Activities Activities

Main activity
The Victor Barsokevitsch Photographic Centre is a Finnish institution that operates in the city of Kuopio in central part of the country. The VB Photographic Centre concentrates its resources mostly on exhibitions, studies, photographic education and maintaining its archives.
The Victor Barsokevitsch Society
All the work of the VB Photographic Centre aims at furthering Finnish photography. It is the Victor Barsokevitsch Society, founded in 1982 by individual journalistic photographers, that is responsible for the centre's work. The Ministry of Education and the City of Kuopio also fund the institution.
Attractive setting
The old wooden house once belonged to photographer Victor Barsokevitsch (1863-1933). As Barsokevitsch’s studio, this building became a centre of Eastern Finnish photography as early as in the beginning of the century. Nowadays the Centre's exhibition facilities consist of the exhibition hall proper (4 rooms, 105 sq.meters) and the atelier wing (16 sq.metres).
International exhibitions
During the last few years the centre has organized several international photographic exhibitions: Alexander Rodzenko, Susan Meiselas 1995, Robert Doisneau1995, Leni Riefenstahl 1996, Sebastian Salgado 1987, Cecil Beaton 1998, Jan Saudek 1999, Shelby Lee Adams 2000, Elliott Erwitt 2001, André Kertész 2002, Steve McCurry 2002, William Wegmann 2003, Alberto Corda & Co 2004, Linda McCartney 2005, Henryk Ross 2006, Bert Stern 2006. A Private History - Contemporary Japanese Photography 2008, Bob Willougbhy 2009, Henri Cartier-Bresson 2010. Year by year, these exhibitions have become the most popular photography exhibition events in the whole country.
Research
The centre also exhibits a lot of classic and modern Finnish photography and is involved in organizing these exhibitions abroad from time to time. As a result of its research work and exhibitions, the centre has also produced a number of publications, e.g. ”Suomalainen valokuva 1842-1992” (Finnish Photography 1842-1992) produced together with the Finnish Literature Society and “Valokuvan tanssi” (Dance in Photography), 1997), the latter one being a massive documentary survey over Finnish history of dance, carried out in collaboration with The Finnish Museum of Photographic Art and the Finnish Theatre Museum.