BA Photography - CIRCLE newsletter #2

We are very excited to present you with issue #2 of the CIRCLE newsletter. This is brought to you by and for the photography department. We have turned the focus of this issue into a more internal communication and share day-to-day student adventures and struggles.

We invite you to approach us with anything you would like to share. This includes this newsletter and instagram (@kabkphotography). Our own goal for the newsletter is to create a stronger bond in our community, uplift one another’s work, and share moments and challenges. A community that isn’t afraid to bring up conversations, student failures and victories, and important developments of both our smaller community and the photography world. Let us know what you would want to see more of, if you want to share your own artistic process, and topics you find interesting. Our small part in this department is sharing developments in students, teachers and alumni artistic lives. Let us know what you would want to see more of, we want to hear it all (also via: circlenews@kabk.nl). In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our second issue!

Looking Back

New TeammaTes

We welcome our new exchange student Salome Erni joining the 2nd year documentary class.

We welcome our alumni Emily Rooney and Alex Avgud for joining the Circle team.

Network week From 16.01.-20.01., students had the chance to travel around the Netherlands and visit the studios of Dutch photographers. Besides studio visits, the 2nd year students hosted a morning lecture by Pablo Lerma and Sara Sallam in the big studio and facilitated workshops such as ”Movement as research”, a drag make-up session and a basic knitting class.

march 2023

Fieldtrip From 25.03.-31.03., 2nd year students are going to Brussels to pursue their projects, work long hours and party mindfully.

april 2023

Lunch lecture 06.04 British photographer Vanessa Winship will host a lecture in the auditorium.

And we introduce our new Circle team: Krystina Gorayska, Anna Rogneby, Ellie Sparacio Warner, Kim Casamitjana Spenhoff, Paula Punkstina and Salome Erni.

december 2022

Collective assessment (thank god it is over!-at least until the summer!)

A festive postcard from the 2nd year documentary students

Winter break

jaNuary 2023

Workshop week From 09.01.13.01. and 23.01.-27.01., 1st and 2nd year students participated in workshops tutored by Ola Lanko, Rafael Roncato, Batuhan Keskiner, Iztok Klancar, Ariane Judith Toussaint, Piek Kock, Lua Vollaard, Sebastiaan Hanekroot and Will Boase. They offered a wide selection of courses in which students could gain new skills in photogrammetry, networking, sewing, filming, editing and writing.

23.01-27.01 - 4th year students followed ‘How to Graduate in 4 days’ Workshop led by Willem Popelier & Alex Avgud. During the week our soonto-be-graduates could test their ideas and experiment a lot with radically new interpretations of their projects. The week finished with a pop-up exhibition that gave a good impression of the creativity we’re expecting to see at the Graduation Festival!

The Fool collective exhibition “As above, so below” From 19.01.-23.01. the 3rd year students organized an exhibition which took place at The Greyspace. The 40 photography students displayed their work. The five days were filled with cultural activities: lectures, performances, student screenings, sound performance and a party with a DJ set. After this great and joyful task was finally done, and after a little bit of a rest, the students started their internships or went abroad for an exchange.

The launch of the great publication created by the 2nd year full time and part time students will take place.

may 2023

Lunch lecture 15.05 South African visual artist Lebohang Kganye and on 23.05 . Beijing based Dutch photographer Ruben Lundgren

exhibiTioNs

Tutor Raimond Wouda participates in the group show In Love, Bored & Overslept at Fotomuseum Den Haag The exhibition is a photographic journey through 150 years of education in The Netherlands. Exhibition runs from April 8th until August 6th. Official opening: April 14th, 18.00

Lunch lecture by Susan Meiselas On 09.02. MAPS organized a lecture in the auditorium by American documentary photographer Susan Meiselas. She gave an insightful presentation about her book “Carnival Strippers” and told personal stories from documenting civil war in Nicaragua in 1979.

Spring break - much needed!

Tutor Annaleen Louwes is part of a group exhibition Mind the Gap about mental vulnerabilities within the LGBTQIA+ community at Beautiful Distress House in Amsterdam until May 5th

At the Sound & Vision Museum in The Hague you can visit the exhibition Vergezicht Groningen for which tutor Dirk-Jan Visser in collaboration with Gus Drake , graduate (2022) created video portraits of six Groningers from the earthquake area who share their perspectives on the future. Until April 23rd.

Announcement

As of the start of the next Academic year in September 2023, Raimond Wouda will be stepping down from his role as Coordinator of our part-time program. This will allow for a better balance between his photographic practice and teaching, to which he'd both like to dedicate more time. In accordance with the current HR Policy an internal vacancy to fill in the position will follow soon. In case we're not finding our new coordinator within HdK (University of the Arts The Hague), the vacancy will also be published externally. In case of interest, keep an eye out for this!

We thank Raimond for many years of dedication to part-time, overseeing the programme, and helping immensely to strengthen its development. Proost!

On behalf of John & Lotte, CIRCLE Team

Wetterstrand (Lunchtype)

“Why? Because I want it”

Imagine a dark room, high ceilings, a peculiar soft floor (the artist later explains it’s soil, carried indoors with wheelbarrows and stomped by thousands of feet). The spectators, silhouettes themselves, face a video projection which opens a world of archaic rhythms, vast horizons, and mystic stories: A poetic fable about humanity searching for stars that were replaced by satellites long ago. On the opposite wall, lightboxes display long-exposures of satellites piercing through the night sky.

And the sky – or should we call it the expanses of the universe? –is, what 25-year-old German artist and KABK Photography Graduate Jamal Ageli is indeed interested in. He showed his graduation work “Call Her The Morning Star” (2022) at The New Current, a multimedia exhibition with emerging talents during Rotterdam Art Week 2023.

Taking this as a starting point, we meet in a café, stroll Den Hague’s streets, and eventually end up in KABK’s cafeteria. As the prepared interview questions mostly remain in the backpack and the conversation evolves freely, the following passages shall serve as a glimpse into Jamal’s practice.

A: Astrophotography and Atmosphere

“Astrophotography is the perfect balance between technology and spirituality”, Jamal explains his current practice. During the past few years, the sky and celestial bodies have always been one of his main subjects. He describes that staying next to his camera during clear nights and waiting for long exposures has something magical to him. But Jamal doesn’t like his work being called “spiritual”. “My work should not exist in a category called spiritual. I mean: Who am I to tell you what’s spiritual? I cannot impose on others that they have a spiritual experience when encountering my work.”

“My way of working is about creating atmospheres, rather than stories”, he says. But how comes, that “Call Her The Morning Star” feels very much like a fairytale, even including a narrator? “Well”, Jamal explains: “I wouldn’t have said that sentence a year ago when doing the project. But now I realized that my way of working might be less about storytelling but more about creating experiences.”

Jamal Ageli is a German photographer and video artist. He graduated 2022 from KABK with his film "Call Her The Morning Star", which was also exhibited during Art Week Rotterdam 2023.

salome erNi iN coNversaTioN wiTh jamal ageli

Jamal Ageli / Graduate]

“At the Academy, having the money for an expensive production seems to be taken as a given. But it’s not talked enough how to organise the financials means for your graduation project other then taking it from your private account”, Jamal says. Because he wanted to pursue his vision and knew that his installation and production plans are costly, he cared about funding early on. “In retrospect, I think my graduation project would not have been possible without receiving a project development grant by hessenfilm und Medien, the film support board of my province in Germany. This new media grant of 20,000 not only helped me to realize my production and a more complex installation for the work but also enabled me to invest in my business and important pieces of equipment which benefit my practice today.”

Jamal applied for the grant before he started into the fourth year as he already spent a lot of thoughts on his graduation project during covid and his internship. He even used the commission during the graduation year as an experimental field. While doing a shooting for Jack Wolfskin, he tested the concept of groups of humans in nocturnal landscapes, which reoccurre in the final video.

E: Exhibition and all the “whys”

“As an artist, you are always asked <why are you doing this?>, especially during academic education. Always why, why, why. Now, I answer: Because I want it. Because I like it. I always wanted a room full of soil and photographs in lightboxes, so I did it for my graduation project and again at Art Week Rotterdam.” The New Current scouted the project already at the Graduation Show and Jamal, next to having received three awards for it, has the chance of exhibiting his project in another two exhibitions.

I: Instagramable

Very differently to the Graduation Show at KABK, in The New Current Jamal stayed mostly invisible as the artist. “It was a fascinating experience to stay in the dark room and listen anonymously to all the viewer’s discussions.” And interestingly, his photographic installation became a highly requested subject for people just

dropping in for taking an “instagramable” picture of it. How to deal with the fact, that some spectators obviously do not deal with the complexity of the work? “I neither find it good nor bad when spectators solely enjoy a work visually. But it tells a lot about the way art is perceived nowadays. However, of course, if art is only about Instagram, we all lose.”

P: Pressure on the creative output

“After my graduation, I was drained, I needed a break. Still for the next months, I am deliberately not creating new autonomous work. Although I’m in contact with curators and collectors that perhaps want to see me putting things into the world. There is this certain expectation of the world to <keep delivering>. But I want to take the freedom not to do it for now, although I keep new ideas for myself at this point. For now, I prefer commissions or rather applied photography, because you are not tempted to do research for years as you have to respect your deadlines and the fast pace of projects.”

T: Travelling aka how to schedule meetings

Currently, Jamal works on commissions for global brands and collaborates closely with photographer Ari Versluis, a lecturer at KABK. That we were able to meet in Den Hague is mere luck: Few days before, Jamal was in LA, the next day he goes to London for commissions. Being born in Germany, he is now based “almost anywhere in Europe.” He wouldn’t want to live like this forever, he says. “For now, I love my life. I know, some people almost hate if you say that. But it is true.” However, as he says, his grandmother still calls him every day to check in with him.

W: World outside KABK (which exists)

As Jamal already worked as a photographer before graduating, stepping into the world outside of the academy felt “seamless” for him. Nevertheless, now there is a lot more administration to do when running his own business. And, a question that many former KABK students face: Where to settle? “After living this <international life> at KABK for four years, I need to decide. Shall I center my life back home in Germany? Or stay in the Netherlands? I still don’t know and that’s okay.”

[with Jamal Ageli / Graduate]

Graduates and Student at Rotterdam Art

"You are light and cabbage"

KATARINA JURIČIĆ, ALUMNI

"Have fun :)"

DIANA GHEORGHIU, ALUMNI

LOUSIANA VAN ONNA, ALUMNI "Upupa Epopos"

TOMMY SMITS, ALUMNI

TIBOR DIETERS, ALUMNI "pol/der vriens"

ANNA ROGNEBY, 2ND YEAR DOCUMENTARY "Redd"

arT roTTerdam, prospecTs exhibiTioN arT roTTerdam, prospecTs exhibiTioN arT roTTerdam, prospecTs exhibiTioN arT roTTerdam, prospecTs exhibiTioN arT roTTerdam, prospecTs exhibiTioN roTTerdam phoTo fesTival

Getting the Joy and Inspiration Back

By Kim Casamitjana

During the studies we all reach a certain point where we are bored of photography and struggle to pick up the camera. Quite understandable considering the amount of projects and great innovative ideas we need to come up with, and execute, constantly. So, here is a little list of things you could try out to get some of that inspiration and joy back.

Gossip sessions with people from your department about teachers and other students. Might not be morally and ethically correct, but it is great for bonding. And you get to let out some of the frustration you accumulate, and what better then with a group of people who feel the same way? I would combine this with the next point.

Screaming/Crying session at the beach or a hill. Feedback after feedback talks can get quite exhausting and frustrating.

Sports, the most effective way to keep depression away, stay fit and sleep well. It releases happy hormones, makes you feel good, gives you confidence and helps with stress.

Drink some of those expensive green juices and ginger shots.

A phone call with your parents and family. They will probably be quick in reminding you how lucky and blessed you are for being able to study what you like.

Write down the reason why you started creating art in the first place. What do you like about it, how does it make you feel?

Hang it up in your room and re-read it every now and then, because most likely at some point you'll be wondering why/when you decided to study this and spiral into questioning your entire life.

Make friends in other departments and go chill in their classrooms and studios. It's like a breath of fresh air while still in the academy.

Sit in the sun and go buy some vitamin D, very much needed in this country.

Get some normal friends. Non-artsy people. They make everything a bit more simple and can also offer different feedback to your work. You can find them at bars, clubs, sport activities, fitness studios, other universities, public libraries, cafe's...

Go out and hug a tree for at least 10 seconds. Don't question it, just do it and thank me later. If you do it barefoot, extra happiness and inspiration.

Spend a whole afternoon cooking or baking, maybe a brownie, crêpes, or cookies.

Go on mental health hot girl walks. Even when you are tired, even when you are mad. And look at the sky. And realize how teeny tiny you are. And how the stress is not permanent and everything will be fine.

Go out and run your whole street up and down, just because you can.

Readings

→ ② THE STORY OF ART WITHOUT MEN

I must admit, this was a buy out of guilt. I picked it out from the shelf at the book store and briefly paged through it and my immediate thought was “None of these art works are by men? A woman made this?” and I was immediately ashamed of such thoughts! Seeing how much I needed to learn, I had to buy this book and I am so glad I did. I am not through it but I am tearing through it at any moment I get. So many new (to me) names and works that hold so much more power knowing that they have been, for the most part, ignored and cast aside because of the patriarchal gaze of the art world. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

“..she created this positive, beautifully written corrective, which should become a founding text in the history of art by women. Starting in 1500 and shooting through to artists born in the 1990s, The Story of Art Without Men brings centuries-old figures to life while giving form and gravitas to emergent voices and covering every substantial movement from dadaism to civil-rights-era antiracist art along the way.”

- Bidisha Mamata for The Gaurdian

I remember in the first year studying at KABK and having a visit with the guidance counselor to work through some of the difficulties that I had been facing at the time. (Talk to people about how you are feeling!). I remember she recommended a book, she wrote the title down on a sticky note. I kept the stick note with me for a while, it floated around my bag and popped up stuck on new things as I pulled them out for classes, but I never bought it, never gave it a chance. Then recently a friend and photographer (Adrianna Ault) mentioned that she had picked up the very same book and shared a quote which resonated with her. ‘I’ve been reading Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland lately and really loved the included quote from Stephen De Staebler: - “Artists don’t get down to work until they feel the pain of working exceed the pain of not working.”’ So I decided it was finally time for me to buy a copy for myself. Only a few pages in, I realized why I was recommended to read it. Although, I believe I would have perceived it much differently in first year than I am now, almost a year into the realm of post-graduation. Perhaps this is precisely the moment I need it most.

The authors of Art and Fear examine some of the perils of art making with great insight. They discuss reasons people either don’t ever make a start in making art, or quit in the process. Many of us just talk our way out of a promising future with self-doubt and unrealistic expectations, when it’s really non-magical qualities like perseverance and grit that are essential to becoming an artist.

As a long time lover of Sally Mann’s photographs and frequently re-reading/ watching her interviews, I was very excited to have so much of her voice, perspective, and back story to read about. This book gives so much insight into what lies behind the making of her photographs, what embeds/imbues them with so much spirit.

“...the Mann of Hold Still presents another side of the artist entirely. The book insists on putting those images and that life in context, almost literally: though this is not a heavy, coffee-table art book, its text is laced with photographs. Some are archival, from Mann’s family, but others show the evolution of her art…” - Michelle Dean for The Guardian

DRAW YOUR WEAPONS

After Reading ‘Hold Still’ I asked friends if they had other Reading Recommendations. I received one from Alumni of Master of Photography & Society Will Boase -‘Draw Your Weapons’ by Sarah Sentilles. I have not yet read it but was told it is “Incredible!” so it is on my list.

“Now more than ever, the world needs a book like Draw Your Weapons.

With mastery, urgency, and great courage, Sarah Sentilles investigates the histories of art, violence, war, and human survival. In her haunting and absorbing narrative, the act of storytelling, itself, becomes a matter of life and death.”

— Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being

Building Institutions

dora ramljak

Sensory room, a tool used in the treatment of neurorisk-impaired people, people with cognitive disabilities, and mental illnesses opens as a place for exploration of the limits of individual bodies. Care is allowed to become subjective, individual, collective, and un-hierarchical as body experiences differ from person to person. The sensory room is an individual photograph of a bodily experience in time and space constantly changing as it encounters the others.

The room is a tool for accessing the body, it functions in the urban, the city, institutional, or individual spaces. Entering a sensory room is where the ability of a controlled correction of a predestined reflex is enabled and de- institutionalized. By creating a room-project based on elements of sensory integration, the design of sensory elements derived from natural forms is facilitating the adaptation of institutions to the outside world. The elements are easily mobile and together they can form a sensory room or be used individually. The space should not be an obstacle to providing assistance to those in need, to anyone.

Cities became places of condensing and de-naturalizing bodies. Sensory room extends in form of a public sensory drawing workshop, where use of stencils and chalk, while focusing on certain senses disrupts the regularity in which we inhabit the city. By engaging in play in collective and urban spaces, the exchange where we are able to reawaken the childlike nature of the body and its gesture, but also exchange with the other, is possible. By slowing down we become aware of our senses, our place in the space. The workshop establishes an institution where re-claiming individual bodies trough re-discovering our body memory is possible. The city becomes a space whose potentiality shifts as knowledge of our own body deepens. and animals) into account.

Concept of my project emerged as I had a growing interest in understanding current medical discourse and questioning how it treats people. This shortly became the largest project I have worked on so far as my research expanded when I approached three hospitals in Croatia, where I come from, and proposed to develop a sensory room based on their needs. Together with them I was able to expand my research and understand what is needed in this moment and how I can contribute to change that I aspire to see. Therefore, my graduation work is a combination between commissioned work, building the elements of the room, and now the workshops in which I extend my research and practice outside of the institution and into the cities occupied by a variety of people. My biggest inspiration for this project is simply pure human interaction that changes as the environment changes.

Last year, I lost the ability to connect and just lived in my own reality, but then I started feeling my body again, a little bit. It is a terrifying, new feeling.. I was scared of institutions, I despised the system, but it didn’t bring me anywhere other than back to them. So, to work with the system might be a way to go? I find guidance, peace, presence, I am able to feel my own body when I touch the other, when I work hard to bend the metal or shape the wood. I used this as a way to find myself again and see the beautiful strength that my body has. I allowed myself to grow as I built small elements for hospitals, and it was just a way to imagine what my reality could look like if I ever had to face this environment again. The workshops showed me the beauty of detail, of bodies of materials and their different shapes. Cuts on the fingers, temporary burns, they are marks of time and space on my body. I want to translate this experience to everyone, to all of us, automated citizens of overfilled urban landscapes. I observed the children and learned from them. Now I observe what is around me and create my own space, my own workshop, where others can come to terms with their physicality. I capture what they create and recompose, re-contextualise, I put it in contexts where it doesn’t belong. Material slows down as the senses re-awaken.

After academy, I wish to develop my series of workshops further, but also take some rest and see where do I see myself, what is my next adventure. I am entering a research residency after I graduate, so I hope that that will be a fertile ground for the new projects to emerge.

Kassel Dummy Award Shortlist

Four KABK Photography students and graduate, both BA & MA are shortlisted for the prestigious Kassel Dummy Award 2023: Fleur Huijsdens, Rafael Roncanto, Katia Motylëva and Alexandra Corcode. Their works were chosen among 383 unpublished photobook dummies from 46 countries. Congratulations!

"Your Death is in my Hands" by Alexandra Corcode (3rd year PH). The book is a visual exploration of taxidermy in both the technical and artistic way, combining archival material with personal images shoot between The Netherlands and Romania.

FLEUR HUIJSDENS, FELIS SILVESTRIS CATUS

Fleur Huijsdens’ KABK Photography graduation project (2022) is a series of portraits of cats. It focuses on the human relationship with cats, a relationship that, throughout history, has gone through many changes. This collection of portraits depicts a broad spectrum of emotions, but are they the genuine emotions of the portrayed cats? By portraying cats based on human archetypes, such as the nutty professor, the old neighbor, or the crying Maria, Huijsdens discovered how humans tend to project their emotions onto these animals. We would like to believe that we understand what our pet is feeling. We see different emotions, but let's be honest, are there any?

KATIA MOTYLËVA, LOSS

Ukrainian photographer and videomaker Katia Motylëva graduated from KABK in 2022 with her project “Loss”. The shortlisted book deals with all the events that started 2014 with the occupation of Donbas by Russia and now have escalated into a full-scale war. It is a personal story about the war in Ukraine, the life of a woman and her family in the midst of hostilities. As she puts it, “This work is my attempt to tell about loss and not be forgotten”.

Tropical Trauma Misery Tour by Alumnus Rafael Roncanto (Photography & Society, 2021) is a tragicomedy about violence, falsehoods, and digital populism in the networked image era. Roncanto’s Master graduation project explores strategies for overcoming dangerous political illusions by tackling the farce and media opportunism of the Brazilian president and far-right populist Jair Messias Bolsonaro— the Myth. In 2018, Bolsonaro was stabbed during a presidential rally campaign. Against a backdrop of polarization, micro-narratives, and misinformation, The Myth starred in an online political campaign where he had complete control over his narrative and self-presentation. This tour investigates how the ambiguity of the stabbing event exposes the connection between violence and network propaganda in the Brazilian political game.

RAFAEL RONCANTO, TROPICAL TRAUMA MISERY TOUR

ALEXANDRA CORCODE, YOUR DEATH IS IN MY HANDS

PERMANENTLY OPEN

opeN Envision Arts Magazine

Entry Fee: free

opeN Galerie Asterisk

Note: Upload image to be retrospectively exhibited in the year you birth a child

Entry Fee: free

opeN Open Eye Gallery

Entry Fee: free

MARCH 2023

17.03. Booooooom “Pictures and Songs”

Black&White images of people, places, and things in combination of a selected song of your choice that fits with photographs. Images do not have to be shot on B&W film to be eligible, digital images converted to B&W are acceptable.

Booooooom will be selecting work by 50+ photographers for what will become a black & white book.

Entry Fee

23.03. Innovate Grant

Innovate Grant accepts submissions from applicants 18 years or older, from around the world within the following two categories:

Art, Painting, Printmaking, Drawing, Sculpture, Film / Video, Mixed Media, Installation, New Media

Photography; Portrait, Conceptual, Still Life, Black&White, Documentary, Street, Composite, Collage

Innovate Grant will distribute (2) $1,800.00 grants each quarter, to one Visual Artist and one Photographer.

Entry Fee

26.03 Gibellina Photoroad Call

for Projects & Call for Open Air Installations

What role does vision play in a condition of total openness? What does it mean to design an open-air space? How are new meanings created in an empty space?

Gibellina Photoroad invites photographers, artists and curators to respond to the questions with visual installation.

You may be selected for:

- An open air and site-specific installation/ exhibition, which will be exhibited in the fourth edition of the festival (28th July/30th September 2023)

- The entrance in the Permanent Collection of Fondazione Orestiadi

- Collective screening at FormatInternational Photography Festival- Derby, UK 2024

- Publication in the catalog and in digital and paper publications of the festival

Entry fee

30.03. The Kranj Foto Fest Theme: Human-Nature. Powerful and thought-provoking stories that showcase the relationship between humanity and the environment.

Submissions can include documentary photography, fine art photography, and any other form of contemporary photography that explores the theme in a meaningful and impactful way.

The jury will select ONE WINNER who will receive a 1000 EUR cash prize and have a solo exhibition in Kranj, Slovenia, at the program of Kranj Foto Fest 2023 (from August 23rd to September 23rd 2023), and will shortlist a number of photographers for group exhibitions all around the picturesque alpine town of Kranj.

Entry fee

31.03.

(2023)

Artphilein Photobook Contest

Contemporary “In biology, regeneration is the process of renewal, restoration and tissue growth that makes genomes, cells, organisms and ecosystems resilient to natural fluctuations or events that cause disturbance or damage”. Participants are invited to present a project which, starting from a traumatic event - caused by human or natural disasters - highlights and describes a regeneration process for a person or a community or an urban space or an ecosystem.

the necessary conversations on topics such as representation, inclusion, environmental sustainability, the politics of everyday life, and the power of change held by social movements.

Entry fee

MAY 2023

01.05. Magnum Photo Submission 2023, Photo Projects

The award grants the winner with the production of the photobook to be published by Artphilein Editions and an exhibition at one of the De Pietri Artphilein Foundation spaces in Lugano and in Lenzburg, in partnership with Fotofestival Lenzburg 2024.

Free

31.12. Pulpo gallery 2023 open call solo show

Entries can take any form of 2-dimensional (such as paintings) or 3-dimensional (such as sculptures) art (NFT submissions are allowed as well) and need to be submitted via Instagram. The winner will receive an all-expenses-paid solo show at PULPO GALLERY in 2024.

Free APRIL 2023

23.04. Encontros Da Imagem –International Photography and Visual Arts Festival, Discovery Awards 2023 Essay for the Future: Considering the present as we imagine and build the future together. Encontros da Imagem invites artists to explore the challenges that the world continues to experience and keep up

Through the open call Magnum Photos accepts portfolio submissions from all international professional photographers. Selected applicants will be contacted by one of Magnum’s photographers and invited to become a ‘Nominee Member’ of Magnum.

Free

08.05. The Royal Photographic Society, The RPS International Photography Exhibition is the world’s longest running photography exhibition. RPS encourages everyone to participate in the annual open call - new, emerging and established photographers. Selected artists will have an opportunity to participate in a group exhibition at The Royal Photographic Society in Bristol, UK, and other nationwide venues, alongside a prize fund to support future photographic projects.

Free

15.05. Photo Vogue Global Open Call, Photo Vogue Global Open Call is looking for artists who work with photography and video and address the question of what does beauty mean today? The call is open for all visual aesthetics and techniques.

Free

3rd year internship Jelle Koiter

Where do you have your internship?

I’m interning with Arcin Sagdic at his homestudio based in Berlin.

Arcin Sagdic’s photography, motion and collaborative sound projects are underpinned by scientific approaches, using ideas from quantum physics and gravitational theories to frame introspective readings of his environment.

What does your day look like. What kind of responsibilities do you encounter?

In the morning we get together and see what we are going to do in the day if we haven’t discussed it the day before. Throughout the day we drink tea or coffee, listen to all kinds of music and work. Currently we’re busy with sequencing his first book, talking about artistry, sharing ideas and inspiration.

Professionalising is also a big part of the internship, meaning that I get to see how he writes with clients and and I receive tips, do’s and don’ts about communicating with the professional world. Sometimes we do feedback sessions on my own work, I can shape this however I want of course. At the end of every day I always do some archival organising which is very relaxing. It’s all about working together and getting to look over the shoulder of one of my favourite photographers.

What is the environment? How is it working with the professionals?

Very relaxed. There’s an open environment to discuss anything we like. We really want to inspire each other and make a work day just a bit more fun, we’re professional when we need to be, but in a home environment there’s room for jokes and fun conversations of course. When it comes to working in the field with clients I present myself focused, fast, thinking in solutions and offering help, but most importantly is being myself.

WORKS BY ARCIN SAGDIC

[Internship / Jelle Koiter]

3rd year exchange Ania Masiukiewicz

Where did you go for the exchange?

I am doing my exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark at Danish School of Media and Journalism (DMJX). The major I decided to take is called Photographic Communication. Unfortunately, however, this is the last year the school offers this course since they decided to close the department down - so I am quite lucky.

I have never been to Scandinavian countries and I have heard a lot of good opinions about Denmark so that is also one of the reasons why I chose specifically this school. However, the program of the major of course had the biggest influence on my decision and as far as I can say now I am very happy that I came here. It is more commercial than KABK, because we focus on campaigns and editorial projects rather than personal in-depth work but still with a personal visual style in mind. I think it is a good form of escape from KABK bubble if someone is interested to get a a more broad view on photography in the commercial world.

What does your day look like / What kind of subjects do you have?

It is a little bit different from KABK since the semester is divided into five courses that last for few weeks and within this time we focus on a specific field of study. For example the first month here we had Fashion Photography & Visual Identity and with each week we would get a new assignment in the field of fashion photography. Also our teacher for each assignment invited a guest who would guide us in our work. First week we were shooting at Fashion Week Copenhagen and had a casting agent coming from London. The second week we were working with British fashion photographer Iain McKell. We were able to get personal feedback from him on our work. And the third week we worked with Benjamin Tarp, a photo editor from Vogue Scandinavia where our assignment was to produce a fashion campaign for the summer issue of Vogue.

I think I can say each day/week here looks different since we have a variety of work to do. But there is always a moment for a production/ shooting time and feedback after. It is a lot about self organization but with guidance by the teachers. With 11 people in our department we are a small group of students, but this makes our workflow very easy.

What is the environment? / How much does the school differ from KABK?

My first impression of the school is really good. The students in my class are very friendly and nice to one another. I noticed that everyone helps each other out, there is no competition or judgment - especially while presenting the work or feedback time. It is nicely refreshing to be honest. However, since we are such a small group it is easier to have more personal one on one time with tutors. We all also have our own computer and desk to work on. I also feel like teachers and school generally is conscious about the needs of the students and actively work alongside them. We get lots of materials and equipment to choose from also free of charge. We have our own flex tight scanner in the classroom, enough workspace and access to school 24/7. At the same time, I noticed that whenever we feel mistreated by teachers they respect us and treat us as adults. It is a really healthy environment to study in. Besides our department, the rest of the school is quite a typical university so sometimes it is quite funny to see the difference between creative and communication part. Especially in a way people dress and behave. But generally every aspect of the school is positive.

As above, So below

The Fool Collective

Remember the exhibition As above, So below? We hope so! The Fool Collective, consisting of third year Photography students, showed their projects between the 19th and 23rd January. Besides attracting many visitors to The Grey Space in the Middle (Den Hague), the artists hosted film screenings, a party and workshops as well as broadcasted on Mushroom Radio. Now it is time to look back on the event and all the efforts with some nice images by student Lorenza Bassino.

Student Submissions

"Do you want to live here?" is a project where I tried to initiate a thorough self-reflection journey in order to understand why I am so drawn to fairy tales. With a view to visualizing how reality imitates stories, a colleague of mine helped me create a sequence which follows the storyline of a fairytale my mom would read to my sister and me by using different crops of photographs of my childhood and more recent photographs I took myself. The text I used in the publication is translated to English from the Romanian version of „Frau Holle", a German story by the Grimm Brothers. By deciding not to use the original version of this story, I want to criticize the Romanian mentality that shines through the emphasis the translator put on the traditional role of the woman: washing dishes and rubbing the floors. Thus, I want to show my interest in how the stories we tell our children shape them into the adults they become, as well as how stories are the best reflection of cultural standards.

2nd year full time, fiction

"Do you want to live here?"

Daria Radu

2nd year part time

I always need time to adjust to new seasons. The days are getting shorter and darker. I experience space and time differently. The sky, the moon and light it provides in his unique way is the only way to feel something that's constant. The moon, and how the moonlight shines on me feels closer to me, even so far away. In a sense they guide me, don't push me or force me in any way. When we look at it, we just participate in that moment and lose track of time and we just are. In this constructed story I literally take the moon down with me and create this alienated space.

"I walk this earth all by myself"

Thomas Hunter

coNTribuTioNs by Jamal Ageli, Diana Gheorghiu, Lousiana Van Onna, Tommy Smits, Katarina Juricic, Tibor Dieters, Anna Rogneby, Kim Casamitjana, Emily Josephine Rooney, Dora Ramljak, Jelle Koiter, The Fool Collective, Daria Radu, Thomas Hunter

visual ideNTiTy by Jenny Konrad (mail@jennykonrad.com)

by

published by the Photography Department of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in collaboration with alumni from the Pineapple Road Press

issue#2 March 2023 Den Haag, Netherlands

You can reach us with questions, thoughts, ideas and more at circlenews@kabk.nl

THE TEAM:

Paula Punkstina

Krystyna Gorayska

Ellie Sparacio Warner

Kim Casamitjana Spennhoff

Salome Erni

Anna Rogneby

Emily Josephine Rooney

Alex Avgud

foNTs

Samara Keller (Tempos Mono), Stefan Wetterstrand (Lunchtype)

If you want your work featured on the departments Newsletter and on Instagram @kabkphotography, reach out to us! Send all