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The Jury Members
from Culture & Politics

Half of the pics4peace competition is based on the votes of website visitors, the other half on the votes of a jury. In case of a tie, the decision will be made by drawing lots.

The jurors, each in his or her own environment, are committed to fighting extremism and promoting democracy. And they want to help overcome the echo chambers between young and old. Every young person should feel that his or her opinion is in demand and is being heard!

Here you can see the names of the jury members. Below, we present our jurors from their personal side. They come from all over Germany, are young and mature and have different backgrounds and experiences. For them, the evaluation is not about technical details or the greatest artistry. They are guided by what touches, appeals, motivates, stirs or simply brings a topic to the point.  Thanks to all jurors for their time and commitment in favor of pics4peace!

These are from the field of culture

  •     Winfried Muthesius, artist
  •     Tanja Kinkel, writer
  •     Uli Braun, artist and professor for design
  •     Mathias Wiedemann, musician and journalist
  •     Sybille Linke, theater scholar and cultural manager (for 2018 Contest)

And from the field of politics and socio-political commitment

  •     Christian Schuchardt, Lord Mayor
  •     Johanna Schenk, City Youth Ring
  •     Lucas Peuser, spokesman for pics4peaceYOUNGSTERS
  •     Maria Helen Schröder, youngest founding member of pics4peace e.V.

Thanks are also due to our legal counsel. In a competition nothing should go wrong and there should always be an outside observer. For this and for the supervision of the procedure, which brings about a decision in case of a tie, we were able to win an excellent expert. As a specialist in IT law and social media, he is known throughout Germany: Chan-Jo Jun. He, too, will be introduced in person below.

From Berlin
Winfried Muthesius

Muthesius studied at the Berlin University of the Arts (1979-1984). His works are influenced by many periods spent working abroad. New York is one of the most important stages so far in his artistic career. Today he lives and works mainly in a Country residence outside Berlin and on the Cape Verde Islands. 

Muthesius is an artist who places the Real and its observation from all perspectives, combined with sign-seeking, at the origin of his works; whether he is confronting the historical and also the contemporary, or dealing with religious or existential questions. This sign-seeking is reflected in his working processes, which can be very complex. Answers to his questions are often concealed behind several layers.

Muthesius is considered the inventor of the "pittura oscura". In several process steps, he allows the genres of painting, action art, and photography to intertwine. The result is a deep multi-layered image in which superimposed layers of time and meaning are combined. In this way, he succeeds in mirroring current challenges with events and places of the past in one work, while opening up a perspective for the future.

The internationally recognized artist has supported pics4peace from the beginning.

In Frankfurt, his intervention at Römerplatz "No News - Book Burning 4.0" caused quite a stir. He sawed a 2 by 2 meter gold paintinginto many book-sized pieces in order to burn them afterwards. Meanwhile, pics4peaceYOUNGSTERS read their own texts, in which they literarily compared Nazi exclamations during the book burning with what is published today in right-wing extremist and right-wing populist circles.

 

From Munich
Tanja Kinkel

The books of the successful, Munich-based writer, Dr. Tanja Kinkel, have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She is a member of the presidium of the PEN Center Germany and has supported the democracy initiative pics4peace since she learned about it through PEN, which is a partner of pics4peace. 

Her experiences are diverse. She studied German language and literature, theater and communication studies. Her books, researched in detail, take up historical topics as well as modern issues of our time. For her work she received scholarships in Rome, Los Angeles and at the Drehbuchwerkstatt in Munich and was awarded various literary prizes. In 2018, she received the E.T.A. Hoffmann Prize, honoring her for her literary and cultural-political commitment.

Tanja Kinkel is a thoroughly political person. She confronts the burning issues of our time, takes a stand and assumes responsibility for society. In 1992, she founded the children's aid organization "Brot und Bücher e.V." (www.brotundbuecher.de). She is also patron of the Federal Association of Children's Hospices. "There is no drop in a bucket when it comes to people," she says, "Every fellow citizen also has at least some time to be creative, to do good. It is only necessary to start, to take the first step. (...) Every commitment to third parties, whether in the sports club, the traditional costume club, the fire department or countless organizations often only costs a little time, not necessarily money.  But all these things are necessary and entitle us human beings to bear the title of human being; and what is more beautiful than to be entitled to that?"

From Konstanz
Uli Braun

Competent, committed, creative, positive and in demand - these are attributes that describe the Professor of Typography and Graphic Design at the Würzburg-Schweinfurt University of Applied Sciences well. In 2008, he received the "pro meritis scientiae et litterarum" award from the Bavarian State Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts for his diverse work.  Since 2014, the Constance native has been appointed as a member of the Art Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin.

Uli Braun studied at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (Design University) Schwäbisch Gmünd and at Ohio State University, Columbus, USA. He was granted a Fulbright Fellowship. He then gained his first professional experience with Prof. Peter Megert, Columbus, Ohio, and in Munich with Prof. Eberhard Stauß, before setting up his own studio for visual communication in Constance in 1991. After teaching at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd, the Merz Akademie Stuttgart and the Schule für Gestaltung Ravensburg, he first received a professorship at the Hochschule Anhalt, Dessau. Since 1997, he has held the Chair of Typography and Graphic Design at the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt. From 2001 to 2015, he also served as Dean of the Design Faculty there. For eleven years, he also taught at the Institute for Cultural Management at the Ludwigsburg University of Education; for almost ten years, he served as a university councilor for the concerns of the University of Music in Würzburg.

Uli Braun was also one of the first to support pics4peace. When he heard about the idea of the artist workshop with Winfried Muthesius, he invited interested students. Representatives of pics4peace and the State Museum für Franconia presented the idea. The result was an outstanding exhibition at the State Museum, which was followed by other exhibitions.

From Würzburg
Johanna Schenk

Würzburg
Johanna Schenk works at the Stadtjugendring. As a registered public body, it is the political lobby for all children and young people in the city, for youth organizations and for youth work in general.
In addition, the Stadtjugendring organizes various educational projects. In the area of youth participation, these include the "City District Checker" and "Shaping the Future with Media." The "Run 4 Freedom & Tolerance" focuses on the integration of children and young people with a migration background.
Johanna is campaigning for more youth participation in Würzburg. Young people should be given the opportunity to express their opinions and also to exert political influence.
Her work focuses on democracy, diversity and empowerment.

She and her colleague Felix and their team, have already cooperated with pics4peace several times, e.g. at the booth at the Umsonst & Draußen Festival or at the punsch4peace event.  It was always about asking people, especially young people, how they imagine their future, what must change, what politics, as well as each of us, can do to make this happen. Together we work for democracy, which is supposed to inspire.

geistern soll.

From Würzburg
Sybille Linke

Sybille Linke (Juror 2018) was head of the Department of Culture of the City of Würzburg from November 2015 to January 2019 and took over as head of the Department of Culture of the City of Frankfurt in February 2019. For this reason, she has asked us not to appoint her to the jury for 2019.

She studied theater, German and English language and literature in Berlin and Glasgow. From 2011 to 2015, she was the managing director of the model program "Cultural Agents for Creative Schools" in Berlin, where she was responsible for the content and strategic implementation of the program, which was funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and Stiftung Mercator. A theater professional by training, she has worked as a Cultural Manager at the interface of culture and education since 2001: For nine years she was the Managing Director of the Kreativzentrum Workshop e.V. in Hannover, and from 2010 she was the National Program Director for the MUS-E program in Düsseldorf.

Sybille Linke brought her diverse experience to bear especially in the initial phase of pics4peace, when there was no pics4peace e.V. yet and the city had taken over the responsibility for the project until the foundation of pics4peace as non-profit organization. Thus, the tutorials of artists for the pics4peace competition were mainly her idea, which she and her team, with Franziska Fröhlich at the helm, implemented so excellently.

 

From Würzburg
Mathias Wiedemann

As chief culture reporter for the Main-Post, Mathias Wiedemann has not only been responsible for all related editorial topics since 2016; he is also very familiar with the fields of music, theater, literature, visual arts and film. And thus, of course, with the topics that make up our competition!

As a graduate musician with cello as his main subject, "cultural editing of a daily newspaper" was not immediately on his mind. The German-Frenchman, who grew up in Marseille and southern Bavaria, completed his civilian service in Munich after graduating from high school in Oberstdorf in the Oberallgäu region.  That was not at all a matter of course back then. First, one had to examine one's conscience and justify the decision before a commission. But Mathias Wiedemann was convinced and persuaded.

He then devoted himself to the study of music in Würzburg, Salzburg and Stuttgart. He worked as a musician, music teacher and, time and again, as a freelance journalist for various trade magazines, Bavarian Radio and, of course, the Mainpost. There he started permanently in 1994. After his traineeship, he also wrote as an online editor, among other things. For 16 years, he was responsible for culture in the Schweinfurt editorial department and developed the city's very successful culture journal, for which he was also responsible.

As a media partner, the Main-Post looks at what is happening at pics4peace with a particularly interested and constructively critical eye. The fight for freedom of opinion, against manipulation of facts on the web or for independent reporting and solid research, - these are topics that connect us. High-quality journalism is a fundamental necessity for citizens to be able to inform themselves in a factual and well-founded manner. At the same time, it is the media's job to hold up a mirror to politics and society. They take a critical look at what is happening, report on it and thus exercise a control function. Some even call them "watchdogs of democracy." So they are natural allies of a democracy initiative, like pics4peace.

From Würzburg
Christian Schuchardt

Würzburg

Since 2014, Christian Schuchardt has been leading the city of Würzburg into the future as Lord Mayor. Born in Frankfurt and raised in Hessen, he first completed an apprenticeship as a banker before joining the German Armed Forces and then studying Administrative Sciences. He started his career at Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen, eventually becoming a department director and authorized signatory. At the same time, he taught "Public Management" at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. From the business world, his path led him to the municipalities: in 2004, as an alderman and treasurer to the city of Schwerte and finally, from 2007, as a finance and personnel officer to the city of Würzburg. From a young age, he was a political man, but one who knew how to mediate. In the election for mayor, he was nominated by three different groups.When Pia Beckmann introduced him to the democracy initiative "pics4peace - Against Extremism, for Democracy," he did not hesitate to do everything in his power to get the project off the ground.  After all, right-wing populist movements were on the rise in his city, too - albeit not as strongly as in others.  And the axe attack had also led to uncertainty among the population. He spoke to his cultural advisor, the current Essen city councilor for youth, education and culture, Muchtar Al Ghusain, and the city council. The vote was clear: Würzburg wanted to do something! The city temporarily took over the sponsorship for pics4peace, so that applications for funding, e.g. from the Free State's Cultural Fund, could be properly submitted for the projects with young people and the volunteers could begin their work.

In the meantime, the association pics4peace e.V. has been founded and the city has been relieved of its responsibility. Nevertheless, the city, with its mayor at the helm, is still fully behind the project, which is also reflected in numerous collaborations, e.g. with the municipal library or the departments of culture, youth and schools. So does the successor in the office of the culture advisor, Achim Könnecke. And what better sign of this could there be than that the Lord Mayor did not miss the opportunity to personally participate in our jury!

From Zürich, Switzerland
Maria Helen Schröder

Maria, born and raised in Würzburg, is the youngest founding member of pics4peace e.V.. Immediately after graduating from high school, she moved to Switzerland as part of a dual study program. She has been living and working there now since she was 20 years old. "I am a foreigner in my adopted country. An accepted one, to be sure. But I often have to think about those who, as foreigners, don't have as many freedoms as I do here. That's not a given."

She says of herself that she has always had a strong sense of justice. "I often noticed as a child and teenager when something went wrong, wasn't right, - at school or even just in everyday life. Nevertheless, I usually said nothing, kept quiet in the crowd. Only gradually did I start to dare to take sides or speak my mind. That's why I'm involved in pics4peace today. I want to encourage young people to stand up for what they think is right and stand up for themselves and others."

When she heard about the founding of the democracy initiative during one of her visits to her hometown, where young people in particular can express their opinions in a creative way, she was immediately on board. "We have to break new ground, otherwise we won't reach young people," she is convinced. She supports pics4peace from Zurich. The Internet makes it work.

From Würzburg
Lucas Peuser

At 23, Lucas is the youngest member of the jury and spokesperson for pics4peaceYOUNGSTERS. After his Abi in Würzburg, he is currently doing an apprenticeship as a media designer.

Theater and art have accompanied him since his early years. So he already stood on different stages, whether in the theater Chambinzky, in the cathedral of Würzburg as "Jesus" in the St. Matthew Passion, in which he convincingly played the leading role in the context of his P-Seminar "Music" or as a bartender in the short feature film "The Journeyman".

Lucas is socially and civically engaged and has traveled the world a lot, not least through his professional activities. He moderates, photographs, films, - in private as well, if his time allows. He has been actively involved in several pics4peace projects, together with other young people.

Together with the chairwoman of the association, he - as spokesman of the pics4peaceYOUNGSTERS - successfully applied for support from the Bosch Foundation to further promote the project "Youth against extremism, for democracy": in workshops on freedom of speech, extremism, hate speech, fake and facts, in Frankfurt at the book fair e.g. with Tanja Kinkel and together with the city of Frankfurt as an art action with Winfried Muthesius and young people on Römerplatz (book burning 4.0) as well as in this online competition.

"I like to participate in artistic and social projects, and I am most inspired by ideas where art and commitment work together!" he says of himself.
 
Lucas himself also submitted an entry to the contest because he wanted to take a stand on content with his film as well. Of course, Lucas' entry can NOT be included in the judging and cannot receive a prize.

Chan-jo Jun
Legal Advice

The IT legal expert and specialist for social media, Chan-jo Jun, has taken on the task of legal assistance for the competition. Nothing should go wrong in a competition and there should always be an outside observer. That's what the expert stands for. He also ensures that the lottery procedure is conducted correctly, should it become necessary.

Chan-jo Jun became known for his legal work against hate crime on Facebook. He initiated investigations against Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook managers. He is a sought-after speaker in specialist forums in Germany.

Born in Verden, Lower Saxony, in 1974, he studied law, political science and philosophy at the University of Würzburg after graduating from high school. Along the way, he worked as a freelance journalist and online editor, as a project consultant for a district municipality, and as an Internet project manager for a law school. In 1999, he received the Wolfgang Kuhlen Award, endowed with 5,000 DM, for the best legal trainee exam of the year 1999/1 at the University of Würzburg.

After graduation, he consulted for McKinsey & Comp. Inc in Frankfurt and then supported the consulting firm as a freelancer in public sector strategy projects from 2002 to 2007. He completed his legal clerkship at the Regional Court of Würzburg. He worked for the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Chamber for Commercial Matters, the City of Würzburg and, among others, for a renowned law firm in Frankfurt.

Today, Jun is working with his team at his law firm in Würzburg on the use of artificial intelligence to solve legal tasks in legal departments. Whether software licensing law for open source software or other issues, his cases often have to do with what's going on in the web. He has many important clients. But he keeps both feet on the ground and never forgets that there are people who are worse off: His team always reserves some of its working time for unpaid social commitment.

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