A Celebration of ‘Diverse and Brilliant Visions’

School of Visual Arts marks 10th anniversary of popular lecture series with a special lineup of speakers and an exhibition at Photoville

| 25 Sep 2021 | 09:47

After a record attendance to several of its lectures last year to a virtual audience, SVA’s Digital Photography program has released a special fall lineup of speakers this year in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the much-anticipated i3: Ideas, Images and Inspiration public lecture series.

Photography enthusiasts, industry professionals, students and anyone with a general interest in the latest developments in the visual arts, can sign on to hear “esteemed thought leaders from across the photography industry” share their knowledge – and ideas and images – and engage in question-and-answer sessions following each presentation.

While the program remains virtual this year as SVA gradually eases back on campus with only students, faculty and administration right now, the format has allowed for a much wider audience, including some international attendees, and speakers, over the last year and current series, which takes place every other Tuesday from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. on Zoom. This year’s added feature is a corresponding in-person exhibition at the Photoville festival through December.

As part of the 10-year celebration, Katrin Eismann, the founding chair of the Digital Photography master’s program and creator of the i3 series, has returned as guest curator for the fall lectures. She joins longtime curator and host of the series Jaime Permuth as hosts for the next few months.

Permuth shared some information about the lecture series with Our Town.

Could you tell us about your experience as moderator for the i3: Ideas, Images and Inspiration lecture series?

The i3 Lecture Series is organized by the Masters in Digital Photography at the School of Visual Arts. I myself graduated that program in 2009. Two years later, I was approached by Founding Chair Katrin Eismann to host and curate the series, which I did for the next decade. i3 is presented as a bi-weekly forum. As the title suggests, ideas, images and inspiration are equally important in choosing our speakers. The lectures are free and open to the public and our audience is mostly comprised of students currently enrolled at SVA or other art schools, industry professionals and amateur photographers.

New York City has been a mecca for all things photographic since the early 20th century and continues to be so to this day. As such, it’s blessed with an immensely talented and vibrant photographic community. Over the years, it has been an incredible pleasure to welcome and showcase so many diverse and brilliant visions, experiences and best practices by the leaders of our industry.

Our talks are also videotaped and archived. They are available for viewing online on Vimeo and iTunes. We have well over 170 speakers to date!

As a documentary photographer and recent speaker at this year’s 10th anniversary series, could you give readers an idea of some of the topics discussed?

After 30 years of living and working in NYC, this past summer, my family and I moved to Seoul, Korea. So my i3 talk was a perfect opportunity to look back on the New York years. I presented an overview of four projects which were fundamental for my development as an artist: Manhattan Mincha Map (2002), YONKEROS (2010), The Street Becomes (2017) and Olmedini el Mago (2021).

Along general lines, we have aimed to create a well-rounded and inclusive lecture series. Our past speakers represent all niches in the photographic industry: fine arts, photojournalism, editorial, advertising, editing, digital software experts, book publishers, film makers, sports, still life, VR, curatorial. What they have in common is that they are all industry leaders and have made their mark in highly innovative and personal ways.

Please tell us about the Photoville exhibition you have curated.

The exhibition is entitled “On Turning 10: an i3 Family Album”. It is on view now through December 1st at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 3 as part of this year’s edition of the Photoville festival.

With this exhibition we celebrate our community and our decade-long journey. Selected works explore the themes of family, love, and interconnectedness. We showcase the works of 17 artists, who are all past presenters for i3, many of whom have also gone on to become part of our extended SVA family, serving as faculty, guest critics, or student advisors.

Featured artists: Jon Henry, Richard Renaldi, Tommy Kha, Gabriel Garcia Roman, Elinor Carucci, Valerio Spada, Robin Schwartz, Lissa Rivera, Pixy Liao, Lucas Foglia, Tema Stauffer, Gerald Cyrus, Inbal Abergil, Cecilia Paredes, Muriel Hasbun, Jennifer McClure, Chris Verene.

For more information, contact:

School of Visual Arts, 212.592.2000