Over two days, the Work in Context – International Symposium of Central European Photography reinterprets the narratives, current directions, and theoretical frameworks of Central European photography – in particular experiences tied to social, political and mnemonic peripheries – from an international perspective, bringing in fresh points of view. It also explores how the legacy of the past, as well as experiences of marginality and oppression, continue to shape photographic practices today. Drawing on contradictions embedded in public discourse – such as “war for peace” or “false truth” – the symposium sets out to reassess the challenges facing contemporary photography. 

Speakers addressing the social, historical, and political dimensions of photography offer nuanced, multi-perspective interpretations, engaging with themes such as memory, post-socialist legacies, and marginalised creative positions. The presentations – framed around key concepts including Quarantine Freedom, Speculative Facts, Insider Outsiders and Right Here, Left Now – approach how the periphery is experienced from multiple angles. 

The programme features internationally renowned speakers including Marc Prüst, Dorota Łuczak, Leung Chi Wo, Sara Wong, Ekaterina Egorova, Polina Kuprina, Hungarian artists Péter Puklus and Áron Tóth-Heyn alongside a wide range of established and emerging artists and researchers from across the region. Curated by Judit Gellér PhD, Gábor Arion Kudász DLA, Krisztina Erdei DLA, and Anna Fabricius DLA, all leading figures in the regional photography scene, the symposium creates a bridge between photographic education in Central Europe and artistic practice, encouraging a shared way of thinking about photography. 

The focus of the first morning is Quarantine Freedom, exploring questions of access, freedom, and mental enclaves through ways of thinking shaped by the region. One of the key speakers in this section will be photo historian and aesthetician Dorota Łuczak, Head of the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art History at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, who will present the Sputnik collective’s Sputnik Photos archive under the title The Specter of Modernism Haunts the “Lost Territories”.  Since 2006, the collective has been assembling critical documentary projects from across Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on post-socialist contexts. At the core of the archive are visual accounts of post-transition disillusionment, environmental and psychological ruptures, and the unfulfilled promises of neoliberal modernisation. The projects are analysed and contextualised by art historian Dorota Łuczak, a specialist in the history and theory of photography. 

Łuczak’s presentation is preceded by reflections on the art industry by Marc Prüst, delivered under the title Production and Circulation, followed by presentations by two current MOME students, Ekaterina Egorova and Polina Kuprina, who introduce their community-based art project. The afternoon section, titled Insider Outsiders, looks at postcolonialism, national identity and political marginalisation in Central Europe through the lens of inclusion and exclusion. Alongside Katharina Roters and Kamila Szejnoch, the section also features contributions by two Hungarian artists, Péter Puklus and Áron Tóth-Heyn. 

The second day opens with the morning block titled Speculative Facts. Marking the bicentenary of photography, the sessions consider the often unspoken assumptions built into the medium’s visual language and how these shape ideas of reality. The opening presentation is given by Adam Mazur, introducing audiences to a distinctive new voice in critical photographic research. In his series After Ways of Seeing, he explores how digital environments are reshaping power and gender dynamics in image-making. Using dating apps as his point of departure, he analyses the growing prominence of female self-representation and the fading dominance of the male gaze, while situating these shifts within the historical traditions of Central European resistance and vernacular image culture. The project marks Adam Mazur’s debut as an artist, bringing together experimental image-making with his earlier work as a curator and critic. Mazur’s presentation is followed by a talk by Iliria Sponda, titled New Objectivity: Clarity as Symbolic Capital in the Age of Post-Truth. The afternoon section, titled Right Here, Left Now, looks at how historical and visual stereotypes can be reworked, and how artists use visual practice to reclaim interpretive control. The section features presentations by Ema Gejdoš Lančaričová (Concrete Phantoms: Photography at the Edge of Presence), Cristina Moraru (Fragments of a Shattered Mirror: Toward a Poetics of Uncertainty in Central European Photography), and Leung Chi Wo and Sara Wong (Contesting Memories – Reading and Taking Photographs). 

The events is sponsored by the Wacław Felczak Foundation and MOME Global Voices. 

More about the programme: https://workincontext.mome.hu 

More information: https://www.facebook.com/foto.mome.hu