On September 3, 2020, the exhibition opening tour of the 17th KAUNAS PHOTO festival’s competition KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 Finalists took place in Kaunas. At the end of the tour the Winners of the KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 Award were announced – the Italian duo of artists Chiara Panariti and Gianfranco Ferraro with their work “Cronostasi”. The evening continued at the Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum with an artist talk by the photographer Dovile Dagiene-DoDa (Lithuania) and screening of the KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 Finalists’ series.
The works of all ten finalists of the 17th KAUNAS PHOTO festival’s competition are displayed at four outdoor and six indoor venues of Kaunas:
Chechnya Square – Bruno Alencastro (Brazil) “obs-cu-ra”
Kalniečiai park (next to Savanorių Ave.) – Guillem Vidal (Spain) “Forgotten playground”
Square next to the State Tax Inspectorate (A. Juozapavičiaus Ave. 57) – Lina Margaitytė & Marius Krivičius (Lithuania) “Temporarily Open”
At the foot of Žaliakalnis Funicular (V. Putvinskio St. 22) – Dovilė Dagienė (Lithuania) “Plant Memory / Wooden Synagogues”
VMU Multifunctional Center for Studies and Research (V. Putvinskio St. 23) – Dillon Marsh (South Africa) “Diamonds Aren’t Forever”
Kaunas Cultural Centre of Various Nations (Šv. Gertrūdos St. 58) – Mikhail Lebedev (Russia) “Restaurateurs by chance”
Kaunas Public Library of Vincas Kudirka Department of Youth, Art and Music (A. Mapu St. 18) – Hannes Jung (Germany) “The Wolf Is Present”
Kaunas City Museum Folk Music Branch (L. Zamenhofo St. 12). – Arne Piepke (Germany) “Anecdotes from an unfamiliar Land”
Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum (Rotušės Sq. 13) – Michał Adamski (Poland) “I dyed my hair again”
Kaunas Photography Gallery (Vilniaus St. 2) – Chiara Panariti & Gianfranco Ferraro (Italy) “Cronostasi” – KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 Winner’s exhibition
The exact program of the festival KAUNAS PHOTO 2020 “Peripheral Visions” can be found here.
Italų menininkai Chiara Panariti ir Gianfranco Ferraro: mes esame pakabinami laikrodžiai, kiekvienas tiksintis savo asmeniniu laiku
Sorry, this entry is only available in Lithuanian.
Praėjęs pavasaris dažną mūsų paskatino daugiau nei įprasta galvoti apie laiką. Apie jį kalba ir italų menininkų duetas: fotografė, post-prodiuserė Chiara Panariti ir fotografas Gianfranco Ferraro, 17-ajame fotomeno festivalyje KAUNAS PHOTO laimėję pagrindinį konkurso KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 apdovanojimą – personalinę parodą Kauno fotografijos galerijoje ir 2500 EUR piniginį prizą. Konkursą laimėjusi menininkų fotografinė refleksija „Cronostasi“ kviečia mus iš naujo apmąstyti žmogaus būklės laiką.
Penkiasdešimties fotografijų serijoje fotomenininkai Chiara Panariti ir Gianfranco Ferraro įamžino gyvenimą Milane pandemijos COVID-19 karantino metu. Balkonuose ir languose išgyventas Milano gyventojų kasdienybės akimirkas fiksavę menininkai teigia, kad projektas „Cronostasi“ daugiausia dėmesio skiria intymiai ir visuotinei atnaujinto laiko suvokimo paieškai. Su menininkais, negalėjusiais atvykti į parodos atidarymą Kaune dėl besitęsiančios pandemijos, kalbasi Daiva Juonytė.
„Cronostasi“ yra fotografinė refleksija, užfiksavusi neapibrėžtą Milano gyventojų padėtį karantino metu ir kviečianti pagalvoti apie naują žmogaus būsenos laiką. Ką jums patiems davė šis laikotarpis?
Iš pradžių labai išsigandome, jautėmės visiškai sutrikę ir netikri dėl absoliučiai netikėtos situacijos, stipriai pakeitusios kasdienį mūsų gyvenimą. Karantino metu supratome, kad, kalbant apie mūsų įsitikinimus ir įpročius, pagrįstus gyvenimo tėkme, kuri labai dažnai teka greitai, bet staiga ėmė ir sulėtėjo bei išsiplėtė apie kiekvieną mūsų, esame labai sąlygoti ir beginkliai. Laimei, nė vienam iš mūsų neteko susidurti su rimtomis sveikatos problemomis nei šeimoje, nei tarp draugų, tad šis laikotarpis tapo galimybe dirbti kartu ir pasakoti, kas su mumis vyksta.
Ką „Cronostasi“ reiškia jums?
Chronostazė yra nejudantis laikas, tačiau iš tikrųjų – nuolatinis judėjimas.
Jūsų nuotraukų serija yra apie laiką. Ką apie jį sužinojote?
Mums sunku žodžiais išreikšti tai, ko išmokome. Stebėdami ir žiūrėdami į žmones nuotraukose, galėjome palyginti savo ir kitų laiką, kuris tapo matavimo vienetu to, kas vyko ir tebevyksta pasaulyje. Daugybė pakabinamų laikrodžių, kurių kiekvienas tiksi savo asmeniniu laiku.
Su kokiomis žmonių emocijomis teko susidurti karantino laikotarpiu? Kaip tuo metu jautėtės patys?
Tomis savaitėmis mes bandėme įsivaizduoti, ką žmonės, užsidarę neviltyje, iš balkonų žvelgdami į tuščią miestą jaučia ir kaip ketina įprasminti nauja tapusią kasdienybę. Kartais jų gestai būdavo mūsų jausmų veidrodis, kartais – tobula metafora to, kaip tą akimirką suvokėme daiktų būseną. Mes skyrė atstumas, kiekvienas gyvenome savo burbule. Visi nuotraukose esantys žmonės mus nuolat lydėjo mūsų darbe ir taip sakydami kalbame toli gražu ne vien tik apie vizualųjį lygmenį.
Kaip karantinas pakeitė jūsų nuomonę apie namus?
Priverstinė izoliacija privertė mus iš naujo įvertinti savo gyvenimo būdą. Neišvengiamą kančią dėl priverstinės padėties lydėjo dėkingumas už mus saugančią aplinką. Šios erdvės, dažniausiai negyvos, o kartais ir apleistos, karantino laikotarpiu vėl atgijo, kai jomis pradėjo rūpintis netikėtą jų vertę atradę žmonės. Vietos, kurios buvo savaime suprantamos, staiga tapo svarbios.
Kas visą šį laiką buvo sunkiausia?
Nuotolinis darbas su nuotraukomis buvo labai reiklus. Tam tikromis akimirkomis buvo ypač sunku išlaikyti susikaupimą ir ryžtą dėl viso to, kas vyko šalia mūsų. Tačiau nepasiduoti skatino labai stiprus noras papasakoti tai, ką patyrėme fotografuodami.
Kaip manote, kokia ateitis mūsų laukia?
Išgyvenome šį sustabdytą laiką, turėdami galimybę apmąstyti tai, ką darėme iki šiol ir ką galėtume daryti paskui. Matėme praktikoje įgyvendintų veiksmų rezultatą ir supratome, kad kitokia, gražesnė ateitis yra įmanoma, tačiau tai – mūsų pasirinkimas. Kiekvienas esame atsakingas už tai, kuo taps mūsų laikas: krizės ar galimybių momentu.
Chiaros Panariti ir Gianfranco Ferraro fotografijų serija „Cronostasi“ eksponuojama Kauno fotografijos galerijoje (Vilniaus g. 2, Kaunas) iki rugsėjo 30 d., o nuolat atnaujinamą 17-ojo fotomeno festivalio KAUNAS PHOTO programą „Periferinės vizijos“ rasite čia.
KAUNAS PHOTO – ilgiausiai be pertraukų rengiamas kasmetis tarptautinis fotomeno festivalis Lietuvoje ir Baltijos šalyse. 2004 m. Mindaugo Kavaliausko įkurtą festivalį organizuoja viešoji įstaiga „Šviesos raštas“. Festivalis yra pasaulinės „Festival of Light“ organizacijos narys. Festivalį KAUNAS PHOTO finansuoja Lietuvos kultūros taryba, kaip vieną iš strateginių tarptautinių meno renginių Lietuvoje.
Rėmėjai: Kauno miesto savivaldybė, EPSON.
Parodos partneris: Kauno fotografijos galerija.
The main prize of the 17th KAUNAS PHOTO festival’s competition goes to the Italian duo for their work “Cronostasi” on the changed notion of time during quarantine
The exhibition opening marathon of the 17th KAUNAS PHOTO festival rippled across the city of Kaunas and culminated with the announcement of the winners of the KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 Award. Out of ten photographic series that made to the finals, “Cronostasi”, created by the Italian duo of artists Chiara Panariti and Gianfranco Ferraro, was unambiguously chosen as the winner by both the international jury panel of photography experts and the joint commission of the festival KAUNAS PHOTO and Kaunas Photography Gallery. The winners received the main prize of the competition KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 – a personal exhibition at Kaunas Photography Gallery during the festival KAUNAS PHOTO and a 2500 EUR monetary prize. The open competition KAUNAS PHOTO STAR has been organized since 2010 by the festival KAUNAS PHOTO aiming to honor the future stars of photography.
In a series of fifty photographs, Chiara Panariti and Gianfranco Ferraro captured the life in Milan during the COVID-19 quarantine. The artists, who captured the everyday moments of the people of Milan in their windows and balconies, describe their project “Cronostasi” as an intimate and universal search for a renewed perception of time. “By observing and looking at people in photos, we were able to compare our own and others’ time, which has become a unit of measurement of what has happened and is still happening in the world,” the authors relate their experience.
The artists, who were unable to participate in the exhibition opening in Lithuania due to the ongoing pandemic, presented their work to the audience at Kaunas Photography Gallery in a pre-recorded video. Stefano M. Lanza, an associate professor at Vytautas Magnus University, born and raised in Milan and living in Kaunas for many years, helped to take a closer look at the work “Cronostasi”. He described the series as “a right approach to a wrong situation”. “It is like sharing the same destiny, the same fate, and how people react to such a complex and unexpected situation, ” Stefano M. Lanza shared his thoughts as he looked at the photos.
10 finalists from 8 countries of the world were running for the grand prize of the KAUNAS PHOTO STAR competition: Dillon Marsh (South Africa) “Diamonds Aren’t Forever”, Lina Margaitytė & Marius Krivičius (Lithuania) “Temporarily Open”, Guillem Vidal (Spain) “Forgotten playground”, Mikhail Lebedev (Russia) “Restaurateurs by chance”, Bruno Alencastro (Brazil) “obs-cu-ra”, Dovilė Dagienė (Lithuania) “Plant Memory / Wooden Synagogues”, Hannes Jung (Germany) “The Wolf Is Present”, Arne Piepke (Germany) “Anecdotes from an unfamiliar Land”, Michał Adamski (Poland) “I dyed my hair again”, Chiara Panariti & Gianfranco Ferraro (Italy) “Cronostasi”. The photographers followed the exhibition opening marathon and the announcement of the winner of KAUNAS PHOTO STAR Award virtually – watching the live streaming videos, which can be viewed by everyone interested the official Facebook page of the festival KAUNAS PHOTO.
The works of all finalists of the 17th KAUNAS PHOTO festival’s competition are displayed at four outdoor venues of Kaunas: Chechnya Square, Kalniečiai Park, the square next to State Tax Inspectorate in Žemieji Šančiai and at the foot of Žaliakalnis funicular; and at six indoor venues: Kaunas Photography Gallery, Kaunas City Museum Folk Music Branch, Kaunas Public Library of Vincas Kudirka – Department of Youth, Art and Music, Kaunas Cultural Centre of Various Nations, Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum, VMU Multifunctional Center for Studies and Research. The program of the festival can be found here. Further news and updates on the festival program will be announced.
On September 3 – exhibition opening marathon of KAUNAS PHOTO festival
On Thursday, September 3, 2020, the works of the Finalists of the XVII KAUNAS PHOTO festival’s jubilee 10th edition of the photography contest KAUNAS PHOTO STAR on the topic “Peripheral Visions” will spread across galleries, museums and outdoor venues of Kaunas city. The opening marathon will wind all over Kaunas: the route will start at 1 p.m. in Chechnya Square, then continue in Kalniečiai Park (near Savanorių Ave.), drop in to Žemieji Šančiai district, visit the Center of the city, and, making its way through the Old Town, will finish at 6 p.m. at the door of Kaunas Photography Gallery, where the Winner of KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 Award will be announced. The evening will continue at Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum with the screening of the Finalists’ series and an artist talk by the photographer Dovilė Dagienė-DoDa. The opening events are free of charge and the exact timetable is at the end of this announcement. The open competition KAUNAS PHOTO STAR has been organized since 2010 by the festival KAUNAS PHOTO aiming to honor the future stars of photography.
Due to the pandemic, the festival had to find solutions and adjust the format of the exhibition openings. Every year photographers from foreign countries come to Lithuania, participate in the openings of the exhibitions and present their works directly, but this year they will speak to the audience through the screen. Many of the opening events, presenting the works by foreign photographers, will feature pre-recorded videos in which the authors will talk about their work. The artists and spectators themselves, who cannot come to the opening events, will not miss them either – the KAUNAS PHOTO festival will broadcast the exhibitions live on the festival’s Facebook page.
The topic “Peripheral Visions” has drawn the interest of Lithuanian photographers
The 17th edition of KAUNAS PHOTO festival was planned to celebrate the periphery, the province, the outback, l’arrière-pays. The COVID-19 pandemic and the fight against it imposed new rules and conceptions, and KAUNAS PHOTO festival invited photographers to present works to KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 competition on the topic “Peripheral Visions”, expecting works aiming to look at what is on the margin, just across the window or the border that we can or cannot cross, to discover the spaces, places, lands, areas that usually were in the periphery of the vision. In 2020, the festival turns the spotlight on what became important, what was less so, what was taken for granted or simply undermined until now.
The traditional, already the 10th KAUNAS PHOTO STAR contest has attracted the interest of photographers from all over the world: 170 series by photographers from 38 countries were submitted to the open call. The organizers were pleased by the fact that Lithuanian photographers, who submitted 19 series to the competition, were among the most active participants. This was the first time in a decade of the history of KAUNAS PHOTO STAR, that Lithuanian photographers have formed the largest group of participants. Of these, two Lithuanian series made their way to the finals. The finalists were selected by a nine-member international jury panel of photography experts from Lithuania, Poland, Denmark, France, Italy and New Zealand.
Although the jury of the KAUNAS PHOTO STAR contest planned to select eight finalists, due to the very dense vicinity of the shortlist, the commission decided to expand the list to top ten. The ten KAUNAS PHOTO STAR Award 2020 Finalists are:
Lina Margaitytė & Marius Krivičius (Lithuania) Temporarily Open
Dillon Marsh (South Africa) Diamonds Aren’t Forever
The photographers selected to the finals are running for the grand prize of the competition – a solo exhibition at Kaunas Photography Gallery during the festival KAUNAS PHOTO and a cash prize of 2500 EUR. The works of all finalists will be displayed in a joint exhibition in various galleries, museums and open air venues of Kaunas city.
The audience is invited to join any part of the opening marathon
KAUNAS PHOTO STAR Finalists’ exhibition openings will take place in Kaunas on September 3, 2020, and the Winner will be disclosed at the end of the day at the door of Kaunas Photography Gallery. Spectators who are unable to attend the exhibition openings during the whole afternoon are invited to participate in any part of the route. The opening events are free of charge.
13:00 Chechnya Square (P. Lukšio St.).
13:40 Kalniečiai park (next to Savanorių Ave.)
14:30 Square next to the State Tax Inspectorate (A. Juozapavičiaus Ave. 57).
15:10 At the foot of Žaliakalnis Funicular (V. Putvinskio St. 22).
15.30 VMU Multifunctional Center for Studies and Research (V. Putvinskio St. 23). 16:10 Kaunas Cultural Centre of Various Nations (Šv. Gertrūdos St. 58). 16:30 Kaunas Public Library of Vincas Kudirka – Department of Youth, Art and Music (A. Mapu St. 18). 17:00 Kaunas City Museum Folk Music Branch (L. Zamenhofo St. 12). 17:30 Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum (Rotušės Sq. 13). 18:00 Kaunas Photography Gallery (Vilniaus St. 2) – announcement of the Winner of KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020.
20:00 Screening of the Finalists’ series and an artist talk by the photographer Dovilė Dagienė-DoDa at the Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum (Rotušės Sq. 13).
ℹ️ An important reminder: due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to wear mandatory protective equipment and keep safe distances during the events. The events will be photographed / filmed for publicity purposes.
The 10 Finalists of the 10th KAUNAS PHOTO STAR Award revealed!
In 2020, the 17th edition of KAUNAS PHOTO festival was planned to celebrate the periphery, the province, the outback, l’arrière-pays. The COVID-19 pandemic and the fight against it imposed new rules and conceptions, and KAUNAS PHOTO festival invited photographers to present works to KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 competition on the topic “Peripheral Visions”, aiming to look at what is on the margin, just across the window or the border that we can or cannot cross, to discover the spaces, places, lands, areas that usually were in the periphery of the vision. In 2020, the festival invites to rethink what became important, what was less so, what was taken for granted or simply undermined until now.
The traditional, already the 10th KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020 contest has attracted the interest of photographers both in Lithuania and around the world. 170 series by photographers from 38 countries were submitted to the contest. There were works presented from remote countries – Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Brazil, Chile. The most active participants in the contest were photographers from Poland (11 series), Russia (12 series), United Kingdom (13 series), USA (16 series), Germany and Italy (18 series each), and what is most gratifying to the organizers – Lithuania photographers, who submitted 19 series to the contest. This is the first time in a decade of the history of KAUNAS PHOTO STAR, that Lithuanian photographers have formed the largest group of participants.
The grand prize of the contest is a solo exhibition at Kaunas Photography Gallery during KAUNAS PHOTO festival and a monetary prize of 2500 EUR. Exhibitions of all other finalists will be displayed in galleries, museums and open-air spaces of Kaunas.
From July 30 to August 1 all entries were reviewed and evaluated by an international Jury panel of photography experts:
Fred Boucher – Photaumnales festival and Usimage Biennale director (Clermont/Beauvais, France)
Enrico Stefanelli – PhotoLux festival director (Lucca, Italy)
Gintaras Česonis – Kaunas Photography Gallery leader (Lithuania)
Kristine Kern – Fotografisk Center leader (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Kristina Juraitė – KAUNAS PHOTO co-founder, professor at Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania)
Julia Durkin – Auckland Festival of Photography director (New Zealand)
Donatas Stankevičius – KAUNAS PHOTO and Kaunas Photography Gallery curator (Lithuania)
Adrian Wykrota – Pix.House gallery curator (Poznan, Poland)
Mindaugas Kavaliauskas – KAUNAS PHOTO founder, curator (Lithuania)
Following the experts’ votes on all works submitted to the competition in the LensCulture system, on August 4, 2020, the joint commission of the festival KAUNAS PHOTO and Kaunas Photography Gallery gathered for a virtual meeting, the purpose of which was to approve the list of the finalists. Although the plan was to select eight finalists, due to the very dense vicinity of the shortlist (7-12th places were shared by five series, scoring 29 expert points each), the commission decided to expand the list of finalists to top ten. The three finalists were selected on the basis of the points awarded by the members of the commission in the voting system.
The ten KAUNAS PHOTO STAR Award 2020 Finalists are:
At the end of the week, this commission will meet again, but with a different purpose – to elect the Winner of KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2020. This will be done by analyzing the photographic series of the finalists presented in wide selections and high-resolution files.
KAUNAS PHOTO STAR Finalists’ exhibition openings will take place in Kaunas on September 3, 2020. The winner will be announced on the same day, September 3, when the opening series of KAUNAS PHOTO STAR Finalists’ exhibition will culminate at the door of Kaunas Photography Gallery.
Founded in 2004 by Mindaugas Kavaliauskas, KAUNAS PHOTO aims to be the stage for the future stars of photography. Being a part of Photo Festival Union and Festivals Of Light Organization, KAUNAS PHOTO festival is the longest-running photographic festival in the Baltic states is a platform for dialogue around contemporary photographic creation between North and South, East and West.
NGO „Šviesos raštas“ is the organizer of KAUNAS PHOTO festival.
