kunst, Stadtsparkasse Pforzheim;