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Lomographic Society Internationalwww.lomography.com
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A-1150 Vienna
Tel.: +43-1-899 44 0
Fax:+43-1-899 44 22
Mail: congress@lomography.com
Friday
Prime events of the congress included Pasquale Caprile’s workshop on Lomography and Advertisement and Mike Kuhle’s revelations of the new queen of Lomography cameras, the Diana+. Martin Reinhart’s took us to a trip beyond the earth and Manu Luksch opened the lomographic eyes for the big brother watching. Following all the little parties of the first days, the big Friday night party kicked off in the all time favorite Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes that had already been the hub of the sleepless, and featured G.Rizo and the Karaoke addicted Lomographers.
Videos
Lomo Green Shoot
10am the bowling alley. Fish my friend from Canada was helping out today ! Woot cheers for that girl ! – We hooked up with the lomo congress guys and again found out that it was not a group new to lomography ! We elected to take a bus trip to Trafalgar square so we could get another view of London other than be crammed in a sweat box they call 'the tube' We happily chatted about all things lomo – and the ways of the Diana amongst other lomographic topics. At the square 3 more joined in and were given a full on fisheye experience and then with smiles set off to explore the magic of the lomo wall ! I must admit by now I was flagging somewhat and most of this day was a bit of a blur – a great blur – but a blur all the same ! The group wandered about getting lost in the many lomo moments. We grabbed lunch – talked to the throng surrounding the info point and spent a very pleasant afternoon making memories.
I would like to thank all those who helped out & volunteered their time at the congress; we could not have done this without you! Thanks guys !
Lomography & Advertisement
You name it Pasquale Caprile has shot it for an ad campaign. Pasquale's string of clients stretches out the door and around the corner. However, the reason his Lomo Talk was full on both days was because of the impressive way he has brought Lomographic influences into his work and expanded the traditional boundaries of still-life commercial photography. It was amazing to see, after his initial collision with Lomography in 1995, how he has constantly experimented with techniques and form in his work. Pasquale founded one of the first Lomography Embassies in Madrid and his enthusiasm is still infectious. After his Lomo Talk everyone was inspired by the challenge to create their own ad campaign using only Lomo tools and a single film!
The Diana Dialogue
Given the sheer number of attendants (about 60!), I staged the Diana Dialogues in the small movie theater of Bloomsbury Lanes. This charming venue had been used to show "Rock and Roll High School" just the night before, and this day was no less rocking. Starting from the birth of the original Diana camera in the 1960's, I detailed the Diana's history, cult significance, artistic qualities, the development of the Diana+, the concept of "Diana Vignettes," the most crucial Diana+ techniques, and the Diana+'s grand future in the world of Lomography. The crowd was great, and offered quite a few solid questions and discussion points. Following the presentation, we meandered down to Russell Square park and practiced several of the Diana techniques - especially pinhole shots - with a hands-on photo expedition.
Lomography & Eternity
Vienna-based Martin Reinhart, curator of the Technical Museum in Vienna and executive director of the renowned Westlicht Photographica Auction, held an interesting speech on our present world, its technical aspects, images and its relation towards eternity. How can we store our present world and our vision of it - our Lomographs - forever and bestow it to future generations? What does analogue actually mean in terms of storage, reality and eternity? Martin's presentation gave the hearers an interesting insight into the contemporary discussion of depicting our world to present it to extraterrestrial beings or future generations in 2000 years. But as if this wouldn't already be a bold adventure, Herr Reinhart even took it a step further":" he presented his idea of the Lomo-Space-Project, a mission to fire a bunch of Lomographic pictures to outer space and present our lovely earth in the most lively and colourful way possible! We can't wait to get more into this project and remain stunned and overwhelmed - like the whole bunch of listeners of this lecture - until the next step of this mission comes along.
Big Brother City
There aren't many corners of London that escape the eye in the sky. From the moment Londoners step out of the house a network of over 10,500 cameras observes them. In Britain there are 4.2 million CCTV installed by the government alone. Over 5 years, artist-activist & film-maker Manu Luksch abused the CCTV web to make her science-fiction flick, Faceless. The Data Protection Act enables any person to gain access to information held about them, which includes film footage. However, to protect the privacy of others caught on camera, EU law demands their faces to be scrubbed out of the scenes; hence the film's title, Faceless. During her tour through the backstreets of Shoreditch and into the heart of the City, Manu pointed out some of the hidden cameras she had used while making her film. Manu also handed out copies of The CCTV Film-Maker's Manifesto, which was created when interest in using surveillance as a medium for film-making started to take-off. During the Big Brother City Challenge, Lomographers had the chance to flip their role from 'data subject' into 'surveillance object, by shooting right back at the cameras. There was a distinct eeriness in realising the extent you are under surveillance in London. After a while, the air seemed to be filled with static. In reality, the effectiveness of CCTV is in doubt, as 80% of crimes committed in London remain unsolved. Manu pointed out that simply wearing Hoodie makes a person unidentifiable. Meanwhile, the most observed city is left wondering whether the £200 million the British Government has spent on creating the world's most extensive surveillance network could have been better spent.
Lomo Dinner
Lomo Party
It was Friday night in London when the Lomo World Congress' participants finished a whole week of heavy lomographing all around the city. It all started off when the Lomographers invaded the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes around 7pm and kindly disturbed the LomoWall-builders that had their session over there. Soon, tacos with cheese and hot dogs were served by energetic Esther and her crew from the Bowling Lanes that filled the empty stomachs of the hungry bunch. Vegans were on diet that day, zorry! As soon as the food was there, the beer was served as well. Everyone got drink coupons for free bottles of Japanese Asahi beer. Some attachés of the congress' organisation team even got more than one free-ticket, which made them highly popular as the evening progressed. However, at the end of the party the waiters wouldn't accept these coupons anymore much to the dismay of the author of these lines. Anyway, the party was going on and the LomoKaraokeBox was soon full with people. Led by youth Karaoke champion, Mike Kuhle, the box was crammed with at least 20 people crying their hearts out to hits from Vanilla Ice, the Spice Girls, some Britpop throw-ins such as Pulp and Blur and many other all-time favourites that no one is able to recall in detail today. Crooners, ranging from "Our house in the middle of a street" to the infamous "We built this city on rock and roll" (once voted for the worst song of all times), were all warmly welcomed by the crowd. It absolutely rocked. The heavy singing action was then followed by a midnight concert by G.rizo, the fabulous disco queen from New York, and respectively Vienna. Ihu Anyanwu, as is the artist's real name, once worked for Lomography in the New York office and never missed a single occasion to perform for the insane bunch of Lomographers. Even though her job on Friday night was not an easy one, as she performed after 2 rock bands, she got the people partying and dancing until the very end. The whole gig was supported by Lomography and there were live visuals by VJ Philipp. G.rizo's tempting mix of house and funk music also inspired Hong Kong hardcore Lomographer, Cat Ong, to the idea of holding a Lomography dancing workshop at the next congress. We'll definitely come back to that, Cat! The party continued with the crowd basically being centred around three spots":" the small Smokers courtyard, the bar and once again the karaoke box. The smokers, the drinkers, the singers, what more is there to say about the favourite addictions of Lomographers. At around 3am we were all thrown out of the Lanes (with or without jackets) and the party continued in several rooms of the Royal National Hotel nearby. Some Karaoke-participants are reported to have sung for 6 hours non-stop and lost their voice until this very day. For the next congress I propose a live band to sing Karaoke along with. And a whirlpool equiped with microphones....And cabs with microphones! Any other suggestions?
