The Lomography Shop Vienna was the first genuine Lomographers' shop ever. It's roots are to be found in the very beginnings of the Lomography story. The first fixed Lomographic venue for exhibitions and meeting point in the hometown of Lomography was in what was once the garage of Vienna's major on the grounds of the former imperial stables, now called the Vienna Museumsquartier. New club premises had to be found when the site was scheduled for redevelopment.
Tina, who was involved in the very first Lomographic projects while she was a student, subsequently developed the first Lomographic club in 1996: the legendary Lomo Depot, home to the wildest parties and different exhibitions from all over the world.

In 2001 the Kunsthalle Wien opened its own new building in the new Museumsquartier, the largest culture complex in Austria, and invited the Lomographic Society to take a space on a permanent basis. So they took up the offer, and Tina Bibawy-Stranzinger opened the Lomography Shop in the midst of this explosive cultural, urban and historic setting.
The most off-the-wall shop in Vienna provides a meeting point for the local community of Lomographers as well as for visitors from everywhere. The low-down on LomographicCompetitions and events is available here, but it's also a place for browsing between visits to the exhibitions or concerts.

Tina is a passionate collector, always on the go in Vienna and around the whole world, and nothing escapes her keen eyes or ears. She drags her finds, both magnificent and obscure, back to the store – useless must-have stuff. Some of the products are available in vast quantities, others are one-offs. Avant-garde design sits alongside recycled products, small series of goodies alternate with industrial mass-produced wares, digital sounds compete with photographic originals and printed rarities from flea markets or illustrious auction houses. When much of the stock has been sold it is gone, and it's time to travel the world to re-stock or to meet with Viennese Designers, which Tina features preferentially.
Of course the full range of products developed by the Lomographic Society International is available here, too, not to mention a gallery of LomoWalls covering the surfaces.

Although, of course as the showpiece of Lomographic architecture and visual artistry, the Lomography Shop Vienna doesn't even look remotely like a normal store. Sally Bibawy’s Lomography affiliated architecture and design SubStructureStudio has mercilessly interpreted and reflected all the different facets of Lomography in the design for the shop. Unusual materials, flowing elements and mobile structures can respond to the location's philosophy and the range and change of all the items on offer.

But in Tina's premises are even more hoards of goodies. In the shop's vestibule, which runs off into the entrance of the Kunsthalle, she is carrying on in the fine tradition of spontaneous and well-planned LomoParties. "There is always a reason for feasting," says Tina, who especially loves it when foreign visitors suddenly realise that it is the Lomography World they have entered. No matter whether Tina is hosting a Lomographic competition event or a DJ from abroad, the LomographyPalladium is a lively part of the various happenings at the Museumsquarter.

Christina Bibawy-Stranzinger
Lomography Shop Vienna
Kunsthalle Wien, Museumsquartier
Museumsplatz 1
1070 Vienna
Austria
Tel: +43 1 523 7016
Mail: info@lomography.com
Web: http://www.lomography.com/go/?where=shop&navsel=viennashop

Cristina and Pasquale Caprile were among the very first and most impassioned LomographicAmbassadors. The stylist and the photographer's Madrid studio and became Spain's super-active Embassy in 1996. They played host to people who were looking for the Russian LOMO, wanted to discuss Lomography, or wanted to show their own Lomographs. They organised great LomoExhibitions and national LomographicCompetitions, as well as playing host to the Lomographic World Congress held in Madrid in 1997.

"There came a time when it got too difficult to organise everything in the studio. When my friend Tina opened the first Lomography Shop in Vienna I was totally jealous. I was also in love with Lomo and wanted a dedicated Lomography location, too, a place people could simply walk into without the awkwardness of having to ring the bell first."
So Cristina began looking for suitable premises; and found same in an old building in a small lane in the historic city centre, 300 metres from the most famous square in Madrid, La Puerta del Sol – also known as 'km 0', as all the main thoroughfares in Spain lead from here. It's an area that never sleeps, with Flamenco singers on the streets during the daytime and performing in many of the pubs and bars around at night; Bohemian apartments between cinemas and theatres; ancient little shops with second-hand clothes, old furniture and books. Right behind it is the Spanish Parliament and the country's largest banks.
An ideal location for Cristina's Lomography Shop which the Ambassadors renovated and decorated in their own wild, colourful Lomographic style ready for its opening in October 2002. Quantities of beautiful and cheaky items, toys for grown-ups, masses of Lomographic cameras, accessories and books are hoarded between pistachio-green walls and colourful LomoCurtains... "and everything all jumbled up. We try to keep everything organised but without much success. A wonderful atmosphere and total chaos."

In the Lomography Shop Madrid there is also a small room for LomoExhibitions and an extra photo-lab service, specialized in the Lomographer's favourite 7cm x 10cm format. Shooting Challenges are regularly organised, for example the SplashWeddingFlash at the Spanish crown prince's royal wedding last May. Cristina claims to get the most diverse and special visitors to the shop, Lomographers from all over, old and young, students and tourists, some with money and some without, artists and chefs, actors and bankers. Sometimes they just drop in for a chat or to rummage through her LomographicTrove of photographs and toys.

With her unshakable dedication Cristina opened her second Lomography Shop in Barcelona in July 2004. Her new baby is a tiny showroom in the trendy neighbourhood of El Borne, in the middle Barcelona's old city centre and only a few minutes from the sea. Together with Tanja Grass, the Barcelona Lomography Ambassador whose Drap-Art Gallery is also very close, Cristina is of course planning on organising shards of nifty projects and various events around the new Lomography community spot.

Cristina Hinrichsen
LOMOGRAPHY SHOP Madrid
Calle Echegaray, 5
28014 Madrid
Spain
Tel: + 34 91 369 17 99
Mail: lomo@lomospain.com
Web: http://www.lomospain.com

LOMOGRAPHY SHOP Barcelona
Carrer dels Mirallers
2 BORNE
08003 Barcelona
Spain
Tel: +34 93 319 70 06
Mail: lomobcn@lomospain.com
Web: http://www.lomospain.com

The next Lomography outlet to join Vienna and Madrid opened in Sydney in August 2003. Karen Boudakian studied graphic design, publicity and marketing, she has worked at the Museum Of Contemporary Art in Sydney, at the Sydney Dance Company and at MTV Australia (music tv) – where she later become the Marketing and Publicity manager before starting her LomographicEmbassy in the year 2000. Since then her “enthusiasm for the world of global creativity and communication” keeps growing into sheer endless visions. With the Just Shoot Lomography Shop Lomography hit grass roots level in Australia.

Dedicated followers of Lomography eagerly awaited the opening of Sydney's LomographicEmbassy and Just Shoot space, which is more than merely a retail experience. It's also a club of sorts – housing the LomographicEmbassy which had been a veritable underground location until then, tucked away in a sign-free space. The store acts as an exhibition space for budding Lomographers to showcase their work, and a LomoDoctor drop-off point for ailing devices. Plus the premises boasts a photo developing service point and offers customised LomoWalls. Whether Lomographic pros., budding Lomographers who want to chat and/or find out more, or people who want to re-live their childhood Christmas fantasies and get their sticky hands on a new toy, they all shoot into Sydney's innovative Lomographic location. Karen understands the shop as a place to get your LomographicTools for the essential art movement of her Australian Lomography community. "I have worked very hard at keeping Lomography in Australia the very special thing it is and aim to keep this as raw as possible."

Just Shoot is located in the middle of a creative hub, surrounded by the COFA (college of fine arts), the ACP (Australian Centre of Photography) and the East Sydney Tafe (technical college), just off Sydney's main shopping district, the central business district, as well as Surry Hills (the centre for professional design studios). The store used to be a jewellery shop and is only 4m square. the floor is carpeted in red astro-turf and the back wall is a LomoWall. everything else is white.

Karen, who has just given birth to a beautiful baby boy, Hunter Wright Thompson, is working on her dream of turning the store into a cafe gallery space... making all 3 levels accessible to Australian and travelling Lomographers. Her embassy will be launching two projects in the near future. Lomo Lover Unite in the Loop Bar, November 2004 and Sydney Esquisse – The Lomographic World as seen by Australian Lomographers, in March 2005.

Karen Boudakian
JUST SHOOT LOMOGRAPHY SHOP Sidney
327 South Dowling Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Australia
Tel: +61 2 9380 4995
Mail: lomo@lomoaustralia.com
Web: http://www.lomoaustralia.com/lomography1.html

Ana and Sonia came across Lomography in London, where the two photographers where doing some studies. They fell in love with the concept and knew from the start that they wanted to develop Lomography in their home country, and started the Lisbon LomographicEmbassy in 2000.
They initiated endless projects, competitions, workshops, parties and exhibitions, every year more challenging than the one before, and very soon they had activated a highly creative and dynamic Lomographic community in Portugal.
“The LomographicEmbassy and shop in Lisbon was a dream as it became a must for us to have a place to work, to meet other Lomographers and to present lomographic products and projects.”

This summer the Lady Ambassadors made their dream come true and opened the Lomography Shop at an excellent location in Lisbon. Right in the heart of Bairro Alto, their favourite neighbourhood and known for the historical significance of its underground culture, loads of fashion and design stores, galleries, restaurants, nightclubs and bars (some of them had already hosted some Lomographic exhibitions).

The space they chose is a design boutique from the 1980s, originally designed by António Lagardo. They transformed it into the perfect place to showcase the Lomographic artwork from the challenges and events they organise, and a fine meeting point for the nation-wide network. They stock Lomographic products, fancy bags and t-shirts.

“Our visitors are yuppies who come for lunch to restaurants in the area, the curious that come in the afternoon, the lost tourists just before dinner time, the night clubbers at night... and the Lomographers at all times. It’s a day and night place, just like Lomography is a day and night thing.
We often open until very late and sometimes parties just start out of nothing and we end up all dancing in the shop until the morning.”

The LomographyLisbon Embassy Shop has already become a legendary happening spot. Ana de Almeida and Sónia Galiza Ferreira are working on their next mission: a MegaLomoWall in the city – not to mention all kinds of regular projects.

Ana de Almeida & Sónia Galiza Ferreira
Lomography Embassy Shop Lisbon
Rua da Atalaia 31
Bairro Alto
1200 LX Lisbon
Portugal
Tel: +351 21 342 10 75
Mail: info@lomolisbon.com
Web: http://www.lomolisbon.com

These were the ladies of the first hour, creating LomoWorlds, taking risks in pursuit of adventure, and dedicated to Lomography and the Lomographic.
But there's more, too: LomoAmbassadors, friends and partners of the Lomographic Society International all over the world are defining lomographic space, shaping the lomographic anatomy and redrawing the lomographic atlas in so many different ways.
And it seems there is no end and no frontiers to the concepts, ideas and visions for fresh, amazing and heterogeneous creations to the open-ended story of Lomography.

Selected Lomography Embassies/Shops:
The Lomographic Embassies of New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul;
Hajos Galeria in Budapest/Hungary, Espacio Lomo in Porto/Portugal, Tienda Malba Museum in Buenos Aires/The Argentine, 5Green in Dubai/UAE, Alive in Milano/Italy, Artazart Bookstore in Paris/France, Photographers’ Gallery in London/England etc.

More stores featuring Lomography:
Shop locator

Lomography Embassy & Shop Projects:
Event section

Comments & Questions
Contact the Spindoctor Amira Bibawy