Two European cultural institutions, the Kaunas Photography Gallery in Lithuania and the Centre national de l’audiovisuel (CNA) in Dudelange, Luxembourg, have joined forces to create an innovative project that brings together a group of artistic practitioners to explore the notion of humanist photography. The group consists of twenty-three international photographers but will also include writers and the designer Nicolas Polli. The group of artists will be led by the photography editor and curator Emma Bowkett; artist and editor Naoise O’Keeffe; and the artist and photographer Jim Goldberg.
Why humanist photography?
Both institutions are firmly committed to humanist photography, a documentary style focusing on ordinary people in everyday situations. It is an approach most famously associated in Europe with such photographers as André Kertész, Robert Doisneau and the Magnum co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson. The CNA holds the seminal exhibition ‘The Family of Man’, curated by Edward Steichen for the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1955, which is regarded as a manifesto for peace and the fundamental equality of mankind expressed through the humanist photography of the post-war years. In Lithuania, the humanist vision has been central to the way the country has recorded and preserved its sense of national identity, especially during the period of Soviet occupation when the country’s unique character, environment and way of life were threatened with destruction.
The project
The project takes the form of two separate, one-week residency workshops, held in Kaunas (16–22 May 2022) and in Dudelange (6–12 June 2022), with the participants divided between them. The workshops will provide a forum for an exchange of ideas and discussions about the artists’ own work and how it relates to the human predicament in today’s world. In what way do current global crises and tensions – warfare, the pandemic, climate change, immigration etc. – impact on the role of photography? What are the benefits and the limitations of a humanist attitude when confronting these issues? Despite drastic developments in the field of photography, contemporary photographers are still finding new and innovative ways to present what it means to be human.
As a result of exploring some of these issues and ideas, each group will put together a magazine-style, trilingual publication to be published in November 2022. The themes to be covered will grow and develop from the discussions within each group with the additional involvement of critics and curators; the collections and cultural networks of the Kaunas Photography Gallery and the CNA will be available as research facilities. Other forms of presentation (events and talks) will be organized in Kaunas and Dudelange in order to engage with the public. The design of the final publication will be guided and developed by Nicolas Polli.
The twenty-three participating artists
The Kaunas Photography Gallery and the CNA selected the participating artists from a pool of nominations on the basis of their approaches and their ability to interact collaboratively.
Ieva Baltaduonytė (LT), Maté Bartha (HU), Laurianne Bixhain (LU), Marie Capesius (LU), Sebastien Cuvelier (LU), Ankita Das (IN), Patrick Galbats (LU), Kata Geibl (HU), Karolina Gembara (PL), Anne-Sophie Guillet (FR), Kseniya Hauluabovich (BY), Tadas Kazakevičius (LT), Geistė Kinčinaitytė (LT), Massao Mascaro (BE), Artūras Morozovas (LT), Bruno Oliveira (LU), Agnieszka Sejud (PL), Marie Smith (GB), Anne Speltz (LU), IndrėUrbonaitė (LT), Severina Venckutė (LT), Karolina Wojtas (PL), Ana Zibelnik (SI)
Workshop mentors
Emma Bowkett, co-mentor to the Dudelange group, is Director of Photography at the FT Weekend Magazine and a curator. She is an Associate Lecturer at University of the Arts London (LCC) and regularly participates at international workshops, portfolio reviews, festivals and awards. She is also the curator of a Financial Times special supplement and talks programme at the annual Photo London photography fair, and is on the advisory board for the festival, Peckham 24.
Twitter @emmalbowkett / Instagram @emmalbo @ft_weekend
Naoise O’Keeffe, co-mentor to the Dudelange group, is the editor of Hot Potato which she founded in 2018 as an ‘alternative newspaper’ that combines photography and journalism in an original way. It aims to engage a different kind of audience in political and cultural affairs.
https://hotpotato.news/ / Instagram @hotpotatonews
Jim Goldberg, mentor to the Kaunas group, is an American artist and photographer, whose work reflects long-term, in-depth collaborations with neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations. He has been exhibiting for over 30 years and his innovative use of image and text make him a landmark photographer of our times. Many private and public collections hold his work, including MoMA, SFMOMA, Whitney, Getty, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago.
https://jimgoldberg.com/ /Instagram @goldbergjim
Nicolas Polli is a photographer, graphic designer and editor from Switzerland, he studied art direction at the Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL). In 2012, he and Salvatore Vitale established the photography magazine YET. Since 2016, he has been developing an independent studio (Atelier CIAO) and, after working for several publishers, founded his own publishing house: CIAO PRESS. He teaches photography and photo book design at several universities. Since 2021, he is the resident at Atelier Robert in Biel.
https://www.ciaopress.com /Instagram @nicolaspolli
The institutions
Kaunas Photography Gallery (founded in 1979) is situated at the heart of Kaunas old town and is one of the largest and most important exhibition sites not only in Lithuania, but in all the Baltic countries. It exhibits classic, traditional Lithuanian photography as well as innovative international contemporary art projects, organizes an international residency program and holds regular photography workshops and masterclasses. For the last decade, it has also run its own publishing house and bookshop.
The Centre national de l’audiovisuel (CNA), created in 1989 in Luxembourg and placed under the authority of the Ministry of Culture, is at the crossroads of multiple and different institutions, catering to the needs of professionals and organizations as well as those of the general public. Its mission is to preserve and promote Luxembourg’s audio-visual heritage and to make it accessible to all through the means of exhibitions, publications, residencies, commissions, grants, screenings, lectures, talks and countless other events aimed at a broad audience.
Esch-Alzette and Kaunas are both European Capitals of Culture 2022, a title they hold jointly with Novi Sad in Serbia. The project ‘H – The Notion of Humanist Photography’ is part of the cultural programs of Esch 2022 and Kaunas 2022.
The project is supported by ‘Esch2022′, ‘Kaunas 2022′, ‘Ville de Dudelange’, Luxembourg Ministry of Culture, Lithuanian Council for Culture.
More information: https://www.instagram.com/h_humanist_photography/
Press
Anne-Laure Letellier: T. 00352 52 24 24 – 282, anne-laure.letellier@cna.etat.lu
Marielle Kaufmann: T. 00352 52 24 24 – 256, marielle.kaufmann@cna.etat.lu
Justė Litinskaitė: T. 00370 62 05 37 02, info@kaunasgallery.lt