BORIS ELDAGSEN
Berlin-based German artist Boris Eldagsen (*1970) studied photography and visual arts at the Art Academy of Mainz, conceptual art and intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague and fine art the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication Hyderabad, India. In addition, he studied philosophy at the Universities of Cologne and Mainz.
Since 2000 his photomedia work has been shown internationally in institutions and festivals including Deichtorhallen Hamburg, CCP Melbourne, ACP Sydney, EMAF Osnabrück, Edinburgh Art Festival, FORMAT Festival Derby, Noorderlicht Groningen, Chobi Mela Dhaka, Singapore International Photography Festival, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Biennale Le Havre and Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth. Boris has been awarded at ‘Voies Off’ Arles and ‘FORMAT’ Festival Derby.
Since 2004, Boris has lectured at Victorian College of the Arts / University Melbourne, Photography Studies College Melbourne, Akademie für Bildende Künste Mainz and Hochschule Furtwangen and Filmakademie Ludwigsburg. In addition, he has given workshops and presentations for over 30 universities and art schools worldwide.
As one of the first, he began offering workshops on AI-generated images at the end of 2022 and has since taught hundreds of art directors, designers, photographers, artists, image editors, and professors the essential AI knowledge. Partner organizations for these workshops have included Jung von Matt Academy / PAGE Magazine, Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft, European Creators Lab, Creative Region Upper Austria, MFG Baden-Württemberg, and Hessendesign.
He is currently teaching “AI for Creatives” at LABASAD – Barcelona School for Art & Design.
He is an active member of the two oldest German photographer’s associations, DFA and DGPh. He is also a founding member of the AI working group of Deutscher Fotorat (“German Photo Council”), Germany’s umbrella organisation for over 30 photographer’s associations and institutions).
Boris is one of the few internationally recognized experts in AI-generated images and videos and is a regular guest at panel discussions and events such as TEDx, re:publica, Handelsblatt Centillion Summit, Medientage München, FAZ AI Conference, World AI Conference Shanghai and C2 Montréal.
His refusal of the Sony World Photo Awards in April 2023 kicked-off a global debate about the relationship between photography and AI-generated images (“promptography”). He was “The man who lifted the lid on Pandora’s box” (The Age) and his image “PSEUDOMNESIA | The Electrician” became “The picture that stopped the world” (The Guardian) and a symbol for a new aera.
Since 2023 his AI-generated work was shown by international galleries such as Ravestijn Gallery Amsterdam, SETAREH Gallery Berlin, Marion Gallery Panama, Palmer Gallery London, Hangar 7826 Montréal, Expanded-Art Berlin and in museums such as California Museum of Photography and BACC Bangkok.
It was also featured by photo and media art festivals such as Noorderlicht Groningen, AI Biennale Essen, Pingyao International Photography Festival, Jupiter Art Museum Shenzhen, Minsheng Art Museum Shanghai, International Photography and Media Art Festival Kaunas, PHOTO 2024 Melbourne, ELEKTRA International Digital Art Biennial in Montréal.
He recently was a jury member for the Ars Electronica Award in Linz.
September 2025 he curated the group show “PSYCHOPOMP! AI images as an expression of the unconscious mind” for the inauguration of the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography in Johannesburg / South Africa.
Boris lives and works in Berlin.
www.eldagsen.com | www.promptwhispering.ai
Before 2022:
WHAT DO I DO?
I AM A PHOTOMEDIA ARTIST INVESTIGATING THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND.
THE MIND IS A CURIOUS THING
Despite over 200 years of psychology, the unconscious remains as vague and powerful as the gods it emancipated itself from. As a reservoir of our past experiences, it stores urges and feelings that we rationally have no access to. However some images can open these doors, trigger emotions and unlock memories.
Using archetypes and symbolic acts, my work speaks the language of the unconscious and communicates on a dreamlike level. My visual poetry transports the viewer between the sublime and the uncanny – where the attributes of photography, painting, theatre and film unite.
I WORK LIKE A MOTH
I only work at night, with minimal equipment, an in-camera approach and without digital manipulation.
Like a moth, I roam the streets searching for light, practicing what I have termed Inverted Street Photography: instead of exploring stories, a place or a person, I hijack and transform what I see in front of my camera to become a symbol for the timeless workings of the mind.
I also stage images with models to create a portrait of the Collective Unconscious. To develop ideas and impulses for the shoot, I map the overlapping areas of my unconscious and the model’s. I’m then guided by the dynamics of the shoot to move deeper down the rabbit hole.
I WANT YOU TO HAVE AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE
THE POEMS is an ongoing meta-series of single images (numbered or titled) and single videos. I present this work as site-specific installations, often using LIMBOS.
THE LIMBOS are defined combinations of wallpaper, objects, photographs and video, to create an experience in which reality becomes fluid and visitors can walk into an inner space.
THE SCHOOLS are conceptual video works and explorations of a timeless human phenomenon: the urge to lose oneself. In referring to this phenomenon as Mysticism (Religion), Transpersonality (Psychology), Desire to Escape (Huxley) or Transgression (Bataille), there has always been a redemptive mode of being human. This phenomenon can come in a positive or negative form, upward or downward. The list is endless, depending on time, culture and imagination.
I HAVE DEVELOPED THIS WORK OVER TWO DECADES
Born in Pirmasens, a small city in the South-West of Germany, I studied photography and visual arts at the Art Academy of Mainz (Vladimir Spacek & Klaus Vogelgesang), conceptual art and intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague (Miloš Šejn & Milan Knížák) and fine art the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication Hyderabad, India (Laxma Goud).
In addition, I studied philosophy at the Universities of Cologne and Mainz. I’ve been based in Berlin since 1997.
in 2013, I participated in a Roger Ballen Masterclass.
My photomedia work has been shown internationally in institutions and festivals, including Fridericianum Kassel, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, CCP Melbourne, ACP Sydney, DTDF, EMAF Osnabrück, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Edinburgh Art Festival, FORMAT Festival Derby, Encontros da Imagem Braga, FestFoto Porto Alegre, Photolux Biennale Lucca, Singapore International Photography Festival, PhotoVisa Krasnodar, Noorderlicht Groningen, Voies Off Festival Arles, Media Forum Moscow, WRO Media Art Biennale Wroclaw, Biennale Le Havre and Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth.
I have been awarded the Prix Voies Off in Arles (2013) and the Photography Show Award at the FORMAT Festival in Derby (2015).
I have been a member of the Deutsche Fotografische Akademie since 2014.
I LOVE COLLABORATION
I truly believe in collaboration. I have worked with other artists since 1994. Check out my collaborations on www.eldagsen.com/theduets. My collaborative work with Australian artist Natascha Stellmach can be found at BORIS+NATASCHA.
I LOVE SOCIAL MEDIA
WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?
YOU CAN WORK WITH ME AS A GALLERY, MUSEUM OR FESTIVAL
You can find over 120 posts on past exhibitions, installations and screenings here. I always have work in the pipeline that is not yet published on the webpage. Contact me for exclusive previews. I love to create site-specific exhibitions. Invite me to your space.
YOU CAN COLLECT MY WORK
Video work is available in a limited edition of 3 + 1 artist proof.
Photo work is available in a limited edition of 3 + 1 artist print. Each photo is printed on Epson Fine Art paper, mounted on Alu Dibond and framed in an American Box frame.
Contact me to find out if the work you love is still available.
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YOU CAN COMMISSION A PORTRAIT
I will create a unique staged portrait of you, which maps your and my unconscious. Contact me to discuss the details.
YOU CAN INVITE ME FOR LECTURING | WORKSHOPS | PRIVATE TUITIONS | PORTFOLIO REVIEWS
Since 2004, I have lectured internationally at universities and art academies, such as The Centre for Ideas – Victorian College of the Arts / University Melbourne, Photography Studies College Melbourne, RMIT University Melbourne and Monash University Melbourne, NTU Singapore, Pathshala South Asian Media Institute Dhaka, Akademie für Bildende Künste Mainz, Hochschule Furtwangen and Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny Olot. In addition I have given workshops at institutions, such as Goethe Institut Gulf Region, Shaikh Ebrahim Center Bahrain, PhotoWerkBerlin, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Westlicht Wien and Centre for Contemporary Photography Melbourne.
Check out my workshop formats and academic references on www.eldagsen.com/lecturing. If you are interested in private tuition, I am happy to discuss, how I may help you. Contact me for details.
