Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, born 1957 in Freiburg, studied German philology and philosophy at the University of Freiburg after leaving school. She also holds a diploma from the Eurythmische Hochschule in Stuttgart, where she was subsequently employed as a lecturer from 1982 to 1986. In addition to this, she is also a graduate of the Fernuniversität Hagen (distance teaching university) in Event Management.

After ACM Projektentwicklung GmbH, Salzburg, bought into Leica Camera AG in 2005, her long-standing passion for photography led to the opening of the Leica Galerie in Salzburg in 2008.

Today, Karin Rehn-Kaufmann is Art Director & Chief Representative Leica Galleries International and holds management responsibility for the 24 Leica Galleries around the world.

She has successfully curated numerous prestigious exhibitions including, for instance, the project ‘Chinaflug’, an exhibition showing spectacular aerial photography from the 1930s that was presented at the Chinese Embassy in Berlin and at ‘Photo Shanghai’ in 2015. She is also held responsibility for exhibition concepts for the Leica Galerie at the photokina in 2012, 2014 and 2016, as well as the ‘10x10’ exhibition on the occasion of the jubilee ‘100 years of Leica photography’, and ‘50 best for Leica’ – an exclusive collection of the most famous photographs taken by the prominent US Magnum photographer Elliot Erwitt.

Karin Rehn-Kaufmann has been a member of the jury of the Leica Oskar Barnack Awards since 2008 and has played a significant role in the organisation and further development of the prestigious photographic competition.