About DEBUT 2018

The competition is open to emerging authors living in Lithuania and abroad. Debut photography exhibitions have been held in Lithuania since 1976. In Soviet times they were called exhibitions of young photographers, and the age of the latter was limited to 35 years. Many talented photographers who were then beginners and today are very well known took part in these exhibitions at that time, including Virgilijus Šonta, Romualdas Požersis, Vytautas Balčytis, Raimondas Paknys, Violeta Bubelytė, Algirdas Šeškus, Gintautas Trimakas, Vytautas Stanionis, Aleksandras Ostašenkovas, Alfonsas Budvytis, and many others. Seven exhibitions of young photographers were held in the period 1975-1988. In 2010 the Lithuanian Photographers Association revived and continued this forgotten idea. It started to hold biannual Debut contests, dedicated to the search for new faces in Lithuanian photography.

The exhibition consist of works, which were never previously exhibited fully. Jury of artists, art historians, publishers and educators will choose 10 finalists. Their group exhibition will be opened in July, 2018. There will be catalogue published. The I, II, III place winners will be selected out of these finalists and announced at the exhibition opening in July.

This competitions is one of the most important activities dedicated to young emerging photographers in two year plan to try to see what work is produced among the youngest future professionals and what kind of possible “forecast” we could expect. There are no much competitions for young emerging professionals here, so we deeply think that participating here can be encouraging to keep working and a great possibility to show your work.

What winners receive

• Printed catalogue of the exhibition.
• Participation in group exhibition at Prospekto photography gallery (Gedimino ave. 43, Vilnius, Lithuania)
• I,II and III place winners get the opportunity to make a personal exhibition at the Vilnius Photography Gallery (Stikliu str. 4, Vilnius, Lithuania) following year. Organisation will support partly the production costs.
• All 10 finalists will be featured in one of the most popular news portal www.15min.lt, in Culture section

About Lithuanian Photographers Association

In 1969 there was established the Lithuanian Photographers Association (then Union of Lithuanian Art Photographers), after hard struggle with soviet bureaucracy. From the very beginning the mission of the Association was to promote art of photography in a way of exhibition, books, lectures or symposiums, that it would reflect the actual and the best what is going on in this lively field of constant change. In 1973 Lithuanian Photographers Association opened Vilnius photography gallery, which was the only one exhibition space devoted to the photography at the time. In 2000 when Lithuania was already an independent state the Lithuanian Photographers Association has opened a new photography gallery - Prospekto gallery after the title of Gedimino avenue where it is situated.

Both galleries show a wide range of photography stiles from very classical black and white documentary to the conceptual and contemporary photography. Beside local and international exhibitions the organization also publish books, organize lectures, every year organize International Photography Symposium “NIDA. Meeting Photography”.

How to enter

• The competition is open to authors, who are 16 years old or older, living in Lithuania and abroad.
• Theme is open.
• The series should consist from 3 to 15 photographs, created no earlier than 2013.
• Dimensions of the images: 2500px on the long size is the default (4000px max)
• The series of photographs can not be exhibited and published before (individual photographs may be displayed in group exhibitions or published in catalogues).

Judging Criteria

• Clear topic expressed in series of work
• Innovative approach
• Creative use of visual language
• Creative use of media
• Ability to explain the work

Jury

Gintaras Česonis (Photographer, Leader of international art projects, Chairman of Lithuanian Photographers Association)

Vilma Samulionytė (Photographer, Film-maker, Curator at Lithuanian Photographers Association, Programer of International Photography Symposium NIDA.Meeting Photography)

Alvydas Lukys (Artist, curator and lecturer, Head of Photography and Media Arts Department in Vilnius Academy of Arts, member of board of Lithuanian Photographers Association)

Agnė Narušytė (Art critic, doctor of humanities, associate professor at Vilnius Academy of Arts, critic of photography and art, curator, publisher)

Eglė Deltuvaitė (Publisher, director and initiator of cultural projects at kulturosmeniu.lt, photography curator, member of board of Lithuanian Photographers Association)

Gytis Skudžinskas (Artist, book artist and graphic designer, curator, member of board of Lithuanian Photographers Association)

Romualdas Požerskis (Photographer, associate professor at the Department of Contemporary Arts, Faculty of Arts of the Vytautas Magnus University, member of board of Lithuanian Photographers Association, member of the FIAP)

Lina Zaveckytė (Artist, multimedia editor at portal 15min.lt)

Aurelija Maknyte (Visual artist, lecturer of photography and visual art disciplines, experimental explorer and collector)

Lina Albrikienė (Photographer, artist)