International academic symposium “'Amateur' Photo Clubs in the USSR and the Satellite Countries During the 1950s-1980s”
April 24–25, 2026
The Radvila Palace Museum of Art of the LNMA and the Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography invite you to participate in the international academic symposium “’Amateur’ Photo Clubs in the USSR and the Satellite Countries During the 1950s-1980s”, which will take place at the Radvila Palace Museum of Art on April 24–25.
Open to the public, the symposium examines amateur photo clubs as sites of artistic experimentation and nonconformist practice within socialist cultural infrastructures. The programme features eighteen scholars from across Central and Eastern Europe, with a keynote lecture by Dr Jessica Werneke (University of Iowa, USA).
The symposium accompanies the exhibition “Ukrainian Dreamers: The Kharkiv School of Photography”.
Admission free, registration required: REGISTRATION FORM
‘Amateur’ Photo Clubs in the USSR and the Satellite Countries During the 1950s–1980s Symposium Programme
April 24, Friday
9.00–9.30
Registration/Welcome address
9.30–10.00
Presentation 1
Hennadiy Kazakevych (Ukraine). “Adapting Technologies: Camera Production and Amateur Photography in the Ukrainian SSR”
10.00–10.30
Presentation 2
Anastasiya Kholyavka (Ukraine). “Artels of Photographers in Postwar Lviv: Amateurs within the Professional Network”
10.30–10.45
Q&A to Session 1
10.45–11.00
Coffee break
11.00–11.30
Presentation 3
Uschi Klein (Hungary). “Closer to humanity rather than the “New Man”: the Marosvasarhely Photo Club during the communist regime in Romania”
11.30–12.00
Presentation 4
Jiři Patek (Czechia), “Amateur photography in the former Czechoslovakia”
12.00–12.30
Q&A to Session 2
12.30–14:00
Lunch break
14.00–14.30
Presentation 5
Mihailo Vasiljević (Serbia). “А Critical History of Organized Amateur Photographic Practice as a Framework of Institutionalization of Photography in Serbia after 1946”
14.30–15.00
Presentation 6
Tomas Pabedinskas (Lithuania). “The Significance of Kaunas Photo club for the Development of Lithuanian Photography: Institutional and Creative Aspects”
15.00–15.30
Q&A to Session 3
15.30–15.45
Coffee break
15.45–16.15
Presentation 7
Mikołaj Chmieliński (Poland). “Exercises in “opening one’s eyes wide”. Photography events for youth organized by the Warsaw’s 6×6 Club in the 1970s.”
16.15–16.45
Presentation 8
Baiba Tetere (Latvia). “Liepāja People’s Photo Studio FOTAST: The Analog Photography
Archive as a Resource”
16.45–17.15
Q&A to Session 4
17.15–17.30
Break
17.30–18.30
Keynote lecture
Jessica M. Werneke (USA). “The Intersections Between Amateurism and Authority: Unique Developments in Eastern European and Soviet Photography”
April 25, Saturday
9.00–9.30
Presentation 1
Sandra Križić Roban (Croatia). “The Third Way: The Position of Women in Photo Clubs in Postwar Yugoslavia”
9.30–10.00
Presentation 2
Kamila Dworniczak (Poland). “Photography as a space for relationships and emancipation. Dialogue between Zofia Rydet and Krystyna Łyczywek”
10.00–10.30
Presentation 3
Indrek Grigor (Estonia). “The Queue. An Episode in Tartu’s Photographic History”
10.30–11.00
Q&A to Session 1
11.00–11.15
Coffee break
11.15–11.45
Presentation 4
Timea-Andrada Toth (Romania). “Resistance through the female lens – The case of Hedy Loffler and her work during the communist regime in Romania”
11.45–12.15
Presentation 5
Kateryna Volochniuk (Ukraine). “Rethinking the Factory Photographer: Public Function, Private Practice”
12.15–12.45
Q&A to Session 2
12.45–14.15
Lunch break
14.15–14.45
Presentation 6
Tetiana Pavlova (Ukraine). “Vremya Group: a scenario of a great leap and an eternal return to the Club’s lost orbit”
14.45–15.15
Presentation 7
Valeria Pitenina (Ukraine). “Ukrainian photography in Polish magazines in the 1970s”
15.15–15.45
Q&A to Session 3
15.45–16.00
Coffee break
16.00–16.30
Presentation 8
Halyna Hleba (Ukraine). “Marlen Matus and the “Dnipro” Photo Club: Amateur Photography in the Structure of a Closed Soviet City”
16.30–16.45
Presentation 9
Kateryna Filyuk (Ukraine). “Dark Matter” of Late Soviet Photography: The Viewpoint Creative Photographic Association”
16.45–17.30
Presentaion 10
Anna Smyrnova (Ukraine). “The Semafor Amateur Photo Club and the Artistic Experiments of Vil’ Furgalo in Lviv, 1950s–1985”
17.30–18.30
Q&A to Session 4 and final remarks
Radvila Palace Museum of Art,
24 Vilniaus st, LT-01402, Vilnius, Lithuania
+370 5 250 5824
