Lukas Birk
Lukas Birk
Lukas Birk, 2019. Photographed by Guillaume Koessler with a Box Camera
Born (1982-08-30) 30 August 1982
Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Austria
NationalityAustrian
Alma materUniversity of West London,
Rhode Island School of Design
Known forHistorical photography of Asia
WebsiteLukas Birk official website

Lukas Birk (born 1982) is an Austrian photographer, archivist, and publisher. He is mainly known for his visual archive work in Myanmar and research on Box Camera photography in Afghanistan. Birk has worked on photographic projects, films and visual research in China, South and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. He has published numerous books on visual culture and photographic history.[1][2]

Birk also co-founded the Austro Sino Art Program (2008–2014) in Beijing, China and the SewonArtSpace in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. In Myanmar, he founded the Myanmar Photo Archive, the country’s first public photography archive and set up an accompanying publishing program. Further, his publishing company Fraglich Publishing focuses on publications of visual culture and limited edition prints.

Life

Lukas Birk was born in 1982 in Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Austria.[3] Initially he studied journalism and radio.[3] Birk attended the Ealing School of Art Design and Media of the University of West London, graduating with a bachelor's degree in digital art and photography in 2005.[4] He then continued his studies at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), graduating with a M.F.A. degree in Printmaking in 2017.[5] Birk's work as a visual artist is held in the public permanent collections of the Federal Collection Austria[6] and the Museum Vorarlberg in Austria.[7]

Work

Kafkanistan

Birk’s first major body of work Kafkanistan – tourism to conflict areas (2005–2008), produced with Irish ethnographer Sean Foley, explored the activities of tourists in Afghanistan and the Pakistani tribal areas. Their research resulted in a feature film, exhibition and book.[8]

Austro Sino Arts program

Together with Austrian artist and scholar Karel Dudesek, Birk co-founded the Austro Sino Arts Program (ASAP). This program operated out of Beijing, P.R. China, between 2008 and 2014, organizing exhibitions, film festivals and publications. It showcased the work of non-Chinese artists working in China and produced these artists’ perspectives on China. The project received major support from the Austrian Arts Council.[9][10][11]

During his stay in China, Birk also founded a commercial photography studio, taught photography and exhibited his artworks. He further produced a series and monograph titled Polaroids from the Middle Kingdom. Old and New World Visions of China.[12][13]

SewonArtSpace

In 2011, Karel Dudesek and Birk founded SewonArtSpace 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 Southeast Asia’s most thriving art cities. The first public exhibition presented artworks by Dudesek, Birk and Marbot Fritsch as well as Indonesian artists Nurul 'Acil' Hayat, Arya Sukapura Putra, and Baskoro Latu.[14] The project received funding from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Culture, Arts and Education.[15]

Afghan Box Camera project

In 2011, Birk and Sean Foley returned to Afghanistan to investigate the last remaining Box Camera photographers working in the streets of Kabul and other cities in Afghanistan as well as in Peshawar, Pakistan. They conducted research trips between 2011 and 2014, resulting in an online archive,[16] the books Afghan Box Camera and Photo Peshawar.[17][18] Birk and Foley coined the terms Afghan Box Camera and Kamra-e-Faoree,[19] two descriptions for Box Camera photography in these countries.[20] This was achieved primarily through international media coverage,[21][22] open-source films and their manual ‘How to build an Afghan Box Camera’,[23] published on social media and their own platform on Vimeo.[24][25]

Myanmar photo archive

In 2013, Birk started collecting photographic material and conducting research on the history of photography in Myanmar.[26] Since then, he has founded the first public photographic archive focusing on local Myanmar visual history, the Myanmar Photo Archive (MPA).[27] The MPA has produced several exhibitions[28][29] with materials from their archive comprising more than 30,000 images and started a photo-book publishing program in Yangon.[30][31][32] The books were published in English and Burmese and distributed internationally.[33] The MPA has received major funding from the British Library,[34] the German cultural center – Goethe-Institute Myanmar – [35] and the Delegation of the European Union in Myanmar.[36]

Publications and monographs

  • Lukas Birk and Sean Foley. Kafkanistan – tourism to conflict zones. Fraglich Publishing, Austria / Glitterati Inc., USA, 2008/2012. ISBN 978-0985169626
  • Lukas Birk and Sean Foley. Afghan Box Camera. Dewi Lewis Publishing, United Kingdom, 2013. ISBN 978-1907893360
  • Lukas Birk. Polaroids from the Middle Kingdom Glitterati Inc., USA, 2014. ISBN 978-0988174566
  • Lukas Birk. 35 Bilder Krieg. Fraglich Publishing, Austria, 2015. ISBN 978-3-9502773-7-1
  • Sean Foley, Lukas Birk and Omar Khan. Photo Peshawar. Mapin Publishing / PIX Publishing, Ahmedabad & New Delhi, India: 2018. ISBN 978-9385360466
  • Lukas Birk. Burmese Photographers. Goethe-Institut Myanmar, Yangon, 2018
  • Lukas Birk and Natasha Christia. Gülistan. Fraglich Publishing, Austria, 2019
  • Lukas Birk. FERNWEH – a man's journey. 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 978-3-9502829-9-3
  • 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 978-3-9502829-1-7
  • 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 ISBN 978-3-9504079-1-4
  • 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

References

  1. ↑ "Framing the frontier city". @businessline. 14 September 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  2. ↑ "In Conversation, Lukas Birk on Photo Peshawar". PIX. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  3. 1 2 Hirsch, Robert (March 2012). "Lukas Birk and the Afghan Box Camera Project" (PDF). Light Research. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  4. ↑ "Multi-media artist and UWL alumnus returns to share 'the untold story of Afghan photography'". University of West London. 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  5. ↑ "Mysterious Myanmar". Our RISD. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  6. ↑ "Kunst und Kultur – Bundeskanzleramt Österreich". www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at (in German). Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  7. ↑ Landespressestelle Land Vorarlberg (26 April 2018). ""Wertvoller Impuls für die Vorarlberger Gegenwartskunst"". Landespressestelle Land Vorarlberg (in German). Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  8. ↑ "Artists Lukas Birk and Sean Foley Defy Misconceptions of the Middle East with "Kafkanistan"". Complex. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  9. ↑ ""Chuan men"--The third exhibition of the Austro Sino Arts Program opens at Amelie Gallery, Beijing – Exhibitions – Art News – CAFA ART INFO | Find Chinese Contemporary Art and News". www.cafa.com.cn. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  10. ↑ "mǐfàn | article | ARTLINKART | Chinese contemporary art database". www.artlinkart.com. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  11. ↑ "奥地利中国艺术项目ASAP2012 EXHIBITION《左右/left and right》_豆瓣". www.douban.com (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  12. ↑ "The best coffee table books out now". The Telegraph. 2 July 2015. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  13. ↑ "Lukas Birk". Huck Magazine. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  14. ↑ "Jago Tarung Yogyakarta: SEWON ART SPACE: INDONESIA-AUSTRIA COLLABORATION". Jago Tarung Yogyakarta. 3 March 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  15. ↑ "SewonArtSpace". www.transartists.org. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  16. ↑ "Afghan Box Camera Project". www.afghanboxcamera.com. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  17. ↑ Foley, Sean (2018). Photo Peshawar = Pishāvar ke foṭogrāfar. Birk, Lukas, Khan, Omar 1958–. Ahmedabad, India. ISBN 978-93-85360-46-6. OCLC 1043638133.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  18. ↑ "The strange world of Pakistani glamour photography". Huck Magazine. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  19. ↑ Habe-Evans, Mito (8 February 2011). "Instant Street Photography, Afghanistan-Style". NPR.org. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  20. ↑ Liliy, Roth (2 February 2012). "The Disappearing Afghan Box Camera". TIME Lightbox.
  21. ↑ "In pictures: Afghan box camera". BBC News. 1 February 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  22. ↑ "Afghan Box Cameras: how street photographers captured a nation". the Guardian. 1 February 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  23. ↑ "How to build a Kamra-e-faoree" (PDF).
  24. ↑ "How to build a kamra-e-faoree (Afghan box camera)". Vimeo. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  25. ↑ "How to use an Afghan box camera "kamra-e-faoree"". Vimeo. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  26. ↑ "Lukas Birk, Myanmar Photo Archive | Landscape Stories". magazine.landscapestories.net (in Italian). Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  27. ↑ "Myanmar Photo Archive". Open Source Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  28. ↑ "Exhibition Looks Back on 120 Years of Photography in Myanmar". The Irrawaddy. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  29. ↑ "Archiving the lives of others". The Myanmar Times. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  30. ↑ "Retro shots of Myanmar youth culture from the '70s to the '90s". Huck Magazine. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  31. ↑ "Chinese Photo Studios in Yangon: The Myanmar Photo Archive". Photography of China. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  32. ↑ "Lukas Birk (Myanmar Photo Archive) on 1970s Burmese National Identity Card Photographs". Object Lessons Space. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  33. ↑ "Structuring the past in pictures". The Myanmar Times. 2 February 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  34. ↑ "Endangered archives blog: Impressions from Myanmar". blogs.bl.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  35. ↑ "Collaboration project of Goethe-Institut Myanmar and Myanmar Photo Archive". 19 June 2023. Archived from the original on 19 June 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  36. ↑ "Delegation of the European Union to Myanmar". EEAS – European External Action Service – European Commission. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
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