Students from Castelo Branco, Weimar and Lviv take part in international photography initiative
The Polytechnic University of Castelo Branco (Portugal), Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (Germany), and the Lviv National Academy of Arts (Ukraine) are jointly organising a photography workshop titled “Visual Diaries: Photography Across Borders”, bringing together students and academic staff from the three higher education institutions. The initiative is taking place within the framework of the BAUHAUS4EU Alliance.
This five-week workshop, delivered in the COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) format, challenges students to communicate visually across borders using only their smartphones. Working in small international groups, participants create visual diaries of their everyday lives through a shared visual language. During weekly meetings, the photographs are discussed, reinterpreted and explored from different cultural perspectives.
In addition to online exchanges, the participating institutions will organise a travelling exhibition across the three universities and collaborate on a joint publication bringing together the students’ visual diaries, reflections and artistic research. The publication will be presented during Winterwerkschau at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
The COIL initiative aims to develop students’ photographic storytelling skills by applying fundamental photography principles — composition, light and framing — using smartphone cameras. It also seeks to encourage intercultural collaboration and visual research.
The final works may be submitted to the 2nd BAUHAUS4EU Photography Competition, which has the theme “My City, My University”. Submissions are open until 15 November.
