International Symposium "Researching and Curating Photography from Ukraine: reflections, perspectives, challenges" .

Organizers: Open Eye Gallery, NGO Ukrainian Photography

Curator: Kateryna Filyuk

4-5 March, 2024

Location: New Adelphi Theatre, New Adelphi Building, University of Salford, University Rd, Salford M5 4BR

LIVE STREAMING: The symposium will be live-streamed via Open Eye Gallery's YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/openeyegallery

This symposium aims at shedding light on the history and variety of practices shaping photography in Ukraine, with a particular focus on documentary photography and its capability to capture historical events. Funded by the British Council, and organized in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute, the symposium will bring together academic researchers, art practitioners, and photographers from Ukraine and abroad, in order to structure and extend the knowledge about photography and visual practices in Ukraine.
The two-day symposium is structured in three introductory keynotes, providing a broad historical overview; four panels, each focused on one photographer; and a panel discussion with international art practitioners, about the challenges of researching and exhibiting photography from Ukraine.
Alongside the symposium, the New Adelphi building will display the Home exhibition on its first stop of the 2024 UK tour. Home showcases work from 15 Ukrainian photographers who reveal Ukrainians’ current experience, and fundamental human values that underpin our idea of ‘home’: family and friends in a safe space, the beautiful landscapes, culture, and identity. The exhibition was first shown in Liverpool at Open Eye Gallery in May 2023.

Program:

Day 1
10.15-10.30 – Coffee / Foyer Talk
10.30-10.50 – Welcome / Introduction (Sarah Fisher, Kateryna Filyuk, Viktoria Bavykina, Anastasiia Manuliak)
10.50-11.30 – Key Speaker Alex Bykov, "It wasn't that long ago”. Kyiv in architectural photography
11.30-11.40 – Q&A
11.40 – 11.50 comfort break
11.50-12.50 – Panel 1 Iryna Pap: “The truth of life” in Soviet photo reportage (panelists: Kateryna Filyuk, Kateryna Iakovlenko, moderator: Olena Chervonyk)
12.50-13.00 – Q&A
13.00 -14.20 – Lunch Break
14.20 -15.00 – Key Speaker Olena Chervonyk, Kharkiv School of Photography as Ukrainian Postmodernism
15.00-15.15 – Q&A
15.15-15.35 – Coffee Break
15.35-16.35 – Panel 2 Viktor Marushchenko: Photographer and Educator (panelists: Alex Bykov, Max Gorbatskyi, moderator: Darius Vaichekauskas)
16.35-16.50 – Q&A
17.00-18.00 – Drink & Browse through books (available at the Box Office desk), New Adelphi atrium space
18.00-19.30 – Home exhibition tour launch - Atrium, New Adelphi building

Day 2

10.15-10.40 – Coffee / Foyer Talk
10.40-11.20 – Key Speaker Kateryna Filyuk, Contemporary Photography and Photo-Related Art Practices in Ukraine
11.20-11.40 – Q&A
11.40 – 11.50 comfort break
11.50-13.00 – Panel Discussion: Curating and Researching Photography from Ukraine
Participants: Darius Vaichekauskas (LT), Kateryna Radchenko (UA), David Elliott (UK), Max Gorbatskyi (UA/UK), Emine Ziyatdinova(UA/UK).
13.00-14.00 – Lunch Break
14.00-14.50 – Panel 3 Alexander Chekmenev: From Local Story to Global History (panelists: Viktoria Bavykina, Emine Ziyatdinova, moderator: Ben Harman)
14.50-15.00 – Q&A
15.00-15.10 comfort break
15.10-16.00 – Panel 4 Transformation of the Photography During the Wartime (panelists: Kateryna Iakovlenko, Michael Kurtz, moderator: Kateryna Radchenko)
16.00-16.10 – Q&A
16.10-16.20 – Coffee Break
16.20-17.45 – documentary movie screening "Glyadyelov"
Directors: Ksenia Kravtsova, Vladyslav Nechyporenko