Book[e]lab is an independent multidisciplinary project specializing in small-run editions, founded by Olga Matveeva and Jenia Yahina.
Since its establishment in 2020, Book[e]lab has been curating immersive laboratories and workshops focused on creating artist's photobooks and zines.
Since its establishment in 2020, Book[e]lab has been curating immersive laboratories and workshops focused on creating artist's photobooks and zines.
In our exploration of photobooks, we engage all senses through interaction with space, surface, volume, material, and proportions. Sometimes, a book can offer artists more freedom and resources than a gallery space, opening up new layers of meaning in authorial expression through tactile experiences.
Throughout the various stages of working with photobooks, we combine the experiences of artists, photographers, designers, and even technologists. This collaborative process inspires and encourages thinking and experimentation. Book design becomes an integral part of the project, enriching its semantic scope. That`s why we carefully consider the choice of paper, printing method, and construction of each future book.
The peculiarity of our laboratory lies in the synthesis of artist and designer practices, providing an opportunity to view one's work through the lens of different professional experiences and to explore how the authorial idea interacts with book design and the viewer's perception.
Our collective mission is to delve into the depths of visual imagination, overcome creative obstacles, and uncover the language of individual expression, ultimately crafting layouts ripe for the printing press.
The peculiarity of our laboratory lies in the synthesis of artist and designer practices, providing an opportunity to view one's work through the lens of different professional experiences and to explore how the authorial idea interacts with book design and the viewer's perception.
Our collective mission is to delve into the depths of visual imagination, overcome creative obstacles, and uncover the language of individual expression, ultimately crafting layouts ripe for the printing press.
(c)Collecttive zine
(c)Sloi / Ira Kravchina
ABOUT US
We are an independent publishing project dedicated to photography books and education.
Olga Matveeva is a visual artist who works with photography, installation, artist's books, and analogue printing processes.
She is also an independent curator, publisher, and educator. Olga graduated in political science at the State University for Human Sciences in Moscow in 2008, and from photography at the Rodchenko Art School in 2013. Participant of international festivals and exhibitions of contemporary art. In her artistic practice she is focused on the experiences of an individual in an ever changing socio-political turmoil while being immersed in mythology and mysticism. Originally from Moscow, she currently lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia.
Jenya Yahina is a visual artist, multidisciplinary designer, independent curator-researcher and educator, teaches the Author's Photobook course at the Rodchenko Art School. She is also a dance artist, practicing contemporary dance and dance performance. The focus of her artistic research lies in perceiving the body's interaction with the surrounding reality through performative contemporary dance practices, unfixed identities, and the synthesis of body and space in experimental artist/research/photo book.
We are an independent publishing project dedicated to photography books and education.
Olga Matveeva is a visual artist who works with photography, installation, artist's books, and analogue printing processes.
She is also an independent curator, publisher, and educator. Olga graduated in political science at the State University for Human Sciences in Moscow in 2008, and from photography at the Rodchenko Art School in 2013. Participant of international festivals and exhibitions of contemporary art. In her artistic practice she is focused on the experiences of an individual in an ever changing socio-political turmoil while being immersed in mythology and mysticism. Originally from Moscow, she currently lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia.
Jenya Yahina is a visual artist, multidisciplinary designer, independent curator-researcher and educator, teaches the Author's Photobook course at the Rodchenko Art School. She is also a dance artist, practicing contemporary dance and dance performance. The focus of her artistic research lies in perceiving the body's interaction with the surrounding reality through performative contemporary dance practices, unfixed identities, and the synthesis of body and space in experimental artist/research/photo book.
BOOKFAIRS / BOOKFESTIVALS:
2024:
13.04—14.04 WINWIN, Winzavod, Moscow
20.04—21.04 RASSADA, Museum of Moscow, Moscow
27.04—28.05 BELGRADE PHOTO MONTH, Dorćol Platz, Belgrade
23.04 INTERACTING WITH A BOOK: BODY, BREATH, TOUCH, MEDIA, Belgrade Photo Month, UK Parobrod, Belgrade
23.04 Marta Ladokhina «Occasional Equillibrium», exhibition opening (curated by book[e]lab) and phonebook presentation, Belgrade Photo Month, UK Parobrod, Belgrade
26. 04 Portfolio review by Olga Matveeva, book[e]lab, Belgrade Photo Month, Belgrade
2023:
24.12—25.12 PERSPECTIVA, Perspectiva Lab, Moscow
30.09 GROUND ZIINE FEST, Ground Solyanka, Moscow
21.07 FIJUK SAJAM, Kvaka 22, Beograd
2022:
10.09 GROUND ZIINE FEST, Ground Solyanka, Moscow
10.09—11.09 ZHERDELA FEST, Rostov-on-Don, Russia
8.10—09.10 WINWIN, Winzavod, Moscow
22.04—24.04 KORESHKI AEST, Fab.8 space, Novosibirsk, Russia
2022 KORESHKI , CCA Ogon, Irkutsk, Russia
2021:
21.04—25.04 SOYUZPECHAT, Winzavod, Moscow
09.2021 PHOTOBOOKFEST, Jury member of the contest Photobookfest, Moscow
2024:
13.04—14.04 WINWIN, Winzavod, Moscow
20.04—21.04 RASSADA, Museum of Moscow, Moscow
27.04—28.05 BELGRADE PHOTO MONTH, Dorćol Platz, Belgrade
23.04 INTERACTING WITH A BOOK: BODY, BREATH, TOUCH, MEDIA, Belgrade Photo Month, UK Parobrod, Belgrade
23.04 Marta Ladokhina «Occasional Equillibrium», exhibition opening (curated by book[e]lab) and phonebook presentation, Belgrade Photo Month, UK Parobrod, Belgrade
26. 04 Portfolio review by Olga Matveeva, book[e]lab, Belgrade Photo Month, Belgrade
2023:
24.12—25.12 PERSPECTIVA, Perspectiva Lab, Moscow
30.09 GROUND ZIINE FEST, Ground Solyanka, Moscow
21.07 FIJUK SAJAM, Kvaka 22, Beograd
2022:
10.09 GROUND ZIINE FEST, Ground Solyanka, Moscow
10.09—11.09 ZHERDELA FEST, Rostov-on-Don, Russia
8.10—09.10 WINWIN, Winzavod, Moscow
22.04—24.04 KORESHKI AEST, Fab.8 space, Novosibirsk, Russia
2022 KORESHKI , CCA Ogon, Irkutsk, Russia
2021:
21.04—25.04 SOYUZPECHAT, Winzavod, Moscow
09.2021 PHOTOBOOKFEST, Jury member of the contest Photobookfest, Moscow
LECTURES / WORKSHOPS:
2024:
9.06. Anya Belka/ Book about break dancing(curated by book[e]lab) photobook presentation + llecture on working with archives by Jenya Yahina, Perspectiva Lab, Moscow
15.05 VISUAL BOOK AS A SPACE AND PROCESS, Open talk, Rodchenko ArtSchool, Moscow
12.05 PHOTOBOOK. ARTIST TALK with Jenya Yahina, HSE Gallery, Moscow
23.04 INTERACTING WITH A BOOK: BODY, BREATH, TOUCH, MEDIA, Belgrade Photo Month, UK Parobrod, Belgrade
20.01 ARTIST'S BOOK AS A PROCESS, Zotov Centre, Moscow
2023:
08.07 COLLECTIVE ZINE + PERFORMATIVE PRACTICES [MAPSMAPSMAPS] by Jenya Yahina&Kasya Denisevich, Art-space-hopping, Moscow
1–15.06 ZINE WORKSHOP / Photoclub From Fence to Dinner, curator Ksenia Plotnikova, GES-2, Moscow
21.05 INTERACTING WITH A BOOK: BODY, BREATH, TOUCH, MEDIA, Nizinafest, Sankt-Peterburg
18.04 PHOTOBOOK AS A WAY OF PRESENTIING A. PROJECT / Round table discussion, Rodchenko ArtSchool, Moscow
03–05.04 COLLECTIVE ZINE + PERFORMATIVE PRACTICES, CCA Chicory, Zheleznogorsk
2022:
03.–06. COLLECTIVE UTTERANCE LABORATORY, Moscow
2024:
9.06. Anya Belka/ Book about break dancing(curated by book[e]lab) photobook presentation + llecture on working with archives by Jenya Yahina, Perspectiva Lab, Moscow
15.05 VISUAL BOOK AS A SPACE AND PROCESS, Open talk, Rodchenko ArtSchool, Moscow
12.05 PHOTOBOOK. ARTIST TALK with Jenya Yahina, HSE Gallery, Moscow
23.04 INTERACTING WITH A BOOK: BODY, BREATH, TOUCH, MEDIA, Belgrade Photo Month, UK Parobrod, Belgrade
20.01 ARTIST'S BOOK AS A PROCESS, Zotov Centre, Moscow
2023:
08.07 COLLECTIVE ZINE + PERFORMATIVE PRACTICES [MAPSMAPSMAPS] by Jenya Yahina&Kasya Denisevich, Art-space-hopping, Moscow
1–15.06 ZINE WORKSHOP / Photoclub From Fence to Dinner, curator Ksenia Plotnikova, GES-2, Moscow
21.05 INTERACTING WITH A BOOK: BODY, BREATH, TOUCH, MEDIA, Nizinafest, Sankt-Peterburg
18.04 PHOTOBOOK AS A WAY OF PRESENTIING A. PROJECT / Round table discussion, Rodchenko ArtSchool, Moscow
03–05.04 COLLECTIVE ZINE + PERFORMATIVE PRACTICES, CCA Chicory, Zheleznogorsk
2022:
03.–06. COLLECTIVE UTTERANCE LABORATORY, Moscow