the exhibition Lab

6-Month Project Development Intensive

3-Week Exhibition at Foley Gallery

With Michael Foley & Elinor Carucci

The Exhibition Lab

January – June 2023

Wednesday evenings from 6:30 – 9:30 EST (one class each month for a total of 5 classes)

Applications will open on November 1st for the January 2023 edition

Deadline:  Friday, December 9th,  Midnight EST

Sign up for The Photographer’s Report (bottom of the page) for updates

 

This six-month intensive is for students who wish to further develop an ongoing project for exhibition. 

  • Enrollment by application only
  • Class size is limited to 8 students
  • All classes are conducted via Zoom Meeting.
 

What is the Exhibition Lab?

Michael Foley co-founded the Exhibition Lab in 2010 to study fine art photography dedicated to learning by critique.

Located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the gallery space of Foley Gallery, the Ex Lab will function as a hub for studying photography outside of traditional academic venues. 

Classes are small in size to encourage participation and interaction. The overarching goal of the Ex Lab, in addition to sharing knowledge and fostering dialogue, is to provide fine art photographers with a ‘home base,’ a place of learning, discourse, and community. Michael Foley’s expertise as a gallery owner and academic and the Lab’s location within the walls of an established and celebrated gallery will be the foundation of the Lab’s connection to the professional community.

How to Apply

This class is open to all levels by application only.  Submit 8 images from a cohesive body of work along with a hundred-word artist statement and why you would like to join.  Each jpg should be no larger than 1 MG.  In addition, you may be asked to set up an interview via Skype/Zoom.  If accepted, you will be given a link to sign up and submit a deposit.  If you have already taken classes at the Exhibition Lab, you still must apply.

Click on the “Apply to the Ex Lab” link below, attach 8 jpegs, artist statement, and why you would like to join.  Please put “Ex Lab Application” in the subject line.

How classes work

Each class is 3 hours long and limited to 8 students.  Michael will lead classes, and on 3 occasions, he will be joined by Elinor Carucci.  The last class will feature a final critique with Michael and two Guest Artists

Classes run from January to June.  You must be able to attend at least 4 of the 5 critique sessions.  We will meet on one Wednesday each month.  Final dates TBD.  All classes are held via Zoom.

Monthly Guidance

Each month, Michael will do a 30-minute “Check-in” meeting with you via Zoom. It’s a way to review that month’s critique and reflect on ways to move forward in your practice.

The Exhibition

Throughout the term, you will be working toward a three-week summer exhibition at Foley Gallery. Each photographer will be fairly represented on the walls of the gallery.

Tuition

Tuition for the program is $2200. This includes:

  • 5 group critique sessions lasting 3+ hours (three of which will be co-led with Elinor Carucci.  Additionally, the last class will feature two guest artists for a final critique)
  • 4 individual coaching/mentoring calls lasting 30 minutes each
  • 3-week summer exhibition at Foley Gallery

A deposit of $500 is due upon acceptance. The remaining balance is to be paid on January 5th, 2023 (payment plans are also available).

join us

we look forward to working with you!

Completing this workshop will help you:

Who is the course for?

Artists who are committed to maturing their projects for exhibition

What people are saying

ExLab was a wonderful experience. Constructive critique from both fellow photographers attending the workshop and guest critics proved to be of great help as my project evolved. I highly recommend the program.
Farras Abdelnour
Brooklyn, NY
The Exhibition Lab exceeded my expectations. I was able to show and refine two bodies of work that were not ready for prime time, get valuable feedback and helpful suggestions from the other artists and the guest reviewers and refine the work to a level that I am proud to be presenting. As an artist who works in a solitary and isolated studio environment it was extremely helpful
Bill Westheimer
West Orange, NJ
The six months of working with the ExLab community was one of the most creatively productive times I've had. Not only did Michael and Elinor foster an atmosphere of support and critique, but they gathered a group of talented and thoughtful artists who contributed so much.
I don't think I would have survived the final phases of the Covid lockdown were it not for ExLab.
The insightful and thought provoking feedback from Michael during our one-on-one sessions really helped me focus my vision and find a narrative that resonated with my photographic practice. Add to that Elinor's artistic vision and years of experience, I felt so lucky to have my work before them and receive insights that on my own, I would not have had access to.
The monthly one-on-one and group meetings helped me progress my project step by step and gave me time to nurture and contemplate my work. It also helped me to work with my fellow photographers and learn from their processes and insights. Their feedback was also an essential part of what made this such a successful experience. Michael and Elinor beautifully facilitated the discussions and allowed all the artists to contribute to the discourse.
I can't express what a an incredible joy it was to work on something for 6 months with 2 incredible teachers and mentors, alongside other talented artists with unique visions, and have my project on the walls of a NYC gallery. I would take this class again! So very grateful for the experience.
Mayita Mendez
Protection Island, British Columbia
For the past year, I photographed my parents as they navigated the final chapters of their lives together while living in my home. The journey has been both gift and grief, recognizing my parents universal story of love and vulnerability, fear and mortality. The moments captured were unlike any that I had seen for the entirety of my life. Newly reunited, they cherished the opportunity to be physically close to one another. I needed help crystalizing this work.
When ExLab began, my project could have been completed as daddy had recently died. But because of this class, I continued to study mom, photographing her extensively as she grieved after daddy’s death. When mom died only 2 months later, I was again challenged to channel my grief into new work. Sharing this work with Michael’s group and receiving their emotionally charged support and critique was powerful and timely. I will not forget the connections made.
Becky Wilkes
azle, tx
The ex lab was an excellent opportunity for me as an artist and photographer to work in a small group towards an exhibition. It allowed my work and myself as an artist to be reviewed, discussed and critiqued amidst my peers and leading industry professionals. It was a great opportunity for professional development and experience in the process of Idea to Exhibition."
Francis Minien
New York, NY
I was feeling kind of stuck in Japan. I didn’t have any people around who could give me meaningful advice on my work. I was lucky because I could join ExLab via Zoom at this time! I understood what I was doing much better and the direction I should go, much clearer. Thank you so much, Michael, Elinor and other ExLab students!
Takako Kido
Sendai, Japan
I participated in the Exhibition Lab this year and really enjoyed the workshop. My work was at a point where I needed to get feedback to progress. The workshop provided the type of insight that I needed in order to move it forward. The length of the workshop allowed me to create new work and have it develop naturally over the course of several months. The best part of the workshop was having an exhibition at the end where we were able to show the work in a gallery setting.
Mark Peterman
Phoenix, AZ
The Exhibition Lab was a win-win, no-brainer opportunity that I knew I wanted to partake in. I was in a later phase of a personal photography project that I wanted feedback on, and missed the critique environment that school had previously provided. I already knew Michael and Elinor, and therefore expected the knowledgeable, candid guidance they give, but had forgotten how impactful fellow peers can be. It was great to make those new connections with the other artists. And then of course, how wonderful the opportunity is to exhibit the work at the Foley Gallery in NYC. I look forward to hopefully repeating this process with future projects!
Elizabeth Clark Libert
Cambridge, MA
My thanks to you for a truly invaluable experience in the Ex Lab. I cannot put into words what I gained from our dialogue . . . I wish it could continue . . . so much great stuff not only on photography but the art world in general and the contemporary scene in particular. I hope you will continue to share your passion for photography with us.
It’s all about the conversation . . . and what a great conversation the Ex Lab offers. An an artist, it is difficult finding a thoughtful above-the-fray dialogue about my work . . . and the Ex Lab forum, with qualified peers, colleagues, mentors and Michael Foley, presented me with a once-in-a-career opportunity.
Robert George
St. Louis

Are You Ready To Start?

enroll now!

Elinor Carucci

Artist/mother

Born 1971 in Jerusalem, Elinor Carucci graduated in 1995 from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design with a degree in photography, and moved to New York that same year. Her work has been included in many solo and group exhibitions worldwide, solo shows include Edwynn Houk gallery, Fifty One Fine Art Gallery, FoMU, and Gagosian Gallery, London among others and group shows include The Museum of Modern Art New York, MoCP Chicago and The Photographers’ Gallery, London. 

Her photographs are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Houston Museum of Fine Art, among others and her work appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Details, New York Magazine, W, Aperture, ARTnews and many more publications. 

She was awarded the ICP Infinity Award in 2001, The Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002 and NYFA in 2010. Carucci has published three monographs to date, Closer, Chronicle Books 2002 and Diary of a Dancer, SteidlMack 2005 and MOTHER, Prestel 2013. In fall of 2019 Monacelli Press published her fourth monograph, Midlife

Carucci teaches at the graduate program of Photography and Related Media at School of Visual Arts and is represented by Edwynn Houk Gallery, where she had a solo show of Midlife in (if 2020.

Michael Foley

Artist/educator/gallerist

Michael Foley opened his gallery in the fall of 2004 after fourteen years of working with notable photography galleries including Fraenkel Gallery, Howard Greenberg Gallery and Yancey Richardson Gallery.

The gallery has been invited to participate in over twenty international and national art fairs include Paris Photo, Pulse New York and the London Art Fair.  The gallery has been a member of AIPAD for three years.

Gallery exhibitions and artists have been reviewed and written about in several publications including The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Modern Painters and ArtNEWS.

In 2009, Foley co-founded The Exhibition Lab, a study center for people involved in various aspects of fine art photography.  He is a mentor and coach to dozens of independent photographers with a focus on refining their vision and preparing their work professionally.

Foley continues his interest in educating by serving on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts where he teaches and lectures on issues in contemporary photography at the undergraduate and graduate levels.   and the International Center of Photography where he teaches and lectures on issues in contemporary photography. 

He has been a portfolio reviewer at over 25 photography reviews throughout the United States. 

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