Third Floor Gallery was an independent charitable photography gallery in Cardiff Bay, Wales that operated from 2010 [1] [2] to 2016.[ citation needed ] It predominantly featured documentary photography, [2] often premiering new work with the direct involvement of the photographers. [3]
Third Floor Gallery was set up and initially run by photographers Maciej Dakowicz and Joni Karanka, and later photographer Bartosz Nowickii, with help from volunteers. [3] [4] [5] [6] It continued to be self-run with volunteer staff [3] and was self-financed through various grassroots sources. [2] [7] It was noted for its use of social networking for engaging with visitors and volunteers at a time when that was not common place for galleries. [6]
Photographers that exhibited at Third Floor Gallery include Martin Parr, David Hurn, Tom Wood, Chris Steele-Perkins, [8] [9] Larry Fink, Mark Cohen, John Bulmer, Rob Hornstra, [10] Simon Roberts, Peter Dench, Ewen Spencer, Ken Grant and Vanessa Winship. [11]
In January 2010 founding trustees photographers Maciej Dakowicz and Joni Karanka invested £1000 each to cover a quarter of the lease and the service charges for a loft in Bute Street, Cardiff Bay. [3] Third Floor Gallery opened on 12 February 2010 with an exhibition by Peter Dench. [3] From the beginning volunteers helped sustain the gallery with donations of money, and with help hanging exhibitions and staffing. [3] Within the first year of operation, Bartosz Nowicki joined as third trustee and they received charitable status. [3]
The gallery continued to be self-run and self-financed. Rather than being grant funded, it was financed through a variety of grassroots sources: financial donations from visitors; [2] some of those involved in running it auctioned off their own photographs; [7] donations were solicited via requests through social networking services; and the photographer whose exhibition was showing donated an object from or related to that exhibition that was auctioned off.
It was noted for its use of social networking for engaging with visitors and volunteers at a time when that was not common place for galleries. [6]
In March 2012 the gallery expanded to a second floor with an additional gallery, digital darkroom, and dedicated space for community usage. [12] It closed in 2016.
David Hurn is a British documentary photographer and member of Magnum Photos.
David Solomons is a British street photographer. He is known for his photographs in London, where he has made a trilogy of self-published books: Underground (2009), Up West (2015) and Kippers and Curtains (2018). He was a member of the In-Public street photography collective.
Maciej Dakowicz is a Polish street photographer, photojournalist and gallerist. He is from Białystok in North East Poland. Dakowicz is best known for his series of photographs of Cardiff night-life titled Cardiff after Dark. He and others set up and ran Third Floor Gallery in Cardiff and he was a member of the In-Public street photography collective.
Rob Hornstra is a Dutch photographer and self-publisher of documentary work, particularly of areas of the former Soviet Union.
Daniel Meadows is an English photographer turned maker of digital stories, and a teacher of photography turned teacher of participatory media.
Peter Dench is a British photojournalist working primarily in advertising, editorial and portraiture. His work has been published in a number of books.
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Vanessa Winship HonFRPS is a British photographer who works on long term projects of portrait, landscape, reportage and documentary photography. These personal projects have predominantly been in Eastern Europe but also the USA. Winship's books include Schwarzes Meer (2007), Sweet Nothings (2008) and She Dances on Jackson (2013).
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In-Public is an international group of street photographers that operates as a collective. It was established in 2000 by Nick Turpin with the intention of bringing together like minded photographers to hold exhibitions, produce books and conduct workshops and promote street photography.
Nick Turpin is a British street photographer and advertising and design photographer. He is based in London and near Lyon, France.
Matt Stuart (1974) is a British street photographer. He was a member of the In-Public street photography collective. Stuart also works as an advertising photographer.
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Melanie Einzig is an American photographer known for her street photography in and around New York City, where she has lived since 1990. Einzig was a member of the first incarnation of the In-Public street photography collective, from 2002. Her work has been published in the survey publications on street photography, Bystander: A History of Street Photography and Street Photography Now. She has shown in group exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago; Somerset House in London; the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany; and KunstHausWien in Vienna, Austria. The Art Institute of Chicago and Brooklyn Historical Society hold examples of her work in their collections.
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