“Notes on Space” virtual exhibition dedicated to the relations between people and the material environment around them will open online on August 20, 2020. Five artists who work in the field of contemporary photography are presented in the frame of the event: Gustavo Balbela (BR), David Barreiro (ES), Caroline Kolkman (NL), Carola Lampe (DE), Sara Perovic (IT/HR). The exhibition is curated by photographer and visual artist Tytus Szabelski (PL).

“We create, rearrange, and destroy spaces we inhabit, throughout our whole life. However, the material environment also shapes our behavior: tell us where and how to go, teach us values and hierarchies dominant in a society or a class we belong to. It seems even more important to shed light on different elements of this entangled relation now, in the time of global virtualizing of everything”, — explained the concept of the exhibition Tytus Szabelski.

“Notes on Space” previously was scheduled to open in April during Odesa Photo Days 2020 at Museum of Odessa Modern Art, Ukraine, but the situation has changed due to the worldwide pandemic.

  • Photo: (c) Sara Perovic
  • Photo: (c) Caroline Kolkman

Director and curator of Odesa Photo Days Festival, the partner of the project in Ukraine, Kateryna Radchenko adds: “This year we were forced to fully rearrange the festival’s program in three weeks due to the pandemic. ‘Notes on Space’ is the only exhibition which is not postponed to the next year and will take place online. It’s a brand new experience for our team and partners and we are very excited to share the results of intense work with you soon”.

Opening ceremony includes:

  • presentation of online exhibition: website and its possibilities;
  • conversation with artists and curator;
  • Q&A session.

The opening ceremony will be held in English and will be broadcasted on the Odesa Photo Days Festival Facebook Page on August 20, 7 PM EEST. [Event on Facebook] The link for the exhibition will be revealed on the day of presentation. The printed “Notes on Space” catalog is in progress. More details about its presentation will be announced soon.

The exhibition organised by European Photo Based Platform Parallel which is designed and led by Procur.arte and co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Partners in Ukraine — Odesa Photo Days Festival (member of Parallel from 2019).

 Parallel — European photo based platform

Challenging and eclectic, contemporary photography defies boundaries and definition. Once a cultural object, photography then became a cultural-social-artistic practice which engages a wide range of aesthetics, technologies and actors, most of them overlapping and intersecting. All this diversity was instrumental in inspiring the creation of PARALLEL.

PARALLEL is a platform that brings together creative European organizations committed to promoting cross-cultural exchanges and mentorships in order to set new standards in contemporary photography. Members include museums, galleries, cultural centres, festivals, art schools and publishers – 18 of the most vibrant European cultural hubs, from 16 different countries, that will participate in selecting and hosting emerging artists and curators, organizing exhibitions and promoting artistic networking.

Odesa Photo Days

Odesa Photo Days is an international festival and an educational platform dedicated to contemporary photography. Since 2015, the festival has been held annually in April in Odesa, Ukraine. The programme includes exhibitions, evening photo screenings, artist and curator talks, the Portfolio Review and the Open Mic presentation of photo projects.

In-between festival editions, the Odesa Photo Days team produces exhibition projects and educational activities both in Ukraine and abroad. The main goal of Odesa Photo Days is to popularize Ukrainian photography in the world and to encourage international collaboration between artists, curators, and cultural institutions.

In recent years, the festival team, led by curator Kateryna Radchenko, has organized more than 24 international exhibitions in Ukraine, showed works of Ukrainian photographers in 12 countries and participated in dozens of photographic events in both Europe and Asia.

  • Photo: (c) Carola Lampe