Photobook dummy by Jana Šturdíková (Slovakia), shortlisted for the Dummy Award 2026. The photographer spent more than ten years photographing the life of various objects in an ordinary functionalist building in Bratislava, where she used to live, designed by the Jewish architect Alexander Skutecký (1883-1944). From the boiler room to the lightning rod and across ten apartments, she searched for original elements that have survived since its construction in 1936, observing how use had altered them and what had been replaced. The same details from different landings and apartments are arranged vertically according to the floors, and the fittings of a one-room and a two-room apartment are explored through their entrance doors, kitchens, pantries, rooms, bathrooms and toilets; the last two mosaics hint at the recent renovation that removed all the original features. The book looks at how the grand history of twentieth-century Central Europe, Aryanisation, the Second World War, nationalisation and restitution, has flowed through the building and is reflected in seemingly insignificant details. A strict, objective approach is combined with a personal one, and short handwritten statements explain why certain photographs could not be taken. The Dummy Award, organised by the PhotoBookMuseum in Cologne, shortlisted 48 unpublished dummies from about 325 entries from more than 45 countries; the shortlist travels on a world tour of photography events and venues.