With this award, the Akademie der Künste honours one of the world’s most recognized German photographers. Candida Höfer’s oeuvre, which has grown over five decades, ranks among the photographic avant-garde of the present day. Her large-format photographs show public and semi-public spaces in prominent historical libraries, museums and opera houses. The motifs show places of encounter, communication, memory and knowledge, but also of relaxation and recreation. The artist herself describes her works not as architectural photographs, but as portraits of spaces.