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PRESENTATION OF THE PROJECT «PHOTOPHOBIA-2» 

On April 24, 2009 there was a presentation of the Photofobia-2 project within the framework of the Baltic Biennale of Photography Photomania-2009 at the Kaliningrad Art Gallery.

Photofobia-2 is a program of films created on the basis of photographs. Artists working with various digital media (animation, 3D, video, etc) were invited to take part in the project. Each participant was to fulfill the 2 main terms: provide one image for the other artist to create a film on its basis, and create a film on the basis of one image received from the other participant of the project. 

Concept

«Photophobia-2» is a sequel of the «Photophobia-1» project implemented by the Kaliningrad Branch of NCCA in 2007. The idea of the first project was to resort to different media in order to create new forms of representing photography such as films where text, sound, animation and a number of digital technologies are used. Artists from 10 countries made over 20 photo-films specially for the project. The program was released on DVD and exhibited within the framework of the International Biennale of Photography «Photomania-2007» (Kaliningrad), the VII Street Video Art Festival «Empty-2008» (Moscow) and the educational program of the Yekaterinburg Branch of NCCA «Ajar Mondays» at the Ural State University (Yekaterinburg). 

The curators of «Photophobia -2» proceed from the idea of intensifying fear of the static nature and completeness of the figurative worldview imprinted in the only one still. The «Photophobia – 1» project presupposed creating a film on the basis of a series of photographs which initially implied unraveling of the plot and made the task of «animating» images easier. In the «Photophobia – 2» project the basic material is limited to only one photograph. 

The technological principle of hologram – «whole in every part» – becomes a metaphor of the project. The visual «inventory» of one still potentially contains a variety of senses in itself. The recognition of an endless number of possible interpretations and image manipulations gives rise to a fear of the quality of a joint creation. 

The author of a photograph is not admitted to decode further his own message. This approach dilutes the tabooed zone of authorship as a property on a fixed uniqueness cultivated by professional community. Handing the photograph over to another person, the curators provoke the rupture of connection between the artist and his or her «brainchild», or offer the two authors to influence each other with unpredictable consequences. 

Project participants:

Danil Akimov (Kaliningrad, Russia), Oleg Blyablyas (Kaliningrad, Russia), Marсel Dinahet (Rennes, France), Inna Kazakova (Petrozavodsk, Russia), Ralph Juergen Colmar (Bristol, Great Britain), Alexandra Mitlyanskaya (Moscow, Russia), Valery Orlov (Moscow, Russia), Dagmara Pochyła (Torun, Poland), Rafael Roa (Madrid, Spain), Vladimir Seleznev (Yekaterinburg, Russia), Maciej Toporowicz (New York, USA), Evgeny Umansky (Kaliningrad, Russia), Anna Ceeh (Vienne, Austria), Alexey Chebykin (Kaliningrad, Russia), Kuda begut sobaki Group (Yekaterinburg, Russia), Topp&Dubio Group (the Hague, the Netherlands), KIWA (Tartu, Estonia). 

Organizer: Kaliningrad Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts

Partners: Kaliningrad Union of Photo Artists, Kaliningrad Art Gallery

Project manager: Evgeny Umansky

Curators: Elena Gladkova, Oleg Blyablyas

Topp&Dubio group. Video ‘All angles of the space appearance’

Ralph Juergen Colmar. Video ‘Tall Story’

Dagmara Pochyla. Video ‘My questions are always right’

Kuda Begut Sobaki Group. Video ‘Ave’

Exposition view

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