The Vaults Centre for Artistic Production offers the Photo Basis lab for professional photographers and artists working with photography.
Photo Basis. Printmaking Practices Lab for Artists
- Date:
- 2 Jun–
31 Oct 2025
- Age restrictions
- 18+
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Participants will explore the fundamentals of both analogue and digital photo printing, delving into the nuances of each technology to expand their artistic expression. The workshop will take place at the state-of-the-art photo printing workshop at the Vaults Centre for Artistic Production.
The third season of the programme begins on 1 June 2025, with an extended format and a stronger emphasis on practical training. Over five months, participants will complete three training modules focused on alternative, manual analogue, and digital printing techniques. A key component of the lab will be the development of individual projects, guided by specialists from the Vaults photo laboratory.
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Applications are accepted until 30 April 2025 inclusive.
Materials: provided
Number of participants: 6 people
Duration: up to 4 months
Cost of course: 100 000 rubles (may be paid in monthly instalments of 20 000 rubles)
One place will be free of charge. The participant will be chosen by open call.
Photo: Vadim Shtein, Ruslan Shavaleev
This season’s invited curator is artist Egor Zaika, a recipient of both Russian and international awards. The instructors will include professional photographers, critics, and art historians. The course will feature a series of seminars and master classes. Art historian and curator Igor Volkov will present and discuss a collection of historical photographs. Ivan Sakharov, head of the PhotoSecession laboratory, will teach ambrotype printing. Vitaly Teplov, founder of Fotolab, will lead a workshop on photo presentation. Additionally, monthly meetings and portfolio reviews are also planned with the lab curator, photographers, art critics, and researchers.
The season will conclude with a showcase of works at the Vaults workshops and an exhibition at the PENNLAB gallery, where lab participants will have the opportunity to present their artistic projects and receive feedback from professionals.
The course is intended for six participants chosen in an open call. There is one place free of charge in the 2025 course
Participants of previous Photo Basis seasons
Nadya Koldaeva, Katya Kosova, Vera Laponkina, Lidia Lichuk, Anastasia Litvinova, Olga Mikhalchuk, Alexandra Pavlovskaya, Olya Pegova, Ksenia Plotnikova, Vika Ros, Lena Solovieva
Invited curator
Egor Zaika is a photographer, artist, and curator. Participant of Russian and international exhibitions, he previously taught photography at the British Higher School of Design. Winner of the competitions Best of Russia (2011, 2012) and Graphis Photo (2014). His works are held in the permanent collection of the Multimedia Art Museum, and have been published in such magazines as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Fantastic Man, Wallpaper, L’Officiel, Citizen K, and Elle.
Specialists
Mikhail Gurevich is a specialist on pre-printing preparation, digital image processing, and exhibition activity. Employee of the Multimedia Art Museum.
Ivan Sakharov is an artist, instructor and researcher of old photo printing techniques. Founder of the PhotoSecession lab. Lecturer at the Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia. Author of a photograph course at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Member of the Russian Union of Photo Artists.
Egor Seleznev is a digital print specialist at the photo lab of the Vaults Centre for Artistic Production.
Andrei Shagin is a specialist on analogue black-and-white and colour printing, and head of the photo lab at the Vaults Centre for Artistic Production.
Instructors
Nikolai Dmitriev and Mikhail Krasnov are co-founders of the PENNLAB gallery.
Dima Gushchin is the founder of the Fun’da’mental creative talent agency and publisher of the BEZSLOV art newspaper.
Vladimir Levashov is an art and photography critic, photography historian, curator of Russian and international exhibitions, and author of numerous publications on contemporary art and photography. He is the curator of the Photography programme at the HSE School of Design and a member of the Moscow Union of Artists.
Ksenia Plotnikova is a photographer, educator, and founder of the Okno photography school. Formerly the head of the Photography department at the HSE School of Design, she is the author and head of photography education programmes for teenagers at
Mikhail Sidlin is an art historian, critic, and photographer. Curator of over 30 exhibitions of contemporary art and photography.
Vitaly Teplov is a commercial photographer and the founder of Fotolab.
Igor Volkov is an art historian, curator of exhibition projects, and employee of the Department of Modern Trends at the State Tretyakov Gallery.
Open Call jury
Sergei Babkin is the curator for urban integration projects at
Olga Balabanova is the producer of the Photo Basis programme and the Vaults Centre for Artistic Production.
Nikolai Dmitriev and Mikhail Krasnov are co-founders of the PENNLAB gallery.
Olga Druzhinina is the curator at the Vaults Centre for Artistic Production.
Lyudmila Frost is the head of the Vaults Centre for Artistic Production.
Andrei Shagin is the head of the photo lab at the Vaults Centre for Artistic Production.
Egor Zaika is the invited curator of the Photo Lab programme.