Virtual Gallery of the Regional Museum of Jagodina
Exhibition curator: Jasmina Trajkov
Photo contest "Photography in the Museum" - FUM
As an accompanying program of the manifestation “Museums for 10”, in which almost all museums in Serbia participate every year during the month of May, the Regional Museum of Jagodina organized a photo contest “Photography in the Museum”. The aim of the contest is to popularize cultural heritage and affirm photography. The contest is being held for the first time this year with the desire to become traditional. It will be held twice a year: during the manifestation “Museums for 10” and on the occasion of the Day of the Regional Museum of Jagodina, which is celebrated on September 30. All submitted photos will be judged by a jury, and after judging, the selected shots will be presented in a virtual exhibition on the website of the the Regional Museum of Jagodina (www.jagodina.museum). This time, the invitation to participate has been sent to photographers from Jagodina, as well as to all visitors to the Museum during the manifestation “Museums for 10”. We hope that in the next period, this photo contest will cross local borders and gather photographers and photography lovers from all over Serbia, as well as that the exhibition of the most successful photographs will be moved from the virtual gallery to the real museum’s gallery.
We awarded diplomas and prizes to the winners of our first photo contest – editions of the Regional Museum of Jagodina. The first prize was won by Stevan Đokić, the second by Miloš Jovanović and the third by Nebojša Petrović. We congratulate them and thank for their participation.
The theme of our next photo contest FUM – autumn 2022 will be the city of Jagodina. The contest will be held in September, and the best photos will be presented on the Day of the Regional Museum of Jagodina, September 30, 2022. The competition with proposals and more detailed information will be presented on the Museum’s website.
EXHIBITION CATALOG
This year’s photo contest was held in the period from May 12 to May 20, 2022. The topic of the contest was “The Power of Museums”, which is also the topic of this year’s manifestation “Museums for 10”. The focus of the photographer could be found on the museum building itself, architectural details, permanent exhibition and items exhibited on it, visitors, events that took place during the manifestation, the current exhibition on glass items from the Museum’s collection, etc. The received photos were evaluated by a jury consisting of: Boris Airo, professional photographer (Cologne), Jasmina Trajkov, art historian, museum advisor (Regional Museum of Jagodina), Đorđe Filipović, designer (Regional Museum of Jagodina) and Milosav Brajković, museum photographer (Regional Museum of Jagodina). The judging was held on May 23, 2022. The prize was awarded to the participant who won the highest number of points, and the awards were the latest representative editions of our museum “Naš zavičaj” and “Guide through the Regional Museum of Jagodina”.
Museums, museum objects and exhibitions can be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for any photographer. Plenty of details provide the opportunity to create macro photographs, statues are inanimate but you can bring them to life when you zoom in close to their facial features and the museum building itself is a cultural monument, so it can be found in front of the lens. Of course, the museum also has serious shortcomings when it comes to photography. First of all, the light intensity is adjusted to the prescribed conditions of exhibiting objects, and it is necessary to avoid reflections on glass cabinets in which objects are exhibited. However, these are challenges that every photographer can face. The time spent in the museum among the objects, each of which has and tells its own story, is a quality time spent, and the results of making photography in the museum can be exceptional.
However, it seems that photographers from Jagodina were not ready for this challenge. A very small number of them responded to the invitation to the contest, which influenced the fact that we did not have many quality works. The exhibition we prepared is just a sketch of what this contest could have produced. Among the participants, three authors stood out and their photos received the highest number of points by the jury. The first place was won by the photo of Stevan Đokić made on the permanent exhibition of the Museum, the second place was taken by the photo of Miloš Jovanović made during the promotion of museum editions, and the third place won Nebojša Petrović who made a very interesting shot at the exhibition of glass objects from our museum collection.
At the virtual exhibition set up on the website of the Regional Museum of Jagodina, ten photographs were presented, the authors of which are the mentioned photographers. Every one of them saw and experienced our museum from their own angle and each in their own way.
We thank all the participants in the photo contest “Photography in the Museum” – FUM 2022, congratulate the winners, and invite everyone else to join us in September at the new autumn competition FUM 2022. Finally, for those who are changing their minds or do not have enough motivation to join, we will quote one of the greatest photographers of all time Ansel Adams: “There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”
