Biography

Stefan was born on Sept 04, 1963. He grew up in Wandsbek, a Hamburg suburb.
After graduating from high school in 1982, Stefan went to sea. Several voyages as a deckshand on Hamburg ships brought him to European and Asian ports.
Stefan Malzkorn was already taking photos during this time – the pictures from his everyday life on a ship were archived by the Hamburg Museum of Labor in 1988.
In 1986 Malzkorn began studying history and social and economic history at the University of Hamburg. Study seminars on photography in history and the analysis of films formed a focus. He spent the academic year 1989/90 at the University of Birmingham.

Shortly after his return to Hamburg, Stefan began to regularly take photos at concerts in the evenings: music-interested fellow students had started to publish a “fanzine” – a small edition music magazine that could only be obtained by mail.

Exhibition „For Eyes“ 1993

In 1993 Stefan Malzkorn was offered a solo exhibition in the „Markthalle“ Hamburg. In his exhibition „For Eyes“ he showed black and white concert pictures and portraits of musicians. The attention he gained made it possible for him to make a living from photography from the summer of 1994 onwards. In 1996, his artistic work was recognized by the Hamburg artist examination board.

In the following years Stefan Malzkorn mainly worked as a press photographer with a focus on music journalism. His work found expression in title productions and in individual presentations of his work in magazines such as Spex, Visions, Musikexpress and others.

Exhibition „Three Songs No Flash“ 1999 – 2000

In 1999 Stefan Malzkorn was invited to design an exhibition for the Cologne music fair „Popkomm“, which was shown on three days of the fair on an area of ​​120 square meters. The „Popkomm“ was followed by invitations to Bochum („Zeche Bochum“; autumn 1999), Hamburg („Markthalle“; spring 2000) and Berlin („Kulturbrauerei“ Prenzlauer Berg; summer 2000). The sold-out vernisage in Hamburg was accompanied by a show of four bands – each of them chosen by Stefan.

Exhibition „Kassettengeschichten“ 2004 – 2006

In 2004 Stefan Malzkorn was involved in the exhibition „Kassettengeschichten“ (Cassette Stories) as a photographer and designer. This exhibition showed 25 portraits in the format 1m x 2.80m, for which Stefan used a Fuji 617 roll film camera; the portraits contributed significantly to the design of the exhibition rooms in Hamburg, Bremen, Frankfurt and Bern (CH)

Exhibition „Malzkorn´s Rock´n´Roll“ 2013 – 2023

In collaboration with the cultural board Hamburg and the „Reeperbahnfestival“, Stefan designed an exhibition that documented twenty years of his music photography in Hamburg.

The exhibition was shown in 2013 in the „Nochtspeicher“ on the Reeperbahn, in 2014 in the „Levantehaus“ in Hamburg and 2015 – 2017 in excerpts in the Hamburgischen Landesvertretung in Berlin.

For the 10ys jubilee „Malzkorn´s Rock´n´Roll“ returned to Hamburg to the Fabrik der Künste, integrating images from the preceeding exhibitions to the presentation.


Stefan is father of two grown daughters and one grown son.

Backing up the archive for future reference

Stefan Malzkorn retired from his active work in 2019. Since autumn 2020, his vast archive is digitally recorded and the existing digital database newly optimized. Thus checking appr. 1 million analogue and digital images, newspaper-cutouts and other releases.

Wikipedia on Stefan Malzkorn / German

PDF Biografie / Deutsch

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