Helsinki Photomedia 2012

I was happy to present my research on Znyata's forum at Helsinki Photomedia 2012 - Images in Circulation: The first international Helsinki Photography Research Conference that took place at Aalto University School of Art and Design on March 28-30, 2012.

You can find the conference program and general info at the web site http://helsinkiphotomedia.aalto.fi/

And some pictures on facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Helsinki-Photomedia-2012-Images-in-Circulation/239080222810352

And here is the abstract and PowerPoint of my presentation.

Znyata.com, the photographic forum’s exclusive role for the development of photography in Belarus

Photography in Belarus has never been deeply researched. We do have a lot of names and visual heritage worthy of attention but they were never put together in any kind of official historical narrative. For local art historians even now photography doesn’t seem to be an attractive topic for inquiry. And that’s why if any conceptualization happens, it is usually produced by photographers themselves. In the second half of the 20th century we can highlight three periods when conceptualization of what is photography reached its peak. The first one happened in 1970s when photographic club ‘Minsk’ launched a series of international exhibitions called ‘Fotografika’ showing the pictures very much different from socialist realism. The second one happened at the end of the 1980s – beginning of 1990s. It was connected with Perestroika, artistic freedom and introduction to the Western art world. And third one was definitely caused by Internet.
Internet gave the possibility for professional photographers to create their personal web sites where they can present themselves extensively, for amateurs to exchange pictures and ideas through blogs and photo sharing sites, for theoreticians to publish their articles in on-line journals. But in Belarus Internet gave also something more: it gave a public space safe and flexible enough to discuss the topics that were of high importance for local art community. This need for public space, a kind of agora, expressed itself in the extreme popularity and influence that the only one web site received – znyata.com.
As a researcher I observed this Znyata forum discussions from 2004 till 2010 using Atlas.ti software for qualitative data analysis . This report provides the discussion of the data gathered. A lot of questions are under consideration here:
– what topics have turned out to be important for people involved in photography in Belarus at the beginning of the 21st century and why?
– how Internet is perceived as a mediator for discussions? what possibilities and limitation does Internet give for discussing art?
– how were daily art events reflected in Internet communication?
– what communicative strategies did and do people use to express their ideas?
– how was symbolic capital understood and put in action during forum discussions?
This description and analysis of the role Internet played and still plays in the development of artistic community in Belarus is a part of a more general project on art photography in Belarus which includes a long-term participant observation, numerous interviews, analysis of textual and visual materials. That’s why a conference contribution will also include a framework of more broad statements about art in Belarus.