Lukas Birk (born 1982) is an Austrian photographer, archivist, and publisher. He is known for a visual archive work in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and research on Box Camera photography in Afghanistan. Birk has worked on photographic projects, films and

visual research Visual research is a qualitative research methodology that relies on artistic mediums to produce and represent knowledge. These artistic mediums include film, photography, drawings, paintings, and sculptures. The artistic mediums provide a rich s ...

in China,

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and

South-East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

and the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. He has published numerous books on

visual culture Visual culture is the aspect of culture expressed in visual images. Many academic fields study this subject, including cultural studies, art history, critical theory, philosophy, media studies, Deaf Studies, and anthropology. The field of ...

and photographic history. He co-founded the ''Austro Sino Art Program'' (2008–2014) in Beijing, China and the SewonArtSpace in

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

, Indonesia. He founded the ''Myanmar Photo Archive'',

’s first

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

photography archive and set up an accompanying publishing program. His publishing company ''Fraglich Publishing'' focuses on

publications and limited edition prints.

About

Lukas Birk was born in 1982 in

Bregenz Bregenz (; gsw, label= Vorarlbergian, Breagaz ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switze ...

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

, Austria. Initially he studied journalism and radio. Birk attended at

University of West London The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Col ...

in the Ealing School of Art Design and Media, graduating with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in digital art and photography in 2005. He continuing his studies at

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

(RISD), graduating with a M.F.A. degree in Printmaking in 2017. Birk's work is held in the public permanent collections at Federal Collection Austria, and Regional Collection Vorarlberg, Austria.

Work

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 Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

in Afghanistan and the Pakistani tribal areas. The research resulted in a feature film, exhibition and book.

Austro Sino Arts program

Birk studied

Digital art Digital art refers to any artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process, or more specifically computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960s, various names ...

and Photography at the

and after completing his

Bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

’s degree in 2005, he moved to Beijing. 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. The project received major support from the Austrian Arts Council. 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''.

SewonArtSpace

In 2011, Karel Dudesek and Birk founded SewonArtSpace in

, Indonesia. SewonArtSpace is a non-profit art space and residency program hosting primarily

Austrian artists Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

and connecting them to the local art scene in

, one of

South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

’s most thriving art cities. The project received funding from the Austrian Chancellery office.

Afghan Box Camera project

In 2011, Birk returned with his colleague Sean Foley to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

to investigate the last remaining Box Camera photographers working on the streets of

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

and other cities in Afghanistan and

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

, Pakistan. They conducted research trips between 2011 and 2014 resulting in an

online archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

, the book ''Afghan Box Camera'' (Dewi Lewis, UK, 2013) and the book ''Photo Peshawar'' (Mapin, India, 2017). Birk and Foley coined the terms Afghan Box Camera and Kamra-e-Faoree, two descriptions for Box Camera photography. 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.{{Cite web, title=How to build a kamra-e-faoree (Afghan box camera), url=https://vimeo.com/62946374, access-date=3 June 2020, website=Vimeo, language=en{{Cite web, title=How to use an Afghan box camera "kamra-e-faoree", url=https://vimeo.com/32748604, access-date=3 June 2020, website=Vimeo, language=en

Myanmar photo archive

Birk started collecting photographic material and conducting research on photographic history in

in 2013. Since then, he has founded the first public photographic archive focusing on local Myanmar Visual History, the Myanmar Photo Archive (MPA). 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 Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

. The books are published in English and

Burmese Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese (hor ...

and distributed internationally. The archive has received major funding from the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, the

Goethe Institute The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

Myanmar and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

in Myanmar.{{Cite web, title=Delegation of the European Union to Myanmar, url=https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/myanmar-burma_en, access-date=31 May 2020, website=EEAS – European External Action Service – European Commission, language=en

Publications and monographs

* ''Kafkanistan – tourism to conflict zones'' Lukas Birk and Sean Foley''.'' Fraglich Publishing, 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, 978-3-9502829-9-3} * ''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

{{Reflist

External links

Lukas Birk official website
{{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Birk, Lukas 1982 births Living people Austrian photographers Austrian archivists Austrian publishers (people) Rhode Island School of Design alumni