On 7th of September, Friday, the XV-th KAUNAS PHOTO Festival invites to visit two exhibition places. At 4pm – Lithuanian Museum of Education History and at 5 PM The opening ceremony of photo exhibitions will take place at the National Art Museum of M. K. Čiurlionis, M. Žilinskas Art Gallery. The organisers of the festival will invite visitors to discover the “Comfort Zone” – the main keynote of KAUNAS PHOTO festival this year.

At the Lithuanian Museum of Education History KAUNAS PHOTO will introduce photography admirers to the work of two authors. In the series “Close to the ground, far from heaven” Polish photographer Michał Adamski will reveal the peculiarities of communities living in the provinces of Poland – their strong connection to traditions and the endless desire to change at the same time. And the second exposition – Turkish Öncü Hrant Gültekin – about the stolen Armenian cemetery.

On the third floor of Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery, the KAUNAS PHOTO Festival will present an exhibition dedicated to the world-wide Lithuanian photography “Šeinius + Scheynius”. For the first time there will be displayed Ignas Šeinius photographs that reveal an unknown personality of a Lithuanian diplomat, journalist and writer. Next to these photographs will be the works of the great-granddaughter’s and a famous artist’s Lina Scheynius (Sweden), who will inaudibly argue with the photos of their grandfather’s holiday photographs.

Visitors will be invited to continue searching of the “Comfort Zone” by visiting the group exhibition “Home Sweet Home” by the authors: Evžen Sobek (Czech Republic), Rubi Lebovitch (Israel), Rebeca Cordero (Mexico), Superultraextra duo: Ewa Bold & Patryk Hadas (Poland) where everyone will grope the motive of nostalgia.

On the first floor of the gallery, guests will notice the game “Kaunopolis” – the result of KAUNAS PHOTO’S artistic residence, which the Spanish photographer Conchi Martínez has developed in Kaunas in May. We will find unseen, or maybe long ago forgotten places of our city in Kaunas. Poike Stomps, a Dutch photographer’s exhibition “Crossing Europe”, will be located here also.

The exhibition openings will be crowned by the group exhibition “Comfort Zone”. In the series “Wait Wachers” American photographer Haley Morris-Cafiero will be entertaining, but will also invite to the dialogue about bullying culture; Vladimir Antaki (France / Canada) in “Family Portrait” will introduce the war refugees in front of the background of luxury and chaos of the capital of France; Finnish Lasse Lecklin photography “The Most Beautiful Nuclear Power Plants in Europe” will take a tour of Europe and its wondrous nuclear power plants and invite to reflect on one’s comfort zone boundaries; Lithuanian Tadas Kazakevičius “Soon To Be Gone” will force us to think about the fragility of time, and Florian Müller’s (Germany) work “Hashtags Unplugged” will invite you to discuss solitude in a digital social environment.

All throughout September, until 13th of October, the KAUNAS PHOTO Festival will entertain with tours in exhibitions, meetings with exhibition artists and guests, and on the evening – with photography projections. Meanwhile, the festival’s photography exhibitions in the open air, opened in the early summer in various Kaunas city public spaces: Joana P Cardozo (USA), “Blueprints, our home is the reflection of ourselves”, at the foot of the Žaliakalnis Funicular Robert Dash (USA) “Micro climate change“, Anup Shah (UK) “Migrations” in the Lithuanian Zoological Garden and Emilija Petrauskienė (Lithuania) in the Botanical Garden of the VMU “Silver Garden” will be open until the end of October. A comprehensive program of festival events is available on the Kaunas Photo website >>

Major sponsors: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Kaunas City Municipality. Sponsors: EPSON, Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden.

On 26 of September, at Lithuanian educational museum Gideon Mendel (South Africa/UK) presented his exhibition and video project “Drowning world”. 

On the 26^th of September, Tuesday, 6pm KAUNAS PHOTO festival invites to the Lithuanian Educational History Museum (Vytauto pr. 52), where the famous photographer Gideon Mendel (Republic of South Africa/ UK) will give an artist talk and present his exhibition and moving image project the Drowning World.

Just a few weeks ago  Gideon Mendel photographed the floods in Texas, and is now coming to Kaunas. He will introduce his exhibition Drowning World, shown in Lithuanian Educational History Museum, as well as present the 40min video project of the same name, and will share his latest photographs from the flooded USA. Both in his photographs and moving image works the artist explores the personal impact of the climate change in the global context.

The series Drowning World was started in 2007, when Gideon Mendel photographed two floods only a few weeks apart from each other: one was in United Kingdom, another one in India. He was deeply shaken to discover how contrasting the impact was on the people affected by floods in these two countries, and also how this experience united people through their vulnerability. From then on the photographer is visiting different locations around the world affected by floods. He travelled to Haiti (2008), Pakistan (2010), Australia (2011), Thailand (2011), Nigeria (2012), Germany (2013), Philippines (2013), UK (2014), India (2014), Brazil (2015), Bangladesh (2015) and USA (2015). Drowning World series was nominated for the prestigious Prix Pictet award. This body of work is a personal response to climate change.

The Submerged Portraits are at the heart of the Drowning World project. Gideon Mendel’s subjects often invite him back to their homes, and to get there they travel together through deep floodwaters. In these dystopian and disconcertingly abnormal environments, photographer try to make the moment when he presses the shutter calm and connected as he engages with his subjects. Gideon Mendel’s intent is for their gaze to challenge the viewer and be part of a shared portrait of humanity in crisis in the face of natural disorder- a disorder that humankind has played a role in precipitating.

Gideon Mendel is a photographer from South Africa. His work engages with contemporary social issues of global concern. His intimate style of committed image making, and long-term commitment to projects has earned him acclaim.

Gideon Mendel has a career spanning over 30 years. Originally from South Africa, he is currently based in London. It was his work as a ‘struggle photographer’ during the final years of apartheid that first brought attention to his work.

Gideon Mendel has worked for National Geographic, Fortune, Geo, The Independent magazine, The Guardian Weekend magazine, The Sunday Times magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, L’Express, Stern and Rolling Stone.

KAUNAS PHOTO is the longest- running annual photography festival in Lithuania and the Baltic States. It is organised by the NGO „Šviesos raštas“ since 2004. KAUNAS PHOTO is one of the most important annual art events in the country. KAUNAS PHOTO is a member of „Festival Of Light“ organisation.

Main sponsors: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, Lithuanian Culture Council, Kaunas city council.

Patron of the festival is President Valdas Adamkus.

1pm Exhibition opening. Lithuanian educational museum (Vytauto av. 52). Matjaz Krivic (Slovenia) “Lithium, the driving force of 21st Century”, Christian Åslund (Sweden) “Glacier comparison – Svalbard” , Gideon Mendel (UK) „Drowning World“. Partners of the exhibition “EMP Recycling“.