Transhumanism by Joanna Grochowska

April 07, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, Photography, Portfolios

What future do we want?

What must we do to get there?*

"TRANSHUMANISM" is an exhibition and a conceptual book by Joanna Grochowska affirming the transhumanist philosophy, worldview, and movement. Building on her earlier project Opening the Future (Munich, 2021), Grochowska explores the merging of human and technology, embracing concepts of human enhancement, morphological freedom, and the aesthetics of the posthuman condition.

Through distorted, purposefully incongruous, and slightly unsettling imagery, Grochowska confronts viewers with evolving notions of beauty, pleasure, and identity. The works are more than speculative visions of a dystopian AI future—they challenge the ethical boundaries of what it means to be human in an era of unnatural, edited, and superior life forms.

Latest “Transhumanism” solo show took place at the Galerie Verbeeck - Van Dyck in Antwerp.

The TRANSHUMANISM exhibition continues and extends the discourse initiated by Jeffrey Deitch’s 1992 Post Human series, drawing upon the ideas of thinkers like Elon Musk and Raymond Kurzweil. It addresses shifting paradigms of gender, body, and self in the face of accelerating technological evolution—ultimately seeking a new aesthetic language for the future human form.

Discover Joanna Grochowska’s book, “TRANSHUMANISM,” a compelling monograph featuring insights from Raymond Kurzweil and Stefan Lorenz Sorgner.

joannagrochowska.com

Ariadna Arnes finds beauty in strangeness

March 11, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, AI Art, NFT Art, Photography, Portfolios, Spain

Trained photographer Ariadna Arnes skillfully harnesses the power of AI technology to discover and reveal a unique beauty in the strangeness that often surrounds us. She perfectly uses AI as a third eye or a third arm to create outstanding pieces of art.

@ariadnaarnes_ai

Eclipse by Reine Paradis

March 09, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Art, France, Events, Photography, Portfolios

KÖNIG TELEGRAPHENAMT is pleased to present ECLIPSE, a solo show with new works by French artist Reine Paradis.

Born in 1989 and a graduate of the Gobelins School of Visual Communication in Paris, Reine Paradis has lived and worked in Los Angeles since 2012 – a city of cinema, stories, fantasies, and eternal self-reinvention. It provides the perfect environment for the creation of her works which include photography, painting, film, and sculpture.

Solo show “Eclipse” at “KÖNIG TELEGRAPHENAMT”, Monbijoustraße 13, Berlin: 13 Feb – 15 Mar 2025

Paradis’ process includes several steps, the first of which is the imagination of a scenario. From that vision, she creates a small, collaged maquette on paper. This maquette is used as a blueprint when she scouts for the perfect location to photograph a scene – the scouting process alone can take years. Once a location is found, Paradis designs and creates costumes, props, and her origami-influenced sculptures, which will all be part of the scene. With the help of a partner who shoots the images, Paradis stages herself as the main figure in the work, adding a performative dimension that is essential to her process – “living” the scene allows her to fully transmit her original vision. Unflinching in the face of extreme situations and shielded by a blond wig, she embodies another character as an extension of herself, through which she can experience an alternative life, if only momentarily.

Editing the photos is a meticulous process completed by Paradis herself, in a game of perspective and depth she projects her world onto ours, changing each individual tone of the image to fit within her minimalist color palette. One usually thinks of photography as a tool to capture reality. We should start from the opposite assumption in the scenes of Reine Paradis. The resulting self-portraits bear witness of her imagination while transporting the viewer into a perfect frame of her world.

In the same rigorous spirit as her photographic works, Paradis creates paintings that are deeply rooted in memories and places while exploring the simplicity of the language of her surreal universe. Additionally, she transforms some of the origami props from her images into neon-translucent uranium glass sculptures—another dimension to Paradis’ multimedia approach.

Through the use of these different mediums, Paradis is able to create a world that exists in reality and imagination simultaneously. The use of reflective and transparent materials in her works obscures, reflects, and absorbs light while creating an aurora-like barrier –one that can hide but also illuminate. ECLIPSE, her newest series of works, is an audacious dive into Paradis’ mind, inviting viewers to witness her inexhaustible quest to transcend boundaries.

The award-winning feature film QUEEN OF PARADIS (Amazon Prime, 2020) follows Paradis on a journey across the United States to complete her previous series MIDNIGHT. The film captures her process from beginning to end in a dramatic adventure that peels the curtain back on how Paradis creates her surreal images. A second feature film, PARADISLAND, which follows the making of the current series ECLIPSE, is set for release in the fall/winter of 2025 for a worldwide theatrical and streaming audience.

@reineparadis

The Human as a Metaphor for the Photographer

March 05, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Portfolios, Photography, Russia, United Kingdom

The Human as a Metaphor for the Photographer

Contemporary photography undoubtedly inspires with its boundlessness. We believe in photography's limitless potential because it seems capable of permeating the world around us as part of our daily lives, as gallery luxury, and as a means for artistic self-discovery. It is this self-discovery through photography that I believe is the most subtle, fragile, promising, and enchanting aspect of the entire global artistic process of photography's evolution as a contemporary art form. This is a significant genre and conceptual branch that requires the photographer to demonstrate selflessness, a considerable degree of self-criticism, an absence of the desire to exoticise others, and immense personal empathetic energy capable of connecting people and infecting viewers with new meanings. In today’s article, I would like to discuss three contemporary photographers who compellingly explore the essence of humanity and are unique bearers of a personal philosophy of photography, creating new definitions of what it means to be human in the modern era.

The Human as a Sum and Reflection of All Natural Phenomena

Kseniia Chumakova, a photographer residing in Serbia, bases her artistic method on making non-obvious connections visible. These can be connections between nature and humanity, between humans and evolution, between humans and specific species, and between humans and non-human agents. The photographer seems occupied with naming those connections that exist somewhere between intuition and the wisdom of everyday life. According to her artistic aesthetic, a person (the model) is proportionate to the entire sum of the surrounding world. A human being is a relative and bearer of information about the entire knowable universe. However, this concept also reveals a striking duality in the human condition. On one hand, humans, according to Chumakova, are aware that they are made up of the same elements that surround them; on the other hand, the presence of this awareness in the non-human material world raises questions of curiosity, if not fear. Chumakova's photographs are filled with an enchanting yet minimalist energy, resembling a puzzle or riddle; her characters are ambivalent toward both the human world and the non-human world. This creates a remarkable effect, where the artwork simultaneously serves as a statement and a critique of that statement—a rare meta-narrative quality, particularly in contemporary photography.

@ksenija_chumakova

The Human as a Super-NPC

In Oksana Bochina's photographic style, the human is inextricably linked to the urban environment. This urban setting is both a habitat and a backdrop, a battlefield, a stage, a showcase, and everything listed above simultaneously. Bochina, who lives and works in Montenegro, perceives the human being as an element of a more complex system; however, this human does not reduce to the system or their function within it. Bochina's human is simultaneously a guest, an outsider, and a native inhabitant of the circumstances presented by the photographer. Her anthropological exploration is a captivating and vital optimistic quest for ever-new contradictory and mutually exclusive human identities. The camera, gazing from above, seems to pluck an individual from the urban flow and, together with the photographer, initiates an interactive game of multiplying meanings and identities around the captured person. This fascinating aesthetic, which is not merely a banal conceptualist attraction, allows the viewer to train their awareness of their usual perception of urban landscapes. It presents a slightly naive yet superhuman message from an artist wishing to share their benevolent vision as a method with those around them. The photographer employs dizzying photographic perspectives, vibrant dynamic colours, and a nuanced gaze from the observer's standpoint while not becoming a judge of her characters. Her works are rich in detail, inviting prolonged contemplation; although her characters may be presented as NPCs in video games, they transcend this status, offering hope that we (ordinary people) too are more than just images of ourselves.

@oksana_bochina

The Human is a Puzzle That Cannot Be Solved

The artistic concept of photographer Irina Slepko Gauk is the most radical, bold, and innovative. Through her photographs, she explores the impossibility of understanding the human being. The human is a constant impossibility of approach and awareness. This position is neither nihilistic nor pessimistic; the photographer seems to postulate a form of dark realism, where one of the axioms is that the human is an absolute unknown. Her models are majestic, often shrouded in shadows, dressed in black, and enveloped in dimness. They embody the traces of real people who mourn their own kind, unable to express that a person cannot be reduced to their traces, including photographs. This is a very significant statement for the photographer, altering the disproportions of the importance of reality and its representation in photography. There is no contempt for photography here, but a bitter realisation that a captured moment is an incredibly fragile and weightless thing, incapable of deciphering the mysteries of the total “multi-layer-edness” and poly-textured nature of humanity, like an informational bomb existing in the flow of time. To amplify the effect of her photographs, the artist adds elements of conditionality and absurdity, such as a whole lemon resting on the model's head or certain traits of the subcultural photo-aesthetics of the early 21st century. The photographs of Irina Slepko Gauk are provocatively rich in meaning and technically flawless; they seem to be created to endlessly raise questions about humanity, photographic art, and the impossibility of true understanding without losing oneself.

@ira.gauk

Erased Reality: Exploring the Boundaries of Memory

January 10, 2025 by Arseny Vesnin in 2025, Portfolios, Photography

The “Erased Reality” photo project is a visual meditation on memory and perception. In this series, Sasha Mingia reimagines the human concept of reality by erasing familiar details and leaving only fragments that serve as a bridge between the visible and the remembered.

“Reality is a ghost. It’s like having a dream in which very familiar places and events from the past are dreamed deserted. You remember all the participants in the event, but you don’t see them anymore. What really happened to you changes to an alternative version, where there is neither you nor witnesses”

Mingia’s work explores the boundaries between what we see and how we interpret it. Photographs taken in the 2010s transform scenes of the past into enigmatic spaces, where the disappearance of elements becomes a metaphor for forgetting, loss, and transformation.

The story captured in these images unfolds in abandoned territories in the early 2010s — in Abkhazia and a defunct 1990s Moscow amusement park on the cusp of reconstruction.
Inspired by Sasha’s reflections on the role of memory in creating images and interpretation as a bearer of truth, the project “Erased Reality” was assembled in 2022 from her archive of 2010s-era photographs. Each image invites viewers to ask themselves: how much of reality remains when its contours are erased?
Sasha Mingia’s project is not only a visual experience but also an invitation to a dialogue about how the phenomenon of gaslighting shapes our memory and perception of the past.

View PDF

The series is available on Sasha’s website and features other projects showcasing her unique artistic vision.

About the artist

Sasha Mingia lives and works in Paris (born 1984 in Moscow). She began her career as an artist in 2020 after a long career in design. Sasha holds a BA in Graphic Design from the British Higher School of Design (2009) and an MA in Museology from the RSUH (2007). Sasha’s interdisciplinary practice blends clay, painting, and sewing techniques, spanning sculpture, photography, and digital art. Her work explores the connection between personal and social stigmas and transformations based on the convergence of the psychic and the spoken. Her work has been featured in various publications, including ‘Sasha Mingia’ in Original Magazine, London (2024), ‘Our Talent’s Portfolio’,
project × (2024), and ‘100 Artworks curated by Rebecca Wilson’ (2023).

@sasha.mingia

Through a Clouded Lens: Three Ways of Seeing

December 15, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Russia, Portfolios, Photography

Let’s imagine a gallery that exists only in the mind. Dmitrii Andrianov’s Mental Noise swirls with silver mists, Igor Khlopotov’s photographs blur like distant memories, and Polina Kulbachevskaia’s dancers move in quiet, shadowed rituals. The surfaces shimmers, not unlike that moment when you close your eyes and try to grasp at passing ideas, only to watch them dissolve.

Dmitrii Andrianov: Mental Noise and Golden Traces

Having been raised in both Russia and Israel, Andrianov bears the unique burden of a dual perspective. His background in disaster management manifests in works that attempt to organize chaos — a futile yet necessary pursuit. In "The Value of Hands," golden gloves rest on canvas like artifacts from a civilization that finally learned to honor its invisible workers. They remind us of discarded work gloves we've seen in construction sites, now transformed into something between reliquary and reminder.

In Mental Noise (2023), abstract forms spiral in a silver haze, reflecting the chaotic fragmentation of human consciousness, constantly torn between media overload, misinformation, and the tangled, unsaid thoughts we carry.

OnlyFacts (2024) breaks apart reality, a digital collage of torn newspaper pieces scattered across the canvas — a metaphor for the shattered truths we live with. The work pushes us to reckon with the falsehoods, the gaps, the distorted realities.

Website

Igor Khlopotov: Light Leaks and Memory Traces

Igor Khlopotov’s photography is rooted in personal history, a reflection on the passage of time and the fragile nature of memory. Through the viewfinder of his grandfather's camera, each frame emerges like a half-remembered dream. The machine itself is weathered, imperfect — a mechanical artifact carrying its own history in scratches and worn edges. Light seeps in where it shouldn't, creating aureoles of unexpected luminescence, like memories bleeding into one another.

Khlopotov's photographs exist in that liminal (the word of 2024) space between presence and absence. His lens seeks out the ordinary moments that slip between the cracks of consciousness — a hand resting on a windowsill, the particular angle of afternoon light across a wooden floor. These aren't documents but reveries, each frame an invitation to linger in that uncertain space between what was and what we think we remember.

What started with a child's fascination — "clouds, leaves, sun glare, friends" — has evolved into something more profound. The camera's mechanical heart beats with three temporal pulses: the grandfather's original touch, Khlopotov's present-day vision, and time itself, visible in the aging mechanism's peculiar signatures.

Polina Kulbachevskaia: Midnight Rituals

In Polina Kulbachevskaya's video "Midnight," nine dancers move through light that shouldn't exist — warm like fire but artificial, cool like moonlight but manufactured. Their bodies form and reform around an absent center, performing ancient gestures with modern anxiety, like priestesses caught between old magic and new world order.

The glow from above meets the flame-like warmth below, creating a space where time feels suspended. We watch the dancers circle their artificial fire, and somehow it feels both more and less real than genuine flame — not unlike the way Bill Viola's figures move through water in "The Crossing," suspended between elements, between states of being. The work loops endlessly, like a ritual that never quite concludes, never quite reveals its purpose.

The cyclical nature of the piece brings to mind Ana Mendieta's "Silueta" series — where the body becomes both present and absent, both performer and symbol. Kulbachevskaya's dancers, too, seem to exist between presence and absence, their movements shifting between sharp modernist angles and fluid, primordial gestures, as if their bodies are channeling both contemporary fluids and ancestral memory.

p.s

These three artists offer us different ways of seeing what usually escapes notice: the noise in our heads, the gaps in our memories, the rituals we can't quite explain. Through their lens, we learn to practice Lynch's art of sitting still, letting the unconscious surface through the cracks of perception. And so we return to our concrete slope by the river, by the ocean, by the sea, where time pools like water, and the boundary between seeing and remembering grows delightfully thin.

Marie Lourier: Defying Expectations and Redefining Art

July 19, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Photography, Portfolios, Russia

Marie Lourier is a name that resonates with audacity and innovation in the world of photography. Known for her defiant and surreal works, Lourier's portfolio is a testament to her relentless quest to question conventions.

With eight years of experience, Lourier has made a name for herself by consistently breaking new ground in artistic expression and capturing the imagination of audiences worldwide. Among her most notable projects are a provocative New Year series featuring a girl with traditional Slavic New Year dishes on her face and a poignant commentary on pollution depicted through a shiny girl washed ashore. Lourier’s evolution in photographic techniques, culminating in the use of AI prompting, has taken her art to unprecedented heights, including the socially impactful "F* Word" project focused on femininity.

New Year’s Feast: Tradition Transformed

Lourier’s New Year project, which went viral in 2019, is a visually striking series that merges cultural heritage with surreal artistry. In this collection, a girl is depicted with traditional Slavic New Year dishes arranged on her face, creating a bizarre yet captivating mask.

This fusion of familiar festive foods and the human form transforms a celebration of tradition into an exploration of identity and conformity. The vibrant colours and intricate details celebrate Russian culture and invite viewers to question how traditions shape and sometimes obscure individuality.

The Shiny Girl: A Wake-Up Call on Pollution

"Washed Ashore» (2020) is another compelling project by Lourier that explores the bond between humans and nature, highlighting the dire state of ocean pollution. Through striking imagery of marine creatures washed ashore, the project vividly portrays the devastating effects of pollution on marine ecosystems. The shiny girl, covered in reflective materials and debris, symbolizes the intersection of beauty and environmental decay. This series is a stark reminder of the impact of human actions on nature, with the girl's ethereal appearance contrasting sharply with the grim reality of pollution. By showcasing the plight of these stranded creatures, "Washed Ashore" prompts viewers to reflect on their role in protecting the oceans and taking action to reduce pollution. The project aims to inspire positive change and promote stewardship of our planet's precious marine resources. Exhibited in Venice in 2024 as collateral to the Biennale exhibition "Art For The Planet", the project underscores Lourier's ability to merge artistic vision with urgent global concerns.

From Weird to Unreal: The Journey to AI Prompting

Marie Lourier’s artistic journey is marked by her relentless experimentation with various photographic media to achieve her unique vision. Initially, she used a combination of traditional photography, digital manipulation, and mixed media to create her unreal images. These techniques allowed her to create works that were intriguing and captivating, forging new paths in the realm of visual art.
However, it was the discovery of AI prompting that truly transformed Lourier’s work. With AI, she was able to explore new dimensions of creativity, generating images that werenot only surreal but also hauntingly realistic in their unreality. This technological advancement enabled her to bring her wildest visions to life with an unprecedented level of detail and complexity.

The "F* Word" Project: Femininity and Social Awareness

One of Lourier's most impactful projects is the "F* Word" series, where 'F' stands for femininity. This innovative project employs AI-generated visuals to spotlight the challenges faced by women worldwide. By blending provocative imagery with crucial themes, Lourier underscores technology's role in illuminating key social issues. The "F* Word" initiative aims to foster awareness and catalyze efforts to combat gender inequality and the diverse challenges confronting women globally. This project exemplifies Lourier's dedication to harnessing art as a catalyst for social change and empowerment. It debuted in Tel Aviv in 2023, drawing attention for its daring exploration of femininity and societal norms.

Looking Ahead: Marie Lourier's Vision for the Future

Marie Lourier’s artistic pursuits exemplify a groundbreaking approach to expanding the horizons of photographic art. She distinguishes herself as a visionary by seamlessly integrating traditional methods with digital techniques and notably incorporating AI. Her creations transcend mere photographs, evolving into intricate narratives that captivate, confront, and stimulate contemplation. Constantly exhibited worldwide, Marie's work graces renowned galleries and museums, showcasing her innovative techniques and unique artistic vision. Additionally, she has garnered over 100 publications in various media outlets, further solidifying her influence on contemporary photography.

However, it’s essential to recognise that Lourier’s work can sometimes prioritize shock value over substance, potentially alienating some viewers. The intense surrealism and provocative content may not resonate with all audiences, leading to debates about the accessibility and intent of her art. Despite this, the provocative nature of her work is often what spurs dialogue and critical reflection, making her art both controversial and influential.

Looking to the future, Marie Lourier's next moves are highly anticipated. Her rebellious spirit and innovative use of technology ensure that her forthcoming projects will continue to captivate and challenge. As she evolves and explores new artistic frontiers, Lourier’s work will undoubtedly remain a powerful reminder of the limitless possibilities of photography. Her art invites viewers to see the world through a lens of imagination, critique, and transformation, promising to inspire for years to come.

About the author

Arseny Vesnin founded Designcollector, a platform established in 2003 in Russia. Designcollector is one of the pioneering digital magazines dedicated to covering and supporting the creative art scene and communities in Russia and beyond. The platform showcases a variety of content related to digital art, design, and visual culture, providing artists, designers, and creatives with exposure and inspiration. Over the years, it has expanded to include digital art events like the Digital Decade, an exhibition featuring emerging visual artists and designers. Designcollector has always covered the intersection of art, design, music and culture.

Summer Wagner Photography: A Glimpse into the Post-Industrial Soul

March 25, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Lifestyle, NFT Art, Photography, Portfolios, USA

Summer Wagner, a Midwest photographer from the rust belt, crafts images that transcend mere photography. Her work merges fantasy with reality against a post-industrial backdrop, delving deep into spiritual, ecological, and technological themes, presenting a theatrical journey through each frame.

Wagner's art blurs boundaries, turning landscapes of decay into stages for stories that explore human and environmental dualities. Her photos are not just visual treats but narratives decadent with hidden themes, inviting viewers to look beyond the surface.

Her photography urges us to ponder our place in a world grappling with the remnants of industrialisation and the onset of technological dominance. Through Wagner’s lens, rusted factories and forgotten machines mirror our inner struggles, pushing us to confront our times' ecological and spiritual dilemmas.

Wagner's work reminds us of the complexities hidden in everyday sights and experiences. It invites us to explore the depth of human existence and the impact of our past on our future. In her vision, the post-industrial landscape becomes a canvas for r”

@bugindreamland

One-Storied America photographed by Christopher Mccurdy

March 07, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Lifestyle, Photography, Portfolios, NFT Art, USA

Christopher Mccurdy - a man with a camera, fixing the moments of a one-storied American ordinary life.

@ChrisMcCurdy91

Feel-good surrealism of Hayden Clay

February 26, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in Digital Art, NFT Art, Portfolios, Photography, USA, 2024

In the heart of Brooklyn, Hayden Clay redefines the art scene with his mesmerising take on "feel-good surrealism." Through his expertise in digital art, he masterfully blends elements of nature with the boundless realms of imagination. His pieces, often centred around water, landscapes and clouds, serve as gateways to a world where the line between dreams and reality fades.

Clay’s art offers a surreal exploration of nature, inviting introspection. Hayden’s freelance work inspires with transformative surreal visuals.

Hayden has recently unveiled his latest NFT generative art drop on Foundation, titled "Strange Clouds." This collection marks the second chapter of the Strange Clouds series, showcasing a captivating array of generative 3D artworks. Each piece in the collection presents a unique cloud formation, inviting viewers to explore the infinite variations of shapes, colours, and patterns. Inspired by clouds’ ever-changing and generative essence, this project continues Hayden's exploration of the natural world through a digital lens, offering a fresh and innovative perspective on the art of surrealism.

@haydclay

Visual Poetry by Alizé Jireh

February 19, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Art, NFT Art, Photography, Portfolios, USA

Alizé Jireh’s art spans photography, videography, and music. Through her lens, she captures vulnerability, resilience, and authenticity. Her work invites viewers to engage with the world intimately.

Alizé’s art illuminates the beauty of everyday life. With attention to detail and emotional sensitivity, she creates works that deeply resonate with audiences and highlight our shared humanity.

@AlizeJireh

Liminal Spaces by Mia Novakova

February 05, 2024 by Arseny Vesnin in 2024, Art, Digital Art, NFT Art, Photography, Portfolios, Bulgaria

Visual artist Mia Novakova uses the ambiguity of liminal spaces to create mysterious and thought-provoking artworks, absorbing viewers to interpret and question the state of reality. Wrapping objects is not new in art, but the way Mia does it triggers the concept of form cleared of function, meaning and time.

@mia_novakova

SVOYA - House Of Pleasure

September 26, 2023 by Arseny Vesnin in 2023, Fashion, Photography, Portfolios

Unmasked-Unpleasured: A Fashion Film for the Emerging Brand Svoya

Take a journey into the world of man, where exaggerated fantasies are brought to life through cinematic storytelling, shedding light on the pressing issues of gender inequality and sexualised exploitation of women.

This narrative explores men's fantasies and the roles of women forced to fulfil them. All the featured dreams are often anything but simple. Some seek praise, others crave dominance, some project issues linked to mother-son relationships, and some even reduce women to mere objects. Our goal was to illuminate this sexualised and objectifying world set within the unconventional backdrop of a brothel.
Every male fantasy can be instantly gratified with a button if money can be spared. It's a disorienting space, one you yearn to escape, much like the desire to break free from the constraints of societal roles and the preconceived notions about women that many of us struggle with every day.

SVOYA brand Antonina Vlasenko @svoyasvoya @smetanina__satan
Cast:
Dima Speranskiy @speranskiy
Roman Kyandzhaliev @Kyandzhaliev_ro
Asya Rylova @asyarylova
Leonid Kim @leoleoleoleokim
Aizhan Kulchukova @yes.aiji
Artemii Demidov @Enot_Comandir
Sassha Nachalas @sashanachalas
Irina Belskaia @irinabel_3108
David Gabuniya @davidgabuniya_
Fedor Polyakov @fedor.polyakov_
Nina Zvezdina @ninawww
Magina Xanki @xankiii
Maria Pronin @barkobulka

Director/ Idea/ Script – Maria Pronin @barkobulka
Director of Photography / Colorist / Edit/ Music – Yaroslav Dementev @deyaros
Art Director – Archi Manouche @arhi_manouche

Producer – Nikita Prokofyev @doprokofyev
Assistant Producer – Kato Litvinyuk @3_outsiders_spells, Anastasiia Kiseleva @kiselevva

Florist – Daria Sidorova @dasha.seed
MUA – Aizhan Kulchukova @yes.aiji
Production Assistant – Olich Aleha @lelkac
Helper – Kseniia Lavrova @_lavrova_ks

1st AC – Ilya Mayak @terracota_warrior
2nd AC / Steadicam Operator – Danya Byakov @danyabyakov
2nd AC / DIT – Maxim Syrykh @slggr
Gaffer – Irakly Vasilkovsky @white_martlet
Lighting Technicians – Egor Podvorniy @egorpodvorniy, Yura Pomomarev @Yura_raa, Mikhail Kononov @mikofilm

Special thanks:
CHAINSSELF @chainsself
Why Not Studio @why.notstudio
Arseniy Ponomarenko @ars_ponomarenko
Elena Gerulaytis @gerulaytis.el

Ørestad Plejecenter, Copenhagen, Denmark

National Theatre, Taichung, Taiwan

The Beauty of Color and Shadow: A Look at Andrés Gallardo Albajar's Photography

September 03, 2023 by Arseny Vesnin in 2023, Estonia, Portfolios, Photography, Lifestyle, NFT Art

Andrés Gallardo Albajar, a Spanish photographer with a self-taught background, embarked on his photographic journey in 2013 by capturing the intricate interplay of silhouettes, colors, and shadows within the urban architecture of his hometown, Tallinn, Estonia.

It does not take long since his talent was mentioned by a London-based print house and ended as the “Urban Geometry” book release

Milan, Italy

The United Arab Emirates Pavilion, Milan, Italy

Berlin, Germany

Galaxy Soho, Beijing, China

As the son of architects, he spent his formative years growing up in Spain, immersed in a world of architecture books, magazines, and frequent visits to construction sites. The profound impact of this upbringing remained concealed until he stumbled upon photography as a hobby in 2012. During his childhood, art held no particular allure for him; his ambitions were firmly rooted in other pursuits.

The year 2018 marked a turning point in his journey. An invitation from a magazine led him to Seoul for an exhibition, a workshop, and a photography assignment. Then, he approached his boss, expressing the need for time off, and received an unexpected response. His boss encouraged him to follow his heart and commit fully to photography…

Artist follow up

Digital Decade NFT - Human Unlimited 03

Human Unlimited - Digital Decade NFT Drop

November 25, 2022 by Arseny Vesnin in 2022, Digital Decade, NFT Art, Photography

Designcollector network (2003) founder Arseny Vesnin, the curator of self-initiated Digital Decade (2013) art collaborations, presents artists drop in a series of "Digital Decade NFTs".

dimitridaniloff.com

@dimitridaniloff

Dimitri Daniloff (b.1970, France) developed body awareness from an early age as the son of a sculptor. He has since cultivated a connection to texture and materiality. Fascinated by the numerous possibilities that technology offers, he first experimented with 4x5 view cameras and then turned to the practice of digital art. A shift, since he then started to transform his images. He now produces new scenes of everyday life by assembling raw elements with real subjects – always finding the right balance between authenticity and fiction. His campaign for PlayStation is a great example of this tension: deconstructed bodies knocking together and questioning our boundaries.

Lemon Magazine Cover Shot

Another turning point in this creative artist’s career was his collaboration with the electronic music band Daft Punk. Producing the Virtual Girl project (2008), he integrated 3D creations into his existing pictures, thus proposing his own vision of an augmented human being. A few years later, Dimitri Daniloff started focusing on photogrammetry – a process consisting in taking measurements in space and building, through software, a 3D model from several viewpoints.

By integrating this technique into his practice, he inserted the virtual world into the real world. He created, in collaboration with plastic artist Tamal De Canela, L’humain illimité (The unlimited human), a project built around a virtual character still anchored into reality. Cleared from his corporeal envelope, the subject – half-man, half-God – pushes the limits of 2D image, body and thoughts. In this undefined space and time, borders no longer exist and humankind – and its extensions – finds its independence. The modern Prometheus owns as many masks as there are identities. “Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth”, Oscar Wilde said with irony.

Appearances press Dimitri Daniloff to question men's flaws - what still resists. And in this quest, the artist surrounds himself with other specialists: dancers, architects, decorators or even graphic designers. Highlighting the vulnerability of mankind thus turns into a political act, turning the stage around. More than a plastic artist, Dimitri Daniloff prevails as a sculptor of reality.

In January 2019 Daniloff was invited by EDF ODYSS ELEC (France) to make his first VR piece in collaboration with Ferdinand Dervieux. The piece was supposed to be presented at the VR Arles Festival but will be presented in an other event linked to VR Arles Festival later in 2020.

In 2020, Designcollector’s founder Arseny Vesnin invited Dimitri to take a part in Digital Decade SE 2020 - an online exhibition on the Sedition Art Platform.

Human Unlimited NFT Series

Series of six 1/1 NFT drops

“Imagery fascinates me because it questions our take on ourselves, and on our bodies especially.”

— Dimitri Daniloff

Human Unlimited on Superrare

Digital Decade - Human Unlimited 03

Human Unlimited on Superrare

A small, intimate room that protects us from the vastness. As "The Milkmaid" by Vermeer, we inhabit the space, lost in our thoughts. But in this room we are not lost, we inhabit the virtual world, with a space that protects us. A virtual space, which is also real, two universes that meet, that confront each other. Above all they complement each other, the virtual space does not try to resemble the real world, it finds its own space, which is a combination of both. And that is the freedom of these rooms without a roof, that we can enter and exit, from both worlds, as if they were one.

And we can penetrate them, they are not photos, they are rooms, they are spaces to enter, to become part of the image. Become shells, like these people, like these characters, be statues, rigid, colourless, be bodies, sensual, Greek, perfect, imperfect, full of defects, like existence itself, but we multiply, and we can observe from different angles.

We can challenge perspectives and windows that do not fit but do not want to. Invert the process, create something, stop organizing everything and then take a picture, start with photogrammetry, to create the image with the captured elements, inventing combinations, unexpected, open to amazement. Enter everyday objects, as if they were every day.

And the looks remind us that it is the real world, that they can be confused, that we can be gods, above, we can invite the skull to a world without death, to a world where there will be no end, where our identity is fragmented, like small pieces, never erased, we leave traces of us in this virtual world.

These images, photos and non-photos, inhabit the appeared world, which does not want to be real, or virtual because it is both and that’s what gives it its strength, its limitlessness and its uniqueness. A universe where flying is allowed. Where originality dwells, an authentic universe that resembles what he has dreamed of himself.

“These images were originally produced between 2018 and 2019 as I was exploring photogrammetry and breaking the rules of photography. Special thanks to Tamal de Canela for the 3D support.”

— Dimitri Daniloff

Human Unlimited 03 - NFT drop on Digital Decade smart-contract

For the 2022 NFT release, Designcollector is happy to release 1 of 6 artist work (above) on our special Digital Decade NFT smart contract aimed to reveal art names we have collaborated with through our offline and online events.

1 NFT on Digital Decade

5 NFTS on Superrare

Art of Seanen Middleton

March 29, 2022 by Arseny Vesnin in 2022, Art, Photography, Portfolios, United Kingdom

@seanenmiddleton

Seanen Middleton is a fine art and portrait photographer from the Lake District, England. Seanen's work has been published across the globe online and we cannot stay away from his depth of visual storytelling

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Hetaera Psappha - 10 Years of Blossoming Silence

February 10, 2022 by Arseny Vesnin in 2022, Art, Photography, Russia, United Kingdom

Hetaera Psappha

Hetaera Psappha is a video artist born in Moscow in the waning years of the Soviet era. Working all around the world, Lisa Minaeva (the artist’s real name) creates her wordless portraits in various places. Having started her project in London in 2012, she gathered over 100 portraits of artists, poets, musicians, and other people of different professions and backgrounds. After ten years of filming portraits, she feels more interested in it than ever.

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Blossom of Silence. Portrait 34. Alina. 2014.png

Blossom of Silence. Portrait 35. Alina. 2015.png

Blossom of Silence. Portrait 72. Alina. 2016.png

Blossom of Silence. Portrait 88. Alina. 2020.png

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A French actress sitting topless in a bathtub in Moscow; a young Indonesian woman looking at the camera with eyes full of tears in a hot Belgrade apartment; a celebrated Russian rapper squinting in the sun on a famous Saint Petersburg rooftop after an acoustic gig; a British painter, frozen in his chair, looking as if he’s about to attack – the Blossom of Silence project counts endless faces and hours of quiet contemplation. Being able to stop and look into another person’s eyes is a rare gift in a time of rapid news and information, and the lo-fi image created with a MiniDV camera helps the artist clear it of the filters we got used to so easily thanks to fashion magazines and Instagram. At times, the picture shakes and interrupts, and zooms in and out: leaving the footage “rough” is the artist’s committed position.

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Initial idea was to “create a collection of the most beautiful people’s portraits”, and, therefore, remake a famous Andy Warhol work. However, the goal changed fast as Hetaera Psappha realized “beautiful” does not always mean “interesting to silently communicate with”, and vice versa. According to the artist, the key to “interest” stays unclear after all these years: while some portraits are more loved by the audience than others, she never knows beforehand if a portrait is going to work out well or turn out to be boring and “soulless”. It depends on many factors, where the openness of the model often stays the most important one.

Among many famous and unknown faces, one stands out – Alina happens to be the only person Hetaera Psappha filmed more than once. From the very first shooting, she became the artist’s muse, whom she decided to film every year. The colourful and unexpected evolution of a teenage girl through the troubles and transformations of her adolescence years is a curious experience, “a project within a project”. And it is not the only one – in 2016 Lisa created a special collection Silent Poets, especially for Poetronica festival of contemporary poetry, sound art and video art.

As Hetaera Psappha says, filming portraits with no words doesn’t just help her rest after working with texts and words, which is the other big part of her life as a poet and scriptwriter. It helps her feel, build and share with her audience connections, which cannot be broken by borders, political systems, religions, classes and backgrounds. In such a way, when watching her portraits, everyone is free to build an imaginary connection with any of her models and try to read the mystery hidden in their eyes. After all, the eyes are the mirror of the soul, as long as one suggests it exists. And if it does, observing them is a useful and enriching practice.

Vaughn Meadows Photography

February 01, 2022 by Arseny Vesnin in 2022, Lifestyle, NFT Art, Photography, Portfolios, USA

@vw.meadows

“Intentionally Wes Anderson” if you want to summarise Vaughn Meadows body of work. Or maybe you will hear Salinger’s lines while watching his mellow-coloured, pastoral photography. And if I was you I’d defo visit artist’s links and even purchase few works as NFTs

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Fine Art Photography by Julie Blackmon

January 26, 2022 by Arseny Vesnin in 2022, Art, Photography, Portfolios, USA

@julie_blackmon

Photography artist Julie Blackmon’s works speak for themselves

The Dutch proverb “a Jan Steen household” originated in the 17th century and is used today to refer to a home in disarray, full of rowdy children and boisterous family gatherings. The paintings of Steen, along with those of other Dutch and Flemish genre painters, helped inspire this body of work. I am the oldest of nine children and now the mother of three. As Steen’s personal narratives of family life depicted nearly 400 yrs. ago, the conflation of art and life is an area I have explored in photographing the everyday life of my family and the lives of my sisters and their families at home. These images are both fictional and auto-biographical, and reflect not only our lives today and as children growing up in a large family, but also move beyond the documentary to explore the fantastic elements of our everyday lives, both imagined and real.

The stress, the chaos, and the need to simultaneously escape and connect are issue that I investigate in this body of work. We live in a culture where we are both “child centered” and “self-obsessed.” The struggle between living in the moment versus escaping to another reality is intense since these two opposites strive to dominate. Caught in the swirl of soccer practices, play dates, work, and trying to find our way in our “make-over” culture, we must still create the space to find ourselves. The expectations of family life have never been more at odds with each other. These issues, as well as the relationship between the domestic landscape of the past and present, are issues I have explored in these photographs. I believe there are moments that can be found throughout any given day that bring sanctuary. It is in finding these moments amidst the stress of the everyday that my life as a mother parallels my work as an artist, and where the dynamics of family life throughout time seem remarkably unchanged. As an artist and as a mother, I believe life’s most poignant moments come from the ability to fuse fantasy and reality: to see the mythic amidst the chaos.