Contact
Lomographic Society Internationalwww.lomography.com
Hollergasse 41
A-1150 Vienna
Tel.: +43-1-899 44 0
Fax:+43-1-899 44 22
Mail: congress@lomography.com
PROJECTS FOR THE LOMOWORLDWALL
In order to collect as many utterly supreme yet ever so diverse LomoWalls as humanly possible, several offline pre-congress events were held by Lomographic Embassies and artists throughout the LomoWorld.
Additionally to this array of offline events, Lomographers got the chance to build their part of the LomoWorldWall through countless online competitions during the year on the Lomography online platform. A total of 30.000 uploads resulted in close to 1000 selected LomoWall Panels that now make up the LomoWorldWall on Trafalgar Square. Uploads were made from 54 countries around the world.
ARTISTS PROJECTS
For the making of the LomoWorldWall, Lomography got in touch with several artists, designers and architects to ask them for their contribution. Equipped with their Lomography cameras, these artists from all fields set out to document the parts of their life and work they wanted to share with the Lomographic community.
MICHAEL YOUNG
“I dont take photos, never have, so its not part of my world .... But I love old colonial architecture in Hong Kong and that’s what I am going to try!!”
Michael Young
Michael Young has been amongst the most influential designers of his generation from the outset of his career. In 1992 his early woven steel works were immediately acquired by public institutions such as Centre Pompidou and the Louvre Museum. In 1995 he created MY- 022 Ltd design office in London where he focused on a series of projects for Cappellini, Sawaya & Moroni and Magis and was given his own monthly page in the Japanese publication “Casa Brutus.” Terence Conran selected Young as the most inspiring British designer in 1997. After spending his years in Iceland and Taiwan, Young is currently based in Hong Kong, and has embarked on a range branding and design projects including City Strom Bike for Giant, barware range for Schweppes, and new polo shirts for Lacoste in Paris.
VESNA TUSEK
Geliebtes (Beloved)
“For many years the chosen items had been stowed away in boxes on tables and shelves. These objects were objects of memory (but had transcended their existence as souvenirs), or they were parts of a whole, parts of a tool or parts of other objects that one had once meant to repair or complete.
Since these knickknack objects carry an explicit worth for me, yet, in their shear number, have become a burden, I decided to document all items with my Lomo camera and, subsequently, disposing them, whereby my emphasis was to lie on the festive staging of the “funeral”.
The event took place in the course of the years, as not to say decades. The occasion just arose, so to say. The Lomo camera is a fitting tool for documentation. A weapon to help me document the untameable, the proliferate, and to reduce it to two dimensions.
The beloved is with me and everywhere, the Lomo Camera is fast and inconspicuous; the perfect tool for a sensitized hunter.”
Vesna Tusek was born in Zagreb where she graduated from the School for Applied Arts and High School for Aeronautical Engineering while being a professional handball player. After studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, she moved to Vienna and did her Diploma in Product Design at the Academy of Applied Arts. Today she has an atelier for sculpture, theatre- and film equipping in Vienna. Her LomoWall on “Geliebtes” will be on display at the LomoWorldWall.
KARIM RASHID
Globallove
To bring the world together with images, walls, cameras, to shrink this beautiful enigmatic digital age with low-tech cameras and photos is a contradiction that is completely necessary. I clicked away my little world to share on the LomoWall with the whole world in a special experiential presence. Fun, exciting, hyper, celebrative, a gathering, bravo.
Karim Rashid , born in Cairo and raised in Canada, now practices in New York. His perspectives are global and he considers himself a cultural shaper doing projects ranging from products, interior design, fashion, furniture, lighting, to art and music. Presently working in 23 countries, Karim is largely credited for bringing exceptional, affordable design to the masses via iconic products like the “Oh Chair” and “Garbo Trashcan.” His work is in the permanent collection of 14 Museums including the MoMA and the SFMoMA and he exhibits art at Sandra Gering and Deitch Projects in New York. He has also published various books on Design and Graphics.
TONY CHAMBERS
Tony Chambers joined Wallpaper* magazine as Creative Director in January 2003. Prior to Wallpaper*, he had been Art Director at Condé Nast's flagship male lifestyle title, British GQ Magazine for six years. During that period he also acted as a creative consultant on other International Condé Nast titles and was twice named Art Director of the Year in the prestigious Periodical Publishers Association Awards. Prior to joining Condé Nast, Tony Chambers was Art Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine. Since joining Wallpaper*, Tony Chambers has overseen a highly respected re-design in 2003, which included creating a new and unique font for the magazine and attracting some of the world's most exciting and talented photographers and illustrators. Tony Chambers has also contributed to the extension of the Wallpaper* design principles and helped to take them onto new platforms including exhibitions, websites and the highly successful series of pocket City Guides published in conjunction with Phaidon press. In March of 2007, Tony was invited to take the unusual step from being Creative Director to Editor-in-Chief.
“I've long been intrigued by the Lomography phenomenon, so It has been a great pleasure and challenge to work on this exciting project”
Tony Chambers
Editor-in-Chief
Wallpaper* Magazine
GERALD MATT
The Making of a Good Exhibition
In an exclusive lecture for the Lomography congress members, Gerald Matt focused on the seven basic questions about “The Making of a Good Exhibition”: The What, the Why, the When, the Where, the How, the Who and the How much. These basic rules were meant to help any coming artist in the making of the perfect exhibition, may it be on photography or applied arts: this is your key to fame!
Additionally, Gerald Matt presented his 95 theses of Lomography. Download it here.
Gerald Matt is one of the leading characters of the Viennese culture scene. Since 1996 he is director of the Kunsthalle Wien, the exhibition institution of the City of Vienna for international contemporary art. In the interest of an expanded understanding of art, the Kunsthalle Wien emphasizes cross-genre, cross-border trends in the arts and positions itself as a workshop, a lab, is a forum for contemporary aesthetic and social positions and a hot zone for communicative transfer. Gerald Matt has lead many studies and lectures in the areas of art and cultural management and has published various writings. And: he is one of the first Lomographers of our time.
MARTIN REINHART
Lomography and its Relation to Eternity and Weightlessness
On August 20, 1977, the NASA space probe Voyager 2 was launched to space from the Kennedy Space Centre. Like her sister craft, the Voyager 1, she left behind our Sun system some years ago and is now jetting through the darkness of the firmament at a speed of roughly 6.000 km/h. Each of the probes is equipped with a gold-platted, round copperplate on its exterior shell. On one side of the plate, illustrations have been engraved that are to teach its extra-terrestrial finder details about the plate’s origin and use. On the other side, sounds and images have been recorded that can be played-back with the help of an accompanying steel needle.
The pronounced goal of this multi-medial message was to communicate an image of mankind and life on Earth. The choice of greetings, noises, musical pieces and of the 115 pictures included on the plates were gathered by a team surrounding the astronomer Carl Sagan. One of these images displays three people ingesting food. A woman is delightfully licking on an ice cream, a somewhat plump man critically bites into an over dimensional chocolate cookie and a second man is pouring water into his open mouth.
Now, there are individuals who find this picture inapt of conveying a significant message about mankind. Just recently an article with the title “Embarrassing Ourselves in the Front of the Rest of the Galaxy” was published in the Internet concerning this matter. Unlike the author of this article, I have no personal objections against being presented in such a way. I also like eating ice cream and chocolate cookies. I will even dare to take it a step further and take the concurrence of this year’s Lomography World Congress and the 30 year anniversary of the Voyager take-off, to sketch up a few thoughts to the theme of “Lomography and her Relation to Eternity and Weightlessness.”
Is this described photo condemnable? It seems quite possible that the concerned individuals were enjoying themselves and fooling around during the shooting of the photo. Given the limited storage capability on the plate and the immense costs and effort of the space mission, this behaviour seems rather inappropriate. But are spontaneity, fun and play not wonderful human characteristics? One can just imagine how the Nazi party would have illustrated the theme of the picture “lick, bite, swallow!” It is indeed sufficiently known that Hitler was a passionate chocolate eater; however, it still seems rather unlikely that our extra-terrestrial friends would have died laughing watching National-Socialistic nutritional science.
I do not bring this example up out of nowhere. First off, fifteen years after his work on the Voyager plate, Carl Sagan wrote a screenplay that was turned into a major motion picture in 1997, starring Jodie Foster. In “Contact,” the TV coverage of the Olympics of 1936 is the first sign of life that is detected by aliens; a waving Hitler as the ambassador of Human Kind – the absolute worst case PR scenario for us earthlings! Secondly, the comparison of the absurd “licking” and that, which one would actually imagine as “official” and “scientific,” introduces a big discrepancy - which brings us back to our original theme.
Suppose that today we had 115 images at our disposal in order to depict humanity and life on earth adequately. What would these images look like? As a scientist one would maybe think of some kind of systematic way to split human actions into categories until the most important and common of all behaviours would remain. Then one could add as much meaning and information as humanly possible into every image, and do one’s best to proceed democratically and fair. The question, whether such a staging would still say much about human life, remains open.
One could, however, also spare oneself the tedious thought and selection process and refer to the Lomography World Archive. What is to be found there, portrays, in sheer breath-taking variety, the facts of life strikingly more real and authentic than a scientist ever could. In each and every Lomographic image lies something wonderful – the semiconscious waive of control. No Lomographer sees his camera as a disrupting filter between himself and the world, but as an organ of communication and a vitality accelerator. In the ideal case, reality therefore reintroduces itself without reserves and barriers, allowing the energy and situation of the original moment to be forever captured on film. Paradoxically enough, randomness does not prevail within the mass of Lomography. To the contrary: a whole new dimension of objectivity is gained. Every Lomographic exposure thus contributes to the completion of a worldwide network; a growing categorical image record of life.
By now surely every Lomographer will have figured out how wonderful it would be to expand this mission over the borders of our atmospheric bubble and break into a whole new territory! I therefore explicitly plead for the founding of the Lomo-Space-Project, which holds as its first goal the dispatch of at least 115 greeting Lomographs into the deep space at the first chance that opens up.
For the congress, Martin Reinhart led a speech
Martin Reinhart was born in Vienna. As a graduate of the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, an experimental, documentary filmmaker and film historian, he is a visiting lecturer at the Universities of Vienna and Linz, curator at the Technical Museum in Vienna and executive director at WestLicht Photographica Auction. He is the inventor of the film technique tx-transform (2000) and chairs a workshop specialised in camera construction and prototyping in Vienna.
EDWARD BOOTH CLIBBORN
How to Publish a Good Book
‘All my books must have two main points:
1) A single idea
2) And pace, pitch and pause.’
Copyright, 2007 Edward Booth-Clibborn
Edward Booth Clibborn is a London based publisher of magazines and books on art and photography. Since 1974 Booth-Clibborn Editionshas concentrated its publishing energy towards improving creative standards in commercial media and showcasing its vanguard by specializing in books on graphics and advertising. In recent yearsBooth-Clibborn Editionshas stretched its net and has published books as varied asThe Spendours of The HermitagetoI Want To Spend My Life Everywhere, With Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now(by Damien Hirst) and Don’t Think-Just Shoot (Lomography). Edward Booth Clibborn is a founding member of theDesigners & Art Directors Associationof London and fellow of theRoyal Society of Arts, and has lectured on Visual Communications from Sao Paulo to Helsinki.
BILL MCALISTER, MANU LUKSCH, MUKUL PATEL
Twisted Geometries
Squaring the circle, circling the Square: misfits, miscreants, square pegs in round holes... or perhaps round pegs in square holes? Three artists cast distorting eyes over Trafalgar Square, presenting twisted geometries over 12 panels of the London LomoWorldWall.
Passionate fisherman and fisheye Lomographer, Bill visits the Billingsgate fish market in the early morning hours to peer at the recent arrivals and interrogate fish. While most people are still in bed with their eyes firmly shut, the fish stare back with eyes round as saucers from their beds of crushed ice.
Every morning, Manu and Mukul wake up to a spectacular view from their East London studios. Through the ultra-wide aspect ratio windows, the skylines of the Docklands and the City in the distance are crowned by majestic Victorian gasometers just across the street. The quartet of round gas towers, landmarks of the industrial age, softens the corners of the rectilinear city. The artists expand upon the idea of the round within the square (and the square within the round) in their portraits of London.
Bill McAlister , now an artistic vagabond, his previously lives included community artist/activist, artistic director Battersea Arts and long time Director of ICA ( Institute of Contemporary Arts, London). After Glasnost 1990, Bill joined George Soros in supporting cultural development in Eastern Europe. He is currently involved with projects in film, theatre and art exchange in Istanbul, Tbilisi, Bydgoszcz and Sri Lanka.
Manu Luksch and Mukul Patel will also be guiding two projects during the congress (see city challenges for details and short bio).
KENGO KUMA
The architecture I design is based on horizontal buildings which contrast vertical objects that stick out from the ground and create a unit with their surroundings. I want to use this horizontal approach in a Lomographic experiment, and will document my work with the panoramic camera.
Kengo Kuma is a Japanese architect born in Kanagawa and graduated from the school of engineering at the University of Tokyo and the Columbia University in New York. The founder of „Spatial Design“ studio and „Kengo Kuma & Associates“, taught at the faculty of environmental information at Keio University, and received the Architectural Institute of Japan Award in 1997. Kuma‘s stated goal is to recover the tradition of Japanese buildings and to reinterpret it for the 21st century. “I have always wanted to create weak buildings. Many people believe buildings are supposed to be strong and to safeguard the frail bodies of human beings. I believe while buildings have to function as shelters they must not only offer physical protection but also suggest sturdiness and monumentality in order to inspire a feeling of security.”
MAX LAMB
Clay Studies
I have friends who are LOMO fanatics but I myself have not been introduced, or caught by the bug, until now! I am excited to put in my first film into the beautiful LCA+ and begin shooting, from the hip, or wherever (maybe my shoe or above my head)! I will take a tour and photograph the inspiration for my next design project. It is a desolate environment dedicated to the mining of English china clay.
The clay mines are just minutes from my home in Cornwall, the white mountains are clearly visible from satellite images of the UK, and as a child I remember the white milky water that used to run down our street when the rain was heavy. I have always been fascinated by the mining industry and have thought about doing a project using the china clay for a few years. But now I realise that it will be far more exciting to use the waste material of the industry. In the mining process only 1 part clay is achieved to 9 parts waste, 8 parts of which is granite. Granite is the raw material from which clay is found after thousands of years of decomposition. For my project during the London Design Festival I am going to try my hand at carving solid granite. I will visit the Cornish mines and find my own rock from which to begin. The photographs I will take with my LC-A+ are of the Cornish Clay mines, the images of my childhood and the inspiration for my new work.
I look forward to seeing these images included in the LomoWorldWall alongside thousand of other Lomographs by other designers and Lomographers alike.
Max Lamb , originally from Cornwall, now living and working in London is a graduate from the Royal College of Art. He is dedicated to the exploration of materials, processes and industry and his work is preoccupied with the making process and the communication of his discoveries. He says, “There are no secrets and my work tells no lies. Design and style is dictated by the process, its potential and its limitations.” From casting solid Pewter furniture into sand on the beach, to extremely quick hand carvings of chairs and sofas in blocks of industrial polystyrene, to meticulously moulding a wax stool and then electro-forming it in pure nanocrystalline copper, his work endeavours to celebrate material and its manipulation. His Lomography piece will be displayed on the LomoWorldWall.
LORA POWER
THROUGH THE MEMORY ALBUM
»Every man's memory is his private literature, « said Aldous Huxley. And the best private literatures translated into images are family photo albums. They have their own memory; they carry feelings and speak in a different tongue. Their story of the past tends to be different from images stored in our heads, hearts and who knows where else.
I first learned this in 1979, rummaging through a big box of photos stored in a large (light brown & wooden) cabinet, lining the wall of our (rather small) living room in Novo Mesto/Slovenia (ex Yugoslavia). I stood on a stool many times to grab that box. I still do it – in my head - whenever I want to go back to remember, or every time the past triggers itself into the present.
There were tons of (mostly black and white) images pouring out of that box. They were photographs of my family – my mother and father still in love (if they ever were), various family members (some whom I have never seen), vacations (which I did not and I still don't remember), happy faces (which did not match the real, sad ones), lost cats and dogs and even a sheep. And the angelic blonde boy who loved me to death; my first love, my first friend.
My family photo box was a strange mix of emotions, as were all our albums (seven of them all together, if my memory serves me right). My brother and I each had our own album – he had a light blue one, I got stuck with pink. To me, most of the photos in them appeared a lie, an intrusion even. Among them were ghosts; painful reminders of everything lost. And to write the truth: here and there one could also find a beautiful surprise.
That such small pieces of paper carried such powers upset me - every time I flipped through our memory album I ended up in tears. I did not want to end up being a ghost, a lie, a painful reminder of everything lost; I wanted to be a beautiful surprise.
I don't know why, but I turned my back to photo cameras. I hated being photographed. I froze or shielded myself with both hands. That's why my private photo box only contains a few photos from when I was a little child, one with my ex-husband and a few in between. It's like Fred Madison from Lost Highway said: »I like to remember things my own way... How I remember them, not necessarily the way they happened«.
It would have been perfectly fine to pursue my photo-phobia if I had not re-started life with a guy who turned out to be a photographer. I couldn't believe my luck! I would jump and scream or hide and moan every time he aimed his lens at me. The situation was desperate, no solution at hand… until a trip to Vienna in spring 2001. He took his little black Russian with him, the thing he called Lomo.
Lomo seemed like a lot of fun; my photographer was shooting and pointing at whatever he saw. By-passers were curious about this strange dance, stopping to chat and get acquainted… And as for me: he and he (Lomo) were making me laugh. I fell in love, instantly.
Film by film I got rid of my photo-phobia. One summer I even stripped for my Lomo on a sailing trip along the coast of Dalmatia. Since then, many photo boxes (and tons of photo folders) have appeared all around our home, many beautiful Lomo albums, many happy memories. I no longer like to remember things my way; I prefer to remember them the Lomo way.
As Gregory Batchen argues in Forget Me Not: Photography & Remembrance: »…these photographs have therefore come to represent not their subjects, but rather the specter of an impossible desire: the desire to remember and to be remembered«.
But what is memory? And how is it created? Do early memories affect us and stay in our subconscious forever? Are they ever erased or recycled? Memory is an essential part of much reasoning; it is (in curious) ways connected to dreaming, shaped by language and imagery. It is our organism’s ability to store, retain and recall information. Something some of us want to perfect, while others strive to forget. Why is memory so hard to understand, lamented Bertrand Russell. Many scientists, philosophers, writers, and artists of all walks posed this question. And many have asked – how is photography entwined with memory. Do photographs replace it or enhance it? “We do not remember days; we remember moments” wrote Cesare Pavese in The Burning Brand. Then perhaps my autobiographical memory can be traced on my (and Miha’s) LomoWall.
Lora and Miha’s collaborated art work was on display at the LomoWorldWall. They like to take photo trips - equipped with two LC-As, a Holga, a Fish Eye, a Super Sampler, a ColorSplash, a Oktomat and a Horizon camera. This is where they find their mutual ground, and this is how their language of intimacy is created, the mirror they like to show to each other. During the LWC you could observe their family album, colourful meetings, whispers and shouts on 8 Lomographic panels. True das Fras [German for: grub]! With a bit of Power.
LORA POWER is a journalist from Ljubljana. She is a weekly contributor to the renowned newspaper Objektiv. She also writes and edits culinary pages for the Slovenian Playboy and articles about society, art, culture and sports for several other publications. Lora also has years of experiences in marketing, advertising and PR, as well as TV production. And why does she love Lomo? »It shows things you normally don't see. And you do that without even looking (or at least not focusing on it). Pure poetry! «
www.lomohomes.com/mondotopless
MIHA FRAS is based in Ljubljana has been working as a professional photographer for almost 20 years. He is a regular staff member at Mladina magazine, one of the leading political weeklies in Slovenia, as well as an official photographer for the mayor of Ljubljana. When it comes to showing his artistic side, he does it best on theatre and dance stages, in concert halls, and all sorts of alternative venues. Among his collaborators one can find director Dragan Živadinov, Kapelica Gallery, MGL Theater, and most of Slovenian dance troops. Fras has recently been featured in a documentary film about Slovene photojournalists titled At First Sight. He is a dedicated Lomographer for one reason – he does not need to think. Nor worry what will come out. »Very relaxing, « he says. »And when you develop a Lomo film you can always count that there will be something good on it!«
IGOR BARARON
Igor Bararon led a speech on his project “Broaden your Horizon.” Exact details on the schedule and project can be found in the “Programme - Congress Activities – Workshops” section of this website.
Amongst others, the following artists contributed to the LomoWorldWall project. At the time of making, their words had not reached our office. Their contribution to the project, will be displayed on the LomoWorldWall on Trafalgar Square.
Amanda Levete (Architect, United Kingdom)
Alexander Djikia (Artist, Russia)
and more...
Alexander Taylor
(UK - Designer)
Ed Carpenter
Marcel Wanders
INSTITUTIONAL PROJECTS
In collaboration with several affiliated creative institutions around the world, the Lomographic Society held a number of workshops that were to introduce interested participants to the world of Lomography in preparation for the Lomography World Congress London 2007. This is only a selection.
WORKSHOPS IN LONDON
A number of Lomography workshops were held in London with fascinating and inspiring groups with the purpose of inviting them to have their work included within the LomoWorldWall exhibition at Trafalgar Square.
Photo cameras that track motion? Cameras with eight lenses? In “PhotoMotion,” a workshop by the Photographer’s Gallery, three different types of Lomography cameras were used by secondary school pupils to capture action in sequence, combining their subject areas of Art & Design, Physical Education and Dance. Project managers Adam Scott and Julija Svetlova made a trip back to school days to work alongside teachers and students to realize the Photomotion project. The main idea of the Lomography workshops was to get students from schools in the deprived parts of London to generate images relating to motion for the Olympic and Paralympics Games 2012 in London, and to show that this event affects the lives of many, not only in a sportive, but also a creative way.
The project was commissioned by Creative Partnerships London East and South and organised by The Photographers’ Gallery as part of its off-site project work with schools.
According to Adam Scott, the reactions to plastic fantastic were better than expected from inner city kids who are used to the newest gadgets and toys. The results of the workshop can be found online in the form of a mini-movie, and a flip-book. The results can also be viewed at the LomoWorldWall.
The Central Saint Martins College was formed in 1989 from the merger of two internationally renowned colleges: the Central School of Arts & Crafts (1896) and St Martin‘s School of Art (1854). St Martin‘s is particularly well known for fashion and fine art and for a wide range of design and art, including photography, theatre design, industrial design and graphic design.
In a Lomography workshop supported by Lomographers Julia Svetlova and Linda Scott, and Course Director at CSM, Gary Wallis, the BA Graphics and Photography students focused on the latest Lomography techniques. The results of the workshop can now be viewed on the LomoWorldWall. A group of students that emerged from this project will also be leading a City Challenge through their city. To find out more about this, view the “Programme - Congress Activities – City Challenges” section of this website.
The Design Museum is one of the world’s leading museums of modern and contemporary design. Since its foundation in 1989, the museum has won international acclaim for presenting design’s richness and diversity and its power to enhance daily life by exploring innovation and excellence in every area of design - from industrial design, graphics and multimedia, to fashion and architecture. Equally important is the Design Museum’s role as the UK’s largest museum provider of design education resources. Accordingly, the Lomography workshop at the Design Museum aimed to give Design Museum friends the chance to learn about Lomography and use its basic tools and ideas to activate one’s creative potential and to take part in a global creation process. The theme was Design & Lomography. The imagery results of these workshops are now to be seen at the LomoWorldWall exhibition, as well as at the Design Museum during the Zaha Hadid exhibition in October 2007.
At Bonneville Primary School, Linda Scott started with an introduction of Lomography and the use of its tools and ideas to the 5 to 6 aged children of class 1D. They were asked to view and catch their surroundings in and outside their school with the Lomography multilense cameras. The children became over-excited by the fact that everyone was allowed to use his own camera and deliver his work for an exhibition.
In an incredibly fast and hyper approach, each child took off for the mission of ‘Don’t Think, Just Shoot’ and had finished their films before they had even reached the outside of the building.
Next up, Karen Hall visited the Furzedown School to work with the nine year old children in year four on a similar challenge. A slightly more relaxed and attentive mood was met here by the young people who successfully shot a roll of film each, exploring the things they are seeing every day and the action shots amongst themselves. Later on the same day, Karen received a dozen love letters, describing what a wonderful experience the children had with this workshop.
Lomography London Ambassadors Linda and Karen finally also visited Crisis Skylight, a charity group for homeless people. In a Lomography workshop that was part of the organization’s program of free practical and creative workshops ranging from bicycle repair to performing arts, the participants ventured through the spots of their view on Life in London. Supported by Anthony Luvera, the inspiring and enthusiastic tours of the new Lomographers lead to some special images for the LomoWorldWall.
Needless to say that the workshops in London are just a small selection of the dozens of workshops held in many countries throughout the year.
EMBASSY PROJECTS
Lomographic embassies are international bases representing the Lomographers all over the world. In regular events, they invite their community to participate in challenges and competitions. This year, all Lomographic embassies called for their big Lomography World Congress London 2007 Tournaments, gathering all Lomographers to represent their countries on the LomoWorldWall on Trafalgar Square. What is displayed here is a selection made of many.
LOMOGRAPHIC EMBASSIES SPAIN
Everyone knew it was about time to organize a new Lomography World Congress. The last congress in Beijing had been a while and had been quite far from home, and we were longing for a reunion with our LomoFriends scattered around the globe.
And how did the Spanish Lomography community find out the big news of the 7th Lomography World Congress? As is the typical Spanish way: with a huge LomoFiesta! LomoParties in Madrid and Barcelona celebrated the great news with cheers and roars: Long live the Lomography World Congress 2007!
To celebrate this very occasion, our Lomography Shops in Madrid and Barcelona opened their own LomoGalleries where the Spanish Lomographers got the chance to build their LomoWalls for the big exhibition on Trafalgar Square. Everyone was anxious and restless, the countdown had begun. After all: the Lomography World Congresses are the best excuses to party!! The Spanish walls are featured on the LomoWorldWall.
Cristina Caprile / Lomography Embassy Spain / www.lomospain.com
LOMOGRAPHIC SOCIETY JAPAN
International Lomography events have always been very special and heart moving for the community of Lomography Japan since the first international event in Asia: the Lomolympics in Tokyo 2001. We see photography as an art form that is both essentially private and public. Thus, with each interactive project, the Japanese community has adapted the idea of Lomography in its freedom of creative analogue photography and its value to the Japanese cultural scenes. To us, Lomography is the real universal language.
The Lomo events and activities have driven the constant evolution of the Lomographic movement in Japan, and have become a home not only for Lomographers but also for the rest of the creative community. Regular projects at the Aoyama Book Centre, the participation at the “Absolutely Private” exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, competition events at galleries and clubs, and workshops with artists and designers provide options for the different needs of the Lomographers.
For the Lomography World Congress London 2007 we organized the ‘LomoWorldWall Japan Contest’ with countless Lomographers, and made it to submit 100 LomoWalls. But we had to promise the Lomography Japan community to on-goingly work on more projects, giving them the opportunity to emerge close to the global Lomography communication of life.
Daisuke Naminoue / Lomographic Society Japan / www.lomography.jp
LOMOGRAPHIC EMBASSY ITALY
In an attempt to prove to the world that “Italians Do It Better,” the Lomographic Embassy of Italy called their community to present itself in the famous Style that Italians worldwide are so admired for. The results showed the Italian chic at its best, ranging from the flat-out trashiest outfits to the most exclusive that the world of fashion has to offer.
To represent Italy during the Lomography World Congress London 2007, the best shots of Italian’s fashion victims and style hounds were assembled into the “Italians Do It better” LomoWall to be judged by the world’s critical eyes.
Alberto Prandoni / Lomographic Embassy Italy / www.lomography.it
LOMOGRAPHIC EMBASSIES HONG KONG & ASIA PACIFIC
It has been some time since Hong Kong’s Lomographers got together, doing something wild but romantic to express their passion for Lomography. In August, we gathered together each and every Lomographer from Hong Kong and Asia Pacific for a high-speed LomoWall Challenge. We leveled up the challenge like a Formula one race. Participants not only built a gorgeous LomoWall in groups of four, but also had to build it within a limited amount of time and under specific Lomo rules. Within this impossible timing, every group had to build 4 panels that visually connected and harmonized. The next group then had to continue building the LomoWall, connecting with the previous group’s Wall. We aimed to find the fastest, most accurate and artistic hurters in Hong Kong and celebrate their glory.
What we got was an incredible Hong Kong LomoWall, in which every single photo portrays the most local and down-to-earth scenes of our lovely city. The Hong Kong Lomographers are always enthusiastic to gather other LomoAddicts from the Asian community and hold different kinds of parties and gatherings. We are too hungry to meet other Lomographers from all over the planet to hunt together, have adventures together and get wild together.
The Lomography World Congress is our dream international event. Recalling the memories from the Lomography World Congress Beijing 2004, the never-ending drinking and photo-shooting experience touched everyone’s heart. How amazing that all these people from different spots of the world came together to have fun, all just because of Lomography, the little cameras and the big legend spirit. The most classic words from Wolfgang Stranzinger keep rolling in our minds – “Lomography brings people together”. After the 3 years waiting, the time has finally come again to meet the old friends from the past and to meet the new crazy rockers in this familiar, amazing land, London.
www.lomographyasia.com/microsite/precongress2007/hk/about_en.html
Pan Chan / Lomography Asia Pacific / www.lomographyasia.com
LOMOGRAPHIC EMBASSY CHILE
The door was ajar, in the slit a ray of light, blinding the first morning glimpse, a wonderful day. I rolled up the curtains and stared at the impeccable white mountains. This is Santiago, this is Chile, this is the Chilean cold white winter, this is a day for my LC-A. My favorite place of all the many places I have been at. I quickly got up and strolled away shooting everything along my path. A couple of hours later, I wondered why the everlasting film went on and on, and realized aghast: the camera was empty. What an idiot! But the congress was still a couple of weeks away and I still had time to capture some more of the life around me. For my luck, Chile is going to be represented on this amazing LomoWorldWall. How should I represent my country? I will show all these magnificent views and scenarios to the world. No, I will show everyone my mundane regular day. No, I am going to expose my essence. Or all that together.
The Chilean Embassy has been doing several activities to collect different angles and perspectives of the Chilean world. Many Lomographers participated in creating the LomoWall Palta Mayo, which translates literally to “The Avocado-Mayonnaise LomoWall”, the name evoking a very traditional gastronomic phrase. People effortlessly tried to bring life to a piece of paper, capturing the most behemoth volcanoes, or the eternal silence of the deserted north, the serene southern lakes, or even the majestic glaciers far south.
And here I am, shooting away. I feel like my life has been in some way collected in bits and pieces by my pictures. But isn’t that the final purpose of them? There are certain things that cannot be explained by words. Some things are meant only to be experienced. On trips like to the Atacama Desert or the Patagonia, Lomography was my fellow to this experience. Amidst the reddish twilight and the high scrapers, I fidget with my lavish LC-A. I met my love through Lomography and I think I owe more to it than I will ever know.
Peter Pollak / Lomographic Embassy Chile / www.lomochile.cl
LOMOGRAPHY EMBASSY AUSTRALIA/NZ
For the 7th Lomography World Congress London 2007 we developed the concept of the LOMOGRAPIX in conjunction with this year’s theme of ‘The Lomographer as a Designer’.
For our contribution to the LomoWorldWall a collection of Lomographs from all over Australia and New Zealand was gathered at our home base at the Just Shoot Lomography Shop Sydney.
Of the hundreds of submissions we received, all shot with Lomographic tools and containing elements of design, the best were selected for the big LomoWall building session. The resulting LomoWall is now representing the Lomographers of Down-Under in the LomoWorldWall exhibition on Trafalgar Square.
In our brand new embassy location, we have finally added gallery space and a café. At this new site, Lomographers can buy equipment, arrange to print their images and also learn more about their Lomographic devices by participating in workshops, which has helped the community sense of our Lomographers, allowing them to display their work and mingle with others who share their passion.
Karen Boudakian / Lomographic Embassy Australia/NZ / www.lomoaustralia.com
LOMOGRAPHIC EMBASSY DUBAI
Dubai is a city that is work in progress - one large construction site. Amidst the super charged lifestyle here, where it’s all about having the biggest, the largest and the most expensive of everything - I stumbled upon the low-tech world of Lomography four years ago, and was immediately intrigued by it. Dubai has more and more Lomographers who are curious and open to get in touch with the Lomography network.
The Hot in the City exhibition organized in collaboration with Dubai Lomographers and visitors from abroad at the Jam Jar cultural organization got some intense feedback and made the blood, sweat and sleepless nights leading up to the exhibition worth it. We are happy to present our contribution to the LomoWorldWall at the Lomography Congress in London.
Hind Mezaina / Lomographic Ambassador Dubai / http://www.lomography.ae
LOMOGRAPHIC SOCIETY SOUTH KOREA
Most Korean Lomographers will not be able to join the Lomography World Congress this year since it will take place during the Korean Thanksgiving festivities. That is why we called the community to get together for a special LomoWallBuilding session in Seoul and collect the best of the best Korean Lomographs to send to the LomoWorldWall in London as a tribute to the congress and a greeting from Korea.
We are also busy preparing the opening of the new Lomography Space Seoul in October and hope to welcome Lomographers from all over the world here soon.
Soodol Huh / Lomographic Society South Korea / www.lomography.co.kr
LOMOGRAPHIC EMBASSIES PORTUGAL
The Embassy in Lisbon is no longer alone; she was joined by her little sister in Oporto, and now together we form the “Atlantic Lomographic Axis of the west!” This Atlantic connection of sun, beautiful beaches and landscapes inspired us to organise a huge challenge this summer, we named it “The LOMO Holiday CHALLENGE.” It was a reflection and represented the most colourful and funny moments of the year.
The traditional parties from our local regions involve a cross mix of people ranging from 8 to 80, the streets become full, the rituals are very genuine & very Lomo visual - life takes on a rhythm and we simply can not lose. These crowds of people have helped us greatly in realizing the Lomographic exhibitions and events in Lisbon and Oporto. News of them have spread fast, brim full of music and more good ideas. We experimented with a new project involving video-projecting live acts from the streets of New York and Berlin.
This Lomography World Congress in London has been an excellent pretext for us to organize and up-date the enthusiastic Portuguese Lomography community: it has become a focal point to see what people are doing with their “objectives” and their lives. Their work is our Portuguese contribution to the LomoWorldWall. Outstanding to know, that the LomoHearts are beating so well!
Ana Almeida & Sonia Galiza Ferreira / Lomographic Embassies Lisbon & Porto / www.lomografiaportugal.com
LOMOGRAPHIC EMBASSY SWITZERLAND
Fast and furious visual vultures wheeling over Zurich for one night in late August. For the LomoRally ’07, the Swiss Lomographic community summoned a flock of remorseless twelve dozen for an overnight picture chase. Kept secret to the last minute, the Lomographic mission aimed for body parts: Alive, kicking and voluptuous – no carrions.
A rally distinguished by lightning speed, break-dancing in the smallest possible spaces, female pyromania reflected on water, a triple DJ set and a second sleepless night to chill down after the first one.
We devote our best finds, our best pieces of flesh and our roughest poetry to the London LomoWall.
Reto Baumgartner / Lomographic Embassy Zurich / www.lomography.ch