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Lukas Birk
Lukas Birk is an Austrian photographer, curator and publisher. He is best known for his visual archive work in Myanmar and his research on Box Camera photography in Afghanistan.
Birk has worked on photographic projects, films and visual research in China, South and South-East Asia and the Indian subcontinent. He has published numerous books on visual culture and photographic history. He co-founded the Austro Sino Art Program in Beijing, China and the SewonArtSpace in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
His research project, the Afghan Box Camera Project, received major acclaim in the photographic community. He founded the Myanmar Photo Archive, Myanmar’s first public photography archive, and set up an accompanying publishing program. His imprint Fraglich Publishing focuses on visual culture publications and limited edition prints.
Kafkanistan
Birk’s first major body of work Kafkanistan – tourism to conflict areas (2005–2008), with Irish ethnographer Sean Foley, explores the activities of tourists in Afghanistan and the Pakistani tribal areas. The research resulted in a feature film, exhibition and book.
Kafkanistan is an inside look at a remote, beautiful, and misunderstood region of the world. -- Reza Akhlaghi, Foreign Policy[1]
Austro Sino Arts Program / China
Birk studied Digital Art and Photography at the University of West London and moved to Beijing after completing his Bachelor’s degree in 2007.
Alongside Austrian artists and professor Karel Dudesek, Birk co-founded the Austro Sino Arts Program (ASAP). ASAP operated out of Beijing between 2008 and 2014, organizing exhibitions, film festivals and publications. The program showcased the work of non-Chinese artists who worked in China and produced artists’ perspectives on China.
During his years in China, Birk founded a commercial photography studio, taught photography and exhibited his artworks widely. He also produced a series and monograph titled Polaroids from the Middle Kingdom[2].
SewonArtSpace
In 2011, Karel Dudesek and Birk founded SewonArtSpace[3] in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. SewonArtSpace is a non-profit art space and residency program hosting primarily Austrian artists and connecting them to the local art scene in Yogyakarta, one of South East Asia’s most thriving art cities. The project received funding from the Austrian Chancellery office.
Afghan Box Camera Project
In the same year, Birk returned with his colleague Sean Foley to Afghanistan to investigate the last remaining Box Camera photographers working on the streets of Kabul and other cities in Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan. They conducted research trips between 2011 and 2014 resulting in an online archive,[4] the book Afghan Box Camera (Dewi Lewis, UK, 2013)[5] and the book Photo Peshawar (Mapin, India, 2017)[6]. Birk and Foley coined the terms Afghan Box Camera and Kamra-e-Faoree, two descriptions for Box Camera photography that have become household names in the photography scene. This was primarily through the widespread media coverage, open-source films and ‘how to build an Afghan Box Camera’ manual published on social media and on their own platform. Their manuals have inspired a new generation of Box Camera photographers globally.[7]
Myanmar Photo Archive
Birk started collecting photographic material and conducting research on photographic history in Myanmar in 2013. Since then, he has founded the first public photographic archive focusing on local Myanmar visual history, the Myanmar Photo Archive (MPA)[8]. MPA is organizing exhibitions with the materials in the archive – currently comprising 20,000 images – and has started a photo book publishing program in Yangon. The books are published in English and Burmese and distributed internationally. The archive has received major funding from the British Library, the Goethe Institute Myanmar and the European Union in Myanmar.
Publications & Monographs
- Kafkanistan - tourism to conflict zones Lukas Birk and Sean Foley. Fraglich Publising, Austria /Glitterati Inc., USA, 2008/2012. ISBN 978-0985169626
- Afghan Box Camera Lukas Birk and Sean Foley. Dewi Lewis Publishing, United Kingdom, 2013. ISBN 978-1907893360
- Polaroids from the Middle Kingdom Lukas Birk. Glitterati Inc., USA, 2014. ISBN 978-0988174566
- 35 Bilder Krieg Lukas Birk. Fraglich Publishing, Austria, 2015. ISBN 978-3-9502773-7-1
- Photo Peshawar Sean Foley and Lukas Birk. Maping/Pix Publishing, India, 2015. ISBN 978-9385360466
- Burmese Photographers Lukas Birk. Goethe Institut Myanmar, 2018
- Gülistan Lukas Birk and Natasha Christia. Fraglich Publishing, Austria, 2019
- FERNWEH – a man’s journey Lukas Birk. Fraglich Publishing, Austria, 2019. ISBN 978-3-9502773-0-2
·
Editorial Work
Austro Sino Arts Program and SewonArtSpace
- MiFan米饭, Austro Sino Arts Program, Beijing, 2009 ISBN 978-3-9502829-1-6
- DaBao带走, Austro Sino Arts Program, Beijing, 2010 ISBN 978-3-9502829-1-7
- ChuenMen泉门, Austro Sino Arts Program, Beijing, 2011 ISBN 978-3-9502829-2-4
- DaZiBao大字报, Austro Sino Arts Program, Beijing, 2012 ISBN 978-3-9502829-4-8
- Left/right 左/ 右 , Austro Sino Arts Program, Beijing, 2013 ISBN 978-3-9502829-3-1
- The Gallop of the Courser 骏马飞驰, Austro Sino Arts Program, Beijing, 2013 ISBN 978-3-9502829-9-3
- Refuse the shadows of the past; 5 years Austrian Art Made in China. Austro Sino Arts Program, Beijing, 2013 ISBN 978-3-9502829-3-3
- To Know The Unknown, SewonArtSpace, Indonesia, 2015 ISBN 978-3-9502829-7-9
Myanmar Photo Archive / Fraglich Publishing
- ONE YEAR IN YANGON 1978. Myanmar Photo Archive, Yangon, 2017 ISBN 978-3-9504079-8-3
- U Than Maung, the No 1 Amateur Photographer, Myanmar Photo Archive, Yangon, 2018 ISBN 978-3-9504079-0-7
- REPRODUCED, rethinking P.A. KLier & D.A. Ahuja, Myanmar Photo Archive, Yangon, 2018 ISBN978-3-9504079-1-4
- My Universe by BayBay, Myanmar Photo Archive, Yangon, 2019 ISBN 978-3-9504079-2-1
- Irene – A Burmese Icon, Myanmar Photo Archive, Yangon, 2020 ISBN 978-3-9504079-4-5
- Yangon Fashion 1979 – Fashion=Resistance, Myanmar Photo Archive, 2020 ISBN 978-3-9504079-3-8
Notable exhibitions
- 2009 Kafkanistan, AArt, 798 Art District, Beijing, China
- 2010 Kafkanistan, Kastiel, Tel Aviv, Israel
- 2013 Kafkanistan, Musem der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria
- 2014 Afghan Box Camera Project, LianzhouFoto Festival, Guangdong, China
- 2018 Burmese Photographers, The Secretariat, Yangon, Myanmar
- 2018/2019 Travelouge Sammlung Trilogy, Galerie Hollenstein, Lustenau, Austria
/ TransformArt Gallery, Belgrade, Serbia
/ NoksArSpace, Istanbul, Turkey
Collections
Birk’s work is held permanently at the
- Federal Collection Austria
- Regional Collection Vorarlberg, Austria
References
- ^ Akhlaghi, Reza (2012-11-06). "KAFKANISTAN: Ventureing into Unknown Places". Foreign Policy Concepts. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Birk, Lukas, (2014). Polaroids from the middle kingdom : old and new world visions of China (1st ed ed.). New York: Glitterati. ISBN 978-0-9881745-6-6. OCLC 854617428.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "SewonArtSpace". SewonArtSpace. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ "Afghan Box Camera Project". www.afghanboxcamera.com. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ Birk, Lukas. Afghan box camera. Foley, Sean. Stockport. ISBN 1-907893-36-9. OCLC 867078223.
- ^ Foley, Sean, 1974-. Photo Peshawar = Pishāvar ke foṭogrāfar. Birk, Lukas,, Khan, Omar, 1958-. Ahmedabad, India. ISBN 978-93-85360-46-6. OCLC 1043638133.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Box Camera Photography Now – A global community of Box Camera Photographers". Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ "Myanmar Photo Archive". Open Source Archive. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)