New Juror Profiles: Critical Mass 2014

Every year, new faces join the Critical Mass jurying team. Our primary goal is to maximize exposure for participating photographers – to get their work in front of people who can actually offer career-building opportunities. The 2014 Critical Mass jury is a force to be reckoned with. It includes 200+ Museum curators, gallerists, photo book and magazine publishers, photo editors and producers across a wide spectrum of media platforms. Simply put – this is what makes Critical Mass great.

We thought we’d take a moment to introduce a few of the new faces:

Yuko Yamaji
Curator, Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts

Ms. Yamaji is the curator of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts. She has conducted the annual project “Young Portfolio” since 1995 and has exhibited “Young Portfolio Acquisitions” every year thereafter. Young Portfolio is the Museum’s collection aimed at supporting young photographers. The Young Portfolio collection has grown to 5296 prints by 698 photographers from over 40 countries in the last nineteen years.

She has organized over thirty exhibitions, including: Wynn Bullock: Enchanted by the Mystery of Light / Shisei Kuwabara: Minamata / Humanscape – Among the People / Platinum Prints – The Allurement of Light / Steam Locomotives of the 20th Century / Boneless Fish, Soundless Wind, A Story Without Darkness / Hisae Imai: Forty Years with Horses / Eikoh Hosoe: Photographs 1950 – 2000 / Masanori Kobayashi: Looking at Refugee Life / W.W.II – Japan’s Defeat / Traversing the Cosmos / Kenro Izu: Bhutan – Sacred Within / Hiroji Kubota: A Portrait of Asia / Great Spirit: Photographs by Curtis, Sardar-Afkhami and Yagi / Worldwide@Young Portfolio / Flash! Flash! Flash!: Photographs by Dr. Edgerton, Link and ERIC. Previously, Miss Yamaji worked as a press officer at Sotheby’s in Tokyo and as production assistant at Black Star, New York. Miss Yamaji was also a writer and photographer for several Tokyo-based newspapers. She has a MFA in photography from Pratt Institute and finished general studies courses at the International Center of Photography, New York. She is a member of Oracle, an international group of photography curators.

Brian Storm
Founder & Executive Producer, MediaStorm

Brian Storm is Founder and Executive Producer of the award-winning multimedia production studio MediaStorm based in Brooklyn, New York. MediaStorm publishes diverse narratives on the human condition, offers advanced multimedia training seminars and collaborates with a diverse group of clients ranging from international corporations to individual photojournalists and artists. MediaStorm’s stories and interactive applications have received numerous honors, including five Webby Awards, four Emmys, five Online Journalism Awards, and the first-ever duPont Award for a Web-based production. Prior to launching MediaStorm in 2005, Storm spent two years as Vice President of News, Multimedia & Assignment Services for Corbis. From 1995 to 2002, Storm was the first Director of Multimedia at MSNBC.com. He received his master’s degree in photojournalism in 1995 from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Storm serves on the Advisory Board for the Council on Foreign Relations, the W. Eugene Smith Fund, the Eddie Adams Workshop, the Alexia Foundation for World Peace, the Stan Kalish Picture Editing Workshop, Pictures of the Year , Foundation Rwanda, and Brooks Institute’s Journalism School. He is a frequent speaker on the subject of multimedia storytelling. Born in Minnesota, he has endured the family curse of being a lifelong fan of the Minnesota Vikings. He lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Elodie and their children Eva and Jasper.

Frank Konhaus
Executive Director, Cassilhaus

Frank Konhaus, a graduate of Duke University, is founder and principal of KONTEK Systems, Inc., an audio/video system design and integration firm based in Durham, NC. Frank and his wife, architect Ellen Cassilly, have created an award-winning contemporary home and artist space called Cassilhaus where he directs an artist residency and curates an exhibition program. They brought French photographer and installation artist Georges Rousse to Durham for a major community public art project in 2006. Frank served as executive producer for a documentary film about that project and has recently finished a film in the same capacity about sculptor Patrick Dougherty. Mr. Konhaus currently serves on the collections committee at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and the Cultural Advisory Board for the city of Durham. He is active in the Friends of Photography at the NC Museum of Art and the Double Exposure Photography Collecting Group, and is a passionate collector of contemporary photography.

Christophe Laloi
Artistic Director & Director of Programming, Voies Off

Christophe Laloi graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie d’Arles, France in 1996, with master’s degree in Art History. Following that, he founded the Voies Off Festival at the Rencontres d’Arles. He continues to act as Artistic Director and Director of Programming at the festival. Mr. Laloi is a key member of the jury for the Prix Voies Off. He organizes portfolio reviews, as well as a variety of exhibitions. He has been a lecturer at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie d’Arles for ten years. He has also been a reviewer for many festivals in France, Denmark, Turkey, Spain, and England. In 2007, Mr. Laloi opened the Galerie Voies Off. The exhibition space presents emerging and established photographers throughout the year. He also founded a professional digital printing laboratory for contemporary photography in Arles.

Philippe Serenon
Founder & Director, Photomed

Philippe has been a part of the photography world since he began working at Kodak in 1984. In 2003, HP France asked him to become their photo consultant for the consumer market. He later became a consultant for the Worldwide Graphic Arts division of HP in Barcelona where he built an international network of professionals including many Magnum photographers. Four years ago, he created Photomed Festival, a photo festival in Sanary-sur-Mer, on the French Riviera. A second festival location has recently been launched in Beyrouth, Lebanon. Photomed will continue to be replicated in other Mediterranian countries. Philippe also works as a digital fine-art printing and graphics consultant. Outside of photography, his passion is sailing. He has participated in many races, including a transatlantic one.

Still need to register for Critical Mass? Registration is open until July 16th.