Conceptual - NOMINEE: VALENTYN ODNOVIUN

I would like to work on ongoing project called “Surveillance” which consist of the photographs (final photographe resized to 60x73 cm) of the walking yards and prison cell door spyholes in former Soviet KGB prisons in Ukraine, Baltic States, prisons and concentration camps for political prisoners in Eastern Bloc.
The main task of the State Security agencies was spying on the population through a vast network of informants. These prison cells became a places for political prisoners and objectionable “unwanted” people. The same places in the Baltic states and Ukraine were used for similar purposes by the Nazi Gestapo, when these countries were under German occupation during WWII. Most of them existed until Soviet Union collapse.
Work was already developed in former KGB prisons in Vilnius, Lithuania, Cesis and Riga, Latvia, Lviv, Ukraine and Stasi “Hochenschonhausen” prison in East Berlin, Germany.
Photographs I am creating for this project are both documentary and subjective at the same time. They embody real traces of events, objects and memories, but they also serve as platforms for imagining these events, objects and memories in more interpretative and conceptual form.
Spyhole stand for a metaphor of obscuring freedom of people on both sides of spyhole lens, transforming their roles for the needs of an oppressive system.

As next step I want to visit Patarei Prison in Tallinn, Estonia; SB (Polish analog of KGB) headquarters at Strzelecka str. 8 in Warsaw, Poland and to start to make research on StB (Secret State Police of former Czechoslovakia) in Prague, Czech Republic and Bratislava, Slovakia.
I considering how “objectless”/abstract images, even when they are not yet recognized, trigger interpretations from our imagination, presenting to us something that is not depicted on them. If we develop the idea that an image of patterns on a wall or scratches on spyhole may have influence on a person, including when its historic or contextual significance is taken into account, then we can consider that any image can be considered as “documentary evidence” and as a link in a process of perception.
I would be very glad to get support for the further developing of the project to visit these places and document them.
Thank you!

About author:
Valentyn Odnoviun was born in Ukraine. For the last years has lived in Vilnius, Lithuania.
In 2014 got a scholarship for studies in Lithuania from Education exchange support foundation. In 2015 he was selected to study in Lodz Art Academy in Erasmus program.
Graduated form Vilnius Art Academy (Master of Phototgraphy).

EDUCATION
2016-till present – Vilnius Academy of Arts, MA in Art History and Theory
2017-2018 – Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Visual Arts (Erasmus scholarship exchange program)
2014-2016 – Vilnius Academy of Arts, MA in Photography and Media Arts
2015-2016 – Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Visual Arts (Erasmus scholarship exchange program)
2005-2010 – Kharkiv National Pedagogic University, MA in Teacher of English and World Literature

EXHIBITIONS
PERSONAL (selected)
2017: - Surveillance, Blütengasse 9 gallery, Vienna, Austria
- Surveillance, Cesis New Castle Exhibition Hall, Cesis, Latvia
- Surveillance, The gallery of the Lithuanian Photographers Association, Vilnius,
Lithuania
2016: - Traces of Memory, Art gallery Akademija, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Traces of Memory, Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Poland

COLLECTIVE (selected)
2017: - World Biennial of Student Photography, with project Surveillance, Museum of
Contemporary Arts of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia
- Warsaw Photo Days, with project Surveillance, Warsaw, Poland
- Different Worlds 2017, Young Contemporary Photography, with project
Surveillance, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- INTERPHOTO Grand Prix 2017 Festival, with project Surveillance, Bialystok,
Poland
- Auckland Festival of Photography, with project Traces of Memory, New Zealand
- Walter Koschatzky Art Award 2017, with project Surveillance. Exhibition of the
finalists at the HOFSTALLUNGEN, by Rotary Club Albertina, Vienna, Austria
- Kaunas Gallery Weekend 2017, with project Traces of Memory, Kaunas, Lithuania
2016: - Debiutas 2016, with projects Surveillance and Warsaw 1944, photo gallery Prospekto, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Meno Celės, with project Investigation, Art gallery Titanikas, Vilnius, Lithuania
- On-Time, exhibition of contemporary young artists, Parliament of Ukraine, Kyiv,
Ukraine

AWARDS, GRANTS & RESIDENCIES
2018: - Artist Scholarship Gaude Polonia from National Centre for Culture, Warsaw,
Poland
2017: - 1st prize - World Biennial of Student Photography, Novi Sad, Serbia
- Nominee - Riga Photography Biennial Awards 2018, Riga, Latvia
- Nominee - Warsaw Photo Days Grand Prix, Warsaw, Poland
- Nominee - Different Worlds 2017, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Nominee - Photogrvphy Grant London, United Kingdom
- Grand Prix Award - Interphoto Grand Prix 2017, Bialystok, Poland
- Nominee - Walter Koschatzky Art Award 2017, Vienna, Austria
2016: - 1st place - Debiutas 2016 award for Emerging Art Photographers, Vilnius,
Lithuania
- Shortlist - Baltic Young Artist Award 2016, Riga, Latvia
2014: - Full scholarship from Education Exchanges Support Foundation of Lithuania for
Masters studies at Vilnius Academy of Arts

RESIDENCIES
2016 – 2017 - Artist-in-Residence, RUCKA Artist Residency, Cesis, Latvia

PUBLIC PERFORMING
2017: – Artist Talk at Warsaw Photo Days, Warsaw, Poland
– Artist Talk at Nida Photography Symposium 2017, 40th Anniversary, Nida,
Lithuania
– Lecture Post-Documentary at the National Academy of Arts, Lviv, Ukraine

CATALOGS
2017: - Natalia Arlauskaitė (Author): „Repression Astronomy: A Monitoring of Distance,“
Fotografija magazine, No2 (34), p16-17, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Alvydas Lukys (Editor): Lithuanian Photography'17 – II Almanac,
Lithuanian Photographers Association Foundation, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Jasna Jernejšek (Editor): Different Worlds, fifth edition catalog, p26-27, Photon –
Centre for Contemporary Photography, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Natalia Arlauskaitė (Author): „Repression Astronomy: A Monitoring of Distance,“
Literatura ir Menas, magazine No23 (3619), Back cover, p3, 20, 22, 31
- Agnė Narušytė (Author): „Violence Observatory,“ 7md art newspaper, Vilnius,
Lithuania
- ANDERS Studio E.U., Walter Koschatzky Art Award 2017, p39-41 Vienna, Austria
2016: - Debiutas 2016 catalog, Publisher: Lithuanian Photographers Association, Vilnius,
Lithuania
- Jurij Dobriakov (Editor): Meno Celės catalog, p66-67, Vilnius Academy of Arts
Publishing House