The 47th photography symposium is waiting in Nida: how the creators will present themselves and the organizers Culture

Back in 1973 The international photography symposium that saw the light of day gathers around 300 participants every year and has become one of the most important and largest photography events in the Baltic States. The symposium, traditionally held in Nida, in the heart of Neringa, will surprise photography enthusiasts and professionals with new highlights this time.

According to Vilma Samulionytė, curator of exhibitions, chairwoman of LFS and organizer of the symposium program, the uniqueness of this year’s event is the organizers presenting themselves as creators.

Photo of the organizers/Photography symposium in Nida

“LFS has always been an organization founded and managed by artists. This means that the symposium is created year after year by people who breathe photography every day, watch it develop and change, have a broad understanding of this medium and want to share it. Naturally, the idea of ​​presenting our work and getting out of the scenes in such an environment was born naturally. Both I, Gytis Skudzinskas, Donatas Stankevičius and Dalia Mikonytė are still more or less active in the creative field. We are all very different artists who can critically look at each other, spark conversation and discussion. I hope that the audience will be interested to hear and see what is happening on our creative workbench,” says V. Samulionytė.

The organizers will invite to meetings with their creations on the penultimate day of the event, September 14. However, according to the organizer of the symposium program, there will be no shortage of building a close relationship in an informal environment every day.

“We are trying to maintain the essence of the symposium – to come to Nida and directly communicate about creativity – even as it expands, while at the same time looking for new and relevant ways to increase the accessibility of culture and promote the diversity of photographic expression.” In general, I also entered the field of photo art during this event, several significant generations of theoreticians and artists grew up and were formed here. Nevertheless, we are open to everyone – both professionals and people who have almost no exposure to photography. After all, the opportunity to communicate informally with artists, listen to the insights of academics and have a good time in autumn Neringa is special”, emphasizes V. Samulionytė.

Photo of the organizers/Photography symposium in Nida

It is also supported by the long-standing “Nida. Photo artist Arturas Valiauga, participant of “Meet the Photography”, will be holding creative workshops at the event for the first time this year.

“Today, the symposium has expanded from local to international, has grown into the clothing of humanistic and press photography and covers a much wider field, an approach to photography. Nevertheless, its essence remains communication and community divination. Every time it becomes an open, especially important adventure for photographers, surprising with interesting events”, says A. Valiauga.

From creative workshops to exhibitions and performances

During the first days of the symposium, participants will be invited to participate in three unique creative workshops with experienced photo artists.

Artist, photographer and founder of Replika Publishing, Youvalle Levy, will teach workshop participants how to create zines – small-run, independently published press, distinguished by non-standard artistic solutions.

Photographer Mindaugas Janušaitis will include in the RA4 color reverse analog process workshop, during which you will take pictures with a large format camera and enjoy instant color images born right on the spot.

The third workshop will be led by photographer Arturas Valiauga, who invites us to look at the social portrait of the environment and examine the authenticity of the author and the documentary nature of photography.

Photo of the organizers/Photography symposium in Nida

“The social context is particularly relevant in my work, and forms of expression and photographic documentary are in a sense a tool of my work. In general, my work is not based on technological aspects – the participants in this workshop will not encounter that either. Here we will delve into the issue of authenticity, we will look at photography as a tool for telling our topic, story and we will try to understand how to discover relevant topics or ideas”, says A. Valiauga about the workshop.

The 47th photography symposium will also present three exhibitions – by Lithuanian artists Gintautas Trimaks and Ieva Maslinskaitė, who resided and worked in Nida this year, and by photographer Sergej Vutuc from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who will invite participants to a unique performance at the opening of his exhibition.

Engaging lectures and artist presentations

As every year, the participants of the symposium will have morning lectures by Lithuanian and foreign lecturers, which will allow the participants to better understand the work of their own or other artists. Among them are such well-known names in our country as Agnė Narušytė, Laima Kreivytė, Agnė Gintalaitė, Tomas Pabedinskas, Paulius Petraitis, Jogintė Bučinskaitė and Geistė Kinčinaitytė.

They will be joined by foreign academics or artists – art historian Adam Mazur from Poland, who will look at the institutional landscape of photography in his country, Spanish photographer and general coordinator of the PHotoESPAÑA festival, Juan Varela, who will present the world’s leading photography and visual arts event.

Also, representatives of Nykyaika photography center Terhi Asumaniemi and Liisa Mäkinen from Finland will present the gallery operating in the heart of Tampere, and Estonian artist Paul Kuimet will share his observations on modernist and contemporary photography.

In the evening part of the symposium, its participants will traditionally have artists’ presentations, during which the authors will not only share examples of their work, but also tell more about their works and the context of their creation.

Such Lithuanian artists as Eglė Vertelkaitė, Ieva Stankutė, Ieva Maslinskaitė, Kotryna Ła Kiliulytė, Gintaras Česonis, Mindaugas Kavaliauskas, Malvina Jelinskaitė, Vytenis Jankūnas, Arūnas Kulikauskas will open the backstage of their work.

Presentations will be made by artist and visual artist from Estonia Ruudu Ulas, who will present her projects “Material Resistance” (2020 – 2024) and “Difficult Objects” (2021), documentary photographer Simon Chang from Taiwan, who will talk about photography from the perspective of a long-time European migrant and S. Vutuc, who will open the exhibition in Nida.

Finally, photography professionals and enthusiasts will participate not only in the cinema, but also in the evening of projections, during which the works of the finalists of the photography residency competition in Nida will be presented.