The PhotoVillage is a dream come true, dreamed up by Balázs Telek, photographer. Balázs’s legacy is handled with dedication by his wife Gabi Halász, and year after year, overcoming difficulties, she does wonders to keep alive and sustain this community, the ideological basis of which they created together.
PhotoVillage is an integral continuation of the workshop work at ArtBase, established in 2007 – a place where the gateway to the universe of photography opens and the experience of creating images in light, based on curiosity, artistic creativity and thoughtfulness, becomes an experience.
The week-long summer camps will run from 8 to 10 small courses on a variety of topics covering different branches of photography.
From archaic photographic techniques to classical analogue processes, digital photography or even filmmaking, there will be an opportunity to learn not only about the chemical processes or technical background, but also about the philosophy and theoretical components of photography.
Courses are led by invited artists – acknowledged masters of their craft – who support students in the creation of individual works through a process of shared discovery and dialogue. They are the ones who, from the very beginning, help and inspire the participants with their incredible knowledge and experience, and without whom PhotoVillage would not be a place full of constantly renewing creative energy.
Over the 143 days of the last 15 years, nearly 70 artists’ teachers and lecturers have supported the more than 600 artists who have attended the camps so far.
In this exhibition and accompanying album, a selection of works by the masters and their students has been selected to give an insight into this community, which has been organically building for fifteen years, and whose members create their light paintings freely, with joy and pleasure.
At PhotoVillage, regulars and newcomers of all ages, artists and amateurs, masters and apprentices share the excitement and joy of creating all day long, ending the day with free-form lectures, screenings and late-night talks in the evenings.
The parallel universe of the PhotoVillage does not end after the intense summer of togetherness – the loving interaction, the sharing and multiplication of creative energies and the inspiring collaborations that take place there result in creative communities and, in many cases, lifelong human connections that live on throughout the year in this wonderful community of photography.
Balázs, this is what you wanted, isn’t it?!
Curator of the exhibition and editor of the book.
Project curator: Gabi Halász
Project Assistant: Marianna Kiss