Photographer & visual artist — Paris

A photograph is never
just a surface.

A practice built between the two-dimensional and the spatial — where photography becomes a tool of construction, deconstruction, and reinvention.

View projects →
Polyvision

Work

Polyvision
Polyvision 2026
Timeshift
Timeshift 2024
Tiroler Neukonstruktionen
Tiroler Neukonstruktionen 2023
Exhibition views
Exhibition views 2010-2023
Urban collages
Urban collages 2015-2021
Image augmentée — Grand Paris
Image augmentée — Grand Paris 2020
La BNF reconstruit
La BNF reconstruite 2017
Ivry & Pixel
Ivry & Pixel 2024
reCONSTRUCTION
reCONSTRUCTION 2012
photography of space
photography of space 2011-2012
untitled
untitled 2013-2016
U-Bahn-Konstruktionen
U-Bahn-Konstruktionen 2015
Photographisme 93 — Seine-Saint-Denis
Photographisme 93 — Seine-Saint-Denis 2020
Résidence Michelet
Résidence Michelet 2017
Rudolfplatz
Rudolfplatz 2015
Timeshift
ephemeral 2014
Timeshift
Stadt - U-Bahn 2013-2016
A photograph is never just a surface.

Florian Schmitt works from personal photographic archives — visual notes taken in the city. He prints, cuts, folds, and assembles them into models, then re-photographs the result — or works further in Photoshop, Illustrator, and other software. The outcome, though resembling a pure digital montage, is always rooted in the handmade.

Paris. The city. Any city - as starting point. Architecture as raw material. Photography as a tool of construction — and deconstruction.

At the core of his practice lies a fundamental tension: photography is flat by nature — space is not. How do we make the two interact? The answer is somewhere between collage and trompe-l'œil, between utopia and dystopia, between what we see and what we think we see.

The camera becomes something else here: not a recording tool, but a visionary device — a way of seeing the city differently.

Recent publications Genau Jetzt! / Right Now — Fotohof Edition, 2023
Das Auge stolpert — Edition Imorde, 2015

Vita

Selected exhibitions

2023 Genau Jetzt! Right Now! | InnSitu BTV, Innsbruck
2021 Précipité | Mains d‘Œuvres, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine
2020 Brauhausfotografie 29 | Brauhaus, Siegen
2019 L'enjeu de la surface | IMMIXgalerie, Paris
2018 Biennale de l'Image Tangible | Mairie du 20e, Paris
2018 Un mur d'images | Nuit blanche (avec Diaph 8), Paris
2016 Groupshow | FONIS-Galerie, Düsseldorf
2014 Raumangelegenheiten | UNION, Cologne
2014 Gruppenausstellung 2014, Städt. Galerie Haus Seel, Siegen
2014 RAUM | Büro für Brauchbarkeit, Cologne
2013 Salon deux, Galerie D45, Düsseldorf
2012 5x3 | Kunstraum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf
2011 JungArt | Alte Münze, Berlin
2011 Ecken und Kanten | Städt. Galerie Haus Seel, Siegen
2011 Brauhausfotografie 20 | Brauhaus, Siegen
2010 Partizipia-Kunstpreis, d-52. raum für zeitgenössische kunst, Düsseldorf
2010 Das Innere ist jetzt Außen | Städt. Galerie Haus Seel, Siegen

Bio

1980Born in Mainz (Germany). Lives and works in Paris.
09/2017 - 06/2019 Master in Photography and contemporary art, University Paris 8, Paris (France)
08/2014 - 06/2017 Co-founder for the studio and project space UNION (with Katja Hoffmann), Cologne (Germany)
04/2013 - 09/2016 Artistic assistant for art photography under Prof. Uschi Huber at the University of Siegen, Siegen (Germany)
04/2008 - 01/2013 Art studies, University of Siegen, Siegen (Germany)

Publications

2023Genau Jetzt! / Right Now, Fotohof Edition, Innsbruck
2023BIS édition (with Diaph 8), Paris
2021Précipité, catalogue, Saint-Ouen
2020Brauhaus-Fotografie 29, Siegen
2018Biennale de l'Image Tangible, catalogue
2016UNION, Spaces. Freie Kunsträume in Deutschland, München
2015Das Auge stolpert, Edition Imorde
2011Ecken und Kanten, Kunstsicher Award

Awards

Promotion Territoire(s) | photographic competition
MC93 & In Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis
TRAVERSÉES | grant
CIPAC, FRAAP, Ministère de la culture, Paris
Pre-selected by Poly-Paris |
Prix création émergente en Ile-de-France, Paris
Kunstsicher-Award, Siegen
Ilse Krahl-Award, Siegen

Collections

BTV Bank für Tirol und Vorarlberg, Innsbruck (AT)
Sammlung Thoma, Siegen (DE)

Press & texts

2023Florian Ebner If Innsbruck were no longer just Innsbruck (catalogue : Genau Jetzt! / Right Now)
2019Image augmentée — Mehrbildlichkeit (artist statement)
2015Katja Hoffmann — With Playful Calculation
2016Kamikaze Karma — Interview Meike Welz
2011Joseph Imorde — Im Gleichgewicht