Marina Paulenka on Gender Fluidity, Impact of Technology on Humankind and Women Rights

Elisa Medde addresses the current debate and criticalities in photography practices and publishing through the lens of Foam Magazine: from social engagement to the relations with market and capital.

Elisa Medde edits, curates and writes about photography.

Marina Paulenka

Marina Paulenka was Artistic Director of UNSEEN Foundation and UNSEEN, an Amsterdam based platform for contemporary photography that presents the latest developments in the field of photography and amplifies the careers of boundary-pushing artists.

Prior to her role at Unseen, she worked as a curator and Artistic Director of the Organ Vida International Photography Festival, the leading institution for contemporary photography in Croatia.

Paulenka is a member of the Creative Committee at the Bristol Photo festival, a guest curator at FUTURES Photography, and a keynote curator for FORMAT21 International Photography Festival. She is the recipient of the Lucie Awards 2018 for a best curator/exhibition of the year for the exhibition “Engaged, Active, Aware: Women Perspectives Now”.

So far she has curated numerous exhibitions and work with artists such as Tabita Rezaire, Juliana Huxtable, Martine Gutierrez, Dana Lixenberg, Zanele Muholi, Hannah Starkey, Nina Berman, Amalia Ulman, Laia Abril, Katrin Koenning and many others.

Paulenka nominates photographers for The Joop Swart Masterclass, the Prix Pictet, the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize and she is an international juror and portfolio reviewer at many institutions, awards and festivals worldwide including the Les Rencontres d’Arles, Hamburg Triennial, Parallel Photo Platform, Robert Capa Prize, FORMAT.

As an educator, she gives guest teaching and workshops and working closely with emerging photographers and visual artists in developing their personal work/projects and professional practice.