The National Library of France (The Bibliothèque nationale de France – BnF) holds over 1,600 Lithuanian photographic prints by 22 photographers active between 1950 and 1990.
On the occasion of the Lithuanian season in France, on 8 November 2024 The National Library of France, in collaboration with Kaunas Photography Gallery, will organise a conference in the historic BnF Richelieu Palace, during which art historians will give presentations about the collection and the works it contains, and will meet the photographers of the prints in the collection.
*Thanks to a seamless translation, the event will be held in two languages, French and Lithuanian.
PROGRAMME:
9.30-10 AM: welcome for participants and guests
10-10.15.: introduction to the day by Gilles Pécoult, President of the BnF, and Arnoldas Pranckevičius, Lithuanian Ambassador in France
Part I: Historical presentations – Part I will be moderated by Héloïse Conésa, Curator of the Photography Department of the BnF.
10.15-11.15: Presentation by Dominique Versavel, Curator of the BnF Photography Department, on the BnF’s
collection of Lithuanian photography (presentation will be read by Flora Triebel)
11.15-11.30: Break
11.30-12.30: Presentation by Justė Litinskaitė, art historian, on cultural exchanges between France and Lithuania during the Iron Curtain (the case of BnF)
12:30-14:00: lunch break
Video of the event: https://www.bnf.fr/fr/mediatheque/autour-des-collections-de-photographies-
lituaniennes-de-la-bnf-ouverture-et
Part II: Meetings with artists – Part II will be moderated by art critic Justė Litinskaitė
14.00-14.45: Photographer Aleksandras Macijauskas will present his work (by video)
14.45-15.30: Photographer Violeta Bubelytė will present her work
15.30-16.30: Photographer Romualdas Požerskis will present his original works in the BnF collection and comment on the work of fellow photographer Virgilijus Šonta
16:30-16:45: Signing of books by Romualdas Požerskis
Video of the event: https://www.bnf.fr/fr/mediatheque/autour-des-collections-de-photographies-
lituaniennes-de-la-bnf-presentations-doeuvres
Part III: Presentation of works – Part III will be moderated by Héloïse Conésa, Curator of the Photography
Department of the BnF.
16:45-17:30: Presentation by Sonia Voss, Independent Curator of Photography, on the reportage by Antanas Sutkus on the 1965 visit of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir to Lithuania
17:30-18:30: Presentation by independent curator Yolita Švegždaitė-René on the work of photographer Algimantas Kunčius
18.30-18.45: Book signing by Violeta Bubelytė
Video of the event: https://www.bnf.fr/fr/mediatheque/autour-des-collections-de-photographies-
lituaniennes-de-la-bnf-reportage-et-series
DATE: 8 November 2024
VENUE: Richelieu Conference Room, Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), 5 Rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris, France
For more information in French: https://www.bnf.fr/fr/agenda/autour-des- collections-de-photographies-lituaniennes-de-la-bnf
Funded by the Lithuanian Culture Institute, the French Institute, AON.