Photobooks: Thinking in Practice – Online Open talk series
Organized by Aalto Photography in collaboration with bookRoom, Reflektor and Photobooks from Finland.
Wed. May 7, 2025, 17:00–19:00 (Helsinki/Finland) 16:00–18:00 (Vienna/Austria)
José Luís Neves: ‘If the photobook is unbound, what remains of its form, and what becomes possible?’
Sat. May 10, 2025, 13:00–15:00 (Helsinki/Finland) 12:00–14:00 (Vienna/Austria)
Emma Lambert: ‘Where are you a local?’
Wed. May 14, 2025, 13:00–15:00 (Helsinki/Finland) 12:00–14:00 (Vienna/Austria)
Teun van der Heijden: ‘How to sit in a photobook?’
Link to webinar: http://bit.ly/photobooktalk
The contemporary photobook is a complex medium with many forms and variations. This second iteration of Photobooks: Thinking in Practice open talk series brings together three insightful speakers who will lead us into their world of photobooks. Each session consists of a talk, exploring what the photobook can be or do, followed by a Q&A discussion.
José Luis Neves is a Curator of Photography at Belfast Exposed, a position he began in 2024. He earned his PhD from Ulster University in 2017 after completing the Photographic History and Practice postgraduate program at De Montfort University in Leicester. From 2010 to 2012, he worked as an assistant curator at the Wilson Centre for Photography in London. José’s primary research areas include the history and historiography of the photobook, artist’s book history, photographic printing technologies, and visual narrative. Recently, he has been involved in projects that explore the under-researched history of photobook creation in Portugal and the visual representation of the HIV-AIDS pandemic in photographically illustrated printed matter.
Emma Lambert is an artist and educator, and lecturer on the Photography programmes at Coventry University. She is a practice-based PhD researcher with bookRoom at UCA Farnham, and founder of her own imprint, Silvergrass Press, which is a collaborative publishing experiment that merges her research and practice and asks, ‘Where are you a local?’. Her photographic practice considers the role of photography in the representation of place, the home and the ‘local’. She uses experiments in photographic publishing and creative collaboration to discover ‘local’ —often perceived as a purely geographical construct— in the nuances and complexity of daily life, and in the rituals and relationships we form. She is interested in the physical, material and tactile processes involved in photobook-making and making public, and their potential to generate post-digital collaboration and social engagement.
Teun van den Heijden is a graphic designer and co-founder of Heijdens Karwei, a graphic design agency based in Amsterdam that is known for award winning photobooks. Next to running Heijdens Karwei Teun is professor Visual Design and Hybrid media at the LUCA School of Arts in Genk, Belgium and a faculty member of ICP, the International Center of Photography in New York and a regular visiting tutor at the MAPS program (Master Photography and Society) at the KABK (Royal Academy of Arts) in The Hague. Together with his partner Sandra van der Doelen Teun teaches photo book workshops and masterclasses all over the world. Teun is author of ‘Of Simple Cells and Visual Associations in Photobook Editing’ – an article that is featured in the international open-access peer-reviewed journal Trans Asia Photography Vol. 14, published by Duke University Press.
Aalto Photography – The Photography major at Aalto University supports the research and development of the photobook as an artistic medium through our curricular structure and workshops. We encourage students to experiment and play within the medium, while also stressing the role of circulation and distribution in the success of any book. At Aalto, the photobook is more than a compilation of photographs, but an expressive medium in its own right.
Partners
Reflektor is a community of committed photographers and photobook lovers from all photographic genres and photographic endeavours. As a label, Reflektor places self-published photobooks under a common name and offers them a “home”. To authors, Reflektor offers support for the implementation of self-published photobooks, promoting the sharing of know-how and contacts in the writing, graphic design and printing processes.
bookRoom is a post-digital research and publishing platform within the school of Fine Art, Craft and Photography at UCA Farnham, led by Emmanuelle Waeckerlé. We explore new models of collaborative and multidisciplinary practice-based research that we share and disseminate in 3 formats; open access online, print form and public events. In addition, the bookRoom collection of Artists’ Books, Photobooks and Zines, is part of the University’s Archives & Special Collections, led by Felicity Croydon, which offers a unique insight into forgotten realms, providing students and staff original primary sources for research and learning in the creative arts for staff and students.
Photobooks from Finland is a collaborative platform dedicated to promoting contemporary Finnish photobook culture. It highlights innovative publications, organizes events, and creates networks both nationally and internationally. Through its activities, Photobooks from Finland aims to foster dialogue, collaboration, and critical discussion around photobooks as a significant artistic medium.