LIK Akademie für Foto und Design MasterClass Photography - Artist Talk and Portfolio Review.

Ksenia Yurkova is an artist, curator, journalist and educator living in Vienna (Austria) and St. Petersburg (Russia). She works primarily with photography, video and text. The main focus of her interest is communication and language: the varieties of its substance, the possibility of conversion, its mythological aspect, stereotyping (the question of personal and political self-identification and identification by others), problems of memory, trauma and affects. 

Coming a long way from political and cultural journalism, through organising and curating cultural and art events, Ksenia settled in individual artistic and research practice, which allows the useful critical distance for observation and working with contemporary issues. Her approach is based on methods of language appropriation, over-affirmation, self-reflection and self-criticism through ironic component inevitably added to the most pressing matters. Nonetheless, Ksenia didn’t give up socially engaged practice and launched a festival-laboratory Suoja/ Shelter in Helsinki, which already the 2nd year touches upon sensitive problematics of society. Ksenia Yurkova has taken part in numerous shows and festivals worldwide, e.g. in Krakow Photo Month (2019), Athens Photo Festival (2015, 2017, 2019), Grandprix Fotofestival (2015), has released several artist books. Yurkova was published in Transeuropephoto Magazine, Calvert Journal, Gup Magazine, DOC! PhotoMagazine, Prism Magazine, Musee Mag and The Guardian. Her works are in private collections in Russia, Germany, France, and Finland.

November 29, 18.00-21.00

1st day of the workshop:

An artist talk

I will focus on the aspects and methods I use in my work, namely on performative aspects of photography, non-hierarchical collaborations, feminist optics. I will touch the problematics of ethics and exploitation in documentary and artistic photography will show some examples of the self-aware photographic language. I will be open to the discussions and questions.

November 30, 12.00-17.00

2nd day of the workshop:

A portfolio-review

I recommend the format of portfolio-review to those who want to receive a professional view on photographic/ artistic practice. It is recommended to those who:

- need to overcome an idea of a single shot;

- require to create a strong photographic/ artistic statement;

- want to work with visual storytelling and create coherent series;

- already think to abandon linear narrations and create more abstract statements;

- desire to articulate a unique artistic manner;

- crave for an experiment;

- think to expand a medium of photography to other disciplines.

Register for the MASTERCLASS: https://www.eventbrite.de/e/masterclass-photography-ksenia-yurkova-tickets-81024391135

Artistic work: kseniayurkova.com

Photographic work: stampsy.com/ksenia-yurkova

List of photos:

Ksenia Yurkova. © Julia Lisnyak

Letters for Two, and No-One Else, artist book, 2014 © Ksenia Yurkova

The Class is in English!