HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL shoot at Tsaritsyno: best works to be displayed in China

Students and alumni of the Photography track at HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL took part in a collaborative project-oriented lab with Nanlite, a brand of professional LED lighting. They created original photographic series at the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve. The best works produced during the Moscow part of the project will be presented at the International Festival of Photography in Pingyao, China.

The final stage of the lab was a large‑scale on‑location shoot at the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve. Participants worked in the Catherine Hall of the Grand Palace and across the palace grounds, using professional Nanlite lighting equipment. The shoot was led by Chinese artist, director, and Nanlite ambassador Zhang Xulong.

What made the project unique was that all photographers worked with the same set, the same props, the same models, and pre‑arranged lighting. Yet the works turned out to be strikingly different: each author composed their frame differently, chose their own angles, and engaged with the space in their own way, offering a distinct perspective on the same subject. This diversity of visual approaches will form the upcoming exhibition.

On behalf of HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL, the project shoots were curated by Professor Irina Chmyreva, Candidate of Art History.

"Working in the Grand Palace of Tsaritsyno allowed the students to feel like part of a real, large‑scale production — where the aura of the place, the historic interiors, the acoustics of the halls, and both natural and artificial light merge to create a new situation that partly guides the young artists in shaping their own imagery," shared Irina Chmyreva.

All of the outfits on models were created by students of the Fashion Design track at HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL as part of their academic coursework.

Styling, production, and art direction for the shoots were handled by HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL graduates Stepan Berezhnoy and Alisa Lapshina. Alisa also served as the project's lead coordinator.

"An shoot of this scale — both in the Grand Palace halls and across the museum grounds — was a great opportunity for students to work in challenging conditions: large spaces and mixed lighting allowed them not only to test their own skills but also to evaluate the capabilities of Nanlite lighting equipment," noted Alisa Lapshina.

HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL expresses its gratitude to the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve, the team of Sila Sveta and Liu Xiaoxia — a curator, educator, translator, and author of the Dialogues on Photographic Education book  — for their support in turning this project into reality.

The project lab became a platform for professional exchange between Russian and Chinese photographers, giving students valuable experience in conditions resembling a real‑world industrial shoot. The best works by participants will be featured at the International Festival of Photography in Pingyao in China — one of Asia's largest photographic forums.