This year is an anniversary year in the history of Lithuanian photography. It is the 60th anniversary of the Photographic Technology study programme. On this occasion, a festive event took place at Vilnius College of Technologies and Design on Friday, during which the country’s photographers and graduates gathered to share their experiences, memories and insights into the future of photography education and its prospects.
“We are proud that Vilnius College of Technologies and Design is the educational institution that is directly associated with the emergence and development of the Photography Programme in Lithuania. Photography combines art and technology, which is directly in line with the declared values and uniqueness of our College”, said PhD Rolandas Vitkūnas, Director of VTDK.
Teaching photography in Lithuania has a beautiful history, beginning in 1962 when the Vilnius Polytechnic started teaching photography. Today, the historic building of the former Vilnius Polytechnic at 16 Olandų Street in Vilnius is home to the Faculty of Design of the VTDK, where photography studies continue to this day.
The VTDK has trained a large number of well-known Lithuanian photographers, most of whom have won prizes in the art world. These include Arturas Valiauga, Gabriel Khiterer, Kristina Serekaitė, Gintas Kavoliūnas, Vadim Šamkov and others. Alumni of the programme work in the field of photojournalism (Evgenia Levin, Eimantas Genys, Domantas Umbrasas, Olga Posaškova, Ramūnas Danisevičius, Žygimantas Gedvila, etc. ), work as TV cameramen (Gintaras Drumsta, Laimonas Šegžda, Vaidas Užkuraitis), take photos for advertising, fashion and various festivals (Tomas Kauneckas, Oksana Tošickaja, Karolina Drulytė, Monika Adomaitienė, Reda Jokimaitytė, Joana Buividaitė, Karolina Savickė and others).
Some of the graduates decided to spread photographic ideas and embarked on an educational mission. Gintas Kavoliūnas and Egidijus Kabošis founded the Open Photography Workshop, while Karolis Milaševičius, Raimondas Pocius and Giedrius Bagaliūnas are teachers or lecturers at various educational institutions. Juozas Petkevičius, Edvardas Tamošiūnas, Rūta Mockapetrytė and Austėja Riškutė work in galleries and museums, where they promote photography through various exhibitions, educational activities and projects for visitors. In this way, they continue the work started by their lecturers – to bring together those who love photography into one community.
During the event, the alumni photography exhibition “Kaleidoscope”, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Photography Technology Study Programme in Lithuania, was opened at the Faculty of Design.
