Nadya Lev

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Nadya Lev
Lev (left) with Meredith Yayanos in 2011
Born
Надя (Надежда) Лев

Moscow, Russia
NationalityAmerican
Alma materTemple University
Occupation(s)Game designer, photographer, editor, publisher, and entrepreneur

Nadya Lev (born in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian-American[1] photographer, editor, publisher,[2] designer, and entrepreneur.[3][4]

Early life[edit]

Nadya Lev spent her childhood in the USSR,[5] growing up in a Soviet dissident family.[6]

Career[edit]

Photography[edit]

Lev began her photography career at age 21,[5] shooting the 50th anniversary cover for fetish fashion magazine Skin Two.[7] Subsequently, her work was used by Vogue Italia,[8] MTV,[9] Dazed & Confused,[10] Elle, Marie Claire, New York Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, The Museum at FIT[11] and Nick Knight's SHOWStudio[12] in features on alternative fashion. Lev's work has been described as sitting at the crossroads of portraiture and fashion, with her subjects possessing an "almost surreal combination of hollow power"[5] and her work emphasizing "the model as storyteller rather than empty object."[4] Seeking to understand photography from her models' perspective,[13] Lev began posing as a subject for photographer colleagues. She has modeled for Clayton Cubitt, Allan Amato and Christopher Voelker.

In 2011, Lev became the second-youngest person in medical literature to be diagnosed with genetically-inherited PEX glaucoma.[4][14][15] She lost a significant portion of her vision and underwent 15 eye surgeries.[14] After adjusting to hallucination-like distortions in vision, Lev re-trained herself in photography and resumed publishing new work.[15]

In 2013, Lev was appointed as general manager[4] and later CEO[16] of Zivity, an art patronage platform for models and photographers founded by Cyan Banister.

Print publishing[edit]

Lev is one of the co-founders of Coilhouse Magazine – a print and web art publication established in 2007,[2][17] together with Meredith Yayanos and Zoetica Ebb. The magazine's tagline was "a love letter to alternative culture, in an era where alternative culture no longer exists."[18] Coilhouse was widely acclaimed[17][18][19] for thoughtful coverage of art, music, fashion, film, technology and literature. Coilhouse has also been praised for its high production value[20] and original graphic design by creative director Courtney Riot.[21] Lev's design for the original Coilhouse website, inspired by Merz Magazine and El Lissitzky,[2] won L.A. Weekly's Best-Designed Site Aesthetic Award.[22]

In 2017, Lev announced that she was working on a Japanese coffee-table art book titled Eros & Thanatos, together with Tokyo-based art magazine editor Masanao Amano.[3][23]

Mixed reality[edit]

In 2016, Lev co-founded the technology company Aconite together with Star St. Germain.[24] Lev describes Aconite as "a mixed reality storytelling platform."[25] Lev and St.Germain define mixed reality stories as immersive experiences that sit at the intersection of adventure, narrative and gaming.[26][27] The project draws on several gameplay, real-world exploration and storytelling traditions, including transmedia, psychogeography, escape rooms, and live-action roleplay.[3][23][24]

Aconite's first prototype was Limberlost, a location-based game with a magical realist narrative written by Steen Comer, designed to be played at any bookstore or library in the world.[27] The first playtest took place at Powell's Books during XOXO Fest 2016 in Portland.[28] Players used their mobile phones to solve puzzles which led them through a sequence of physical books.[27][28] Each book contained an illustration that acted as an augmented reality marker. When triggered, the markers displayed audiovisual data that provided clues for the next book in the sequence, and unlocked new parts of the game's narrative.[3]

In 2019, Aconite came out of stealth mode and announced their first title, HoloVista.[29]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Dayal, Geeta. "'Pussy Riot' Becomes a Rally Cry for Russian Expats". Wired. Wired Magazine. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Darling, Gala (10 November 2008). "I Want to Be... A Magazine Founder & Editor!". Gala Darling. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d Madeley, Dylan (19 June 2017). "Creative Spotlight: Nadya Lev". Auxiliary Magazine (Spring 2017): 44–50. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d Boekbinder, Kim (July 15, 2014). "Ethics, Art & Good Business: A Conversation with Nadya Lev". Artists on the Internet/Medium. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Giulian, Sez. "Artist Interviews: Nadya Lev". Eros Zine. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  6. ^ Lev, Nadya. "Hacking the Magic Circle: Mixed Reality, Witchcraft and Ghosts in the Machine". YouTube. Augmented World Conference 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  7. ^ Mitchell, Tony (September 2004). Skin Two Magazine Issue 50. London, UK: Tim Woodward Publishing. ISBN 1899279814.
  8. ^ Angiolani, Riccardo (October 2006). "Mania". Vogue Italia. 674: 152.
  9. ^ Ross Rowe, Andrew. "What is Steampunk? A Subculture Infiltrating Films, Music, Fashion, More". MTV News. MTV. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  10. ^ "Eijiro Miyama's Advanced Style". Dazed & Confused Magazine. September 2013.
  11. ^ Steele, Valerie. "Gothic: Dark Glamour Exhibition". The Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  12. ^ "SHOWStudio presents Atsuko Kudo: Dressing for Pleasure". SHOWStudio. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  13. ^ Amato, Allan (December 1, 2016). SLIP: Naked in Your Own Words. Baby Tattoo Books. pp. 140–141. ISBN 978-1614040156.
  14. ^ a b Lev, Nadya (Winter 2017). Anisko, MS, Karen Ryan; Weinreb, MD, Dr. Robert N. (eds.). "Magic Eyes". Shiley Eye Institute "For Sight" 2017 Annual Report. University of California San Diego: 8–11.
  15. ^ a b Lev, Nadya (5 April 2017). "My Blade Runner Eyes". Folks Magazine.
  16. ^ Loizos, Connie (25 April 2016). "Cyan Banister has a new startup, and it's looking for seed funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  17. ^ a b Meisner, Karen (April 2011). "Crime, Cryptohistory, Cthulhu, Culture, & Cyberpunk: Inside Coilhouse Magazine". IO9. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  18. ^ a b Ohanesian, Liz (23 July 2010). "Coilhouse Co-Founders Zoetica Ebb and Meredith Yayanos Talk Comic-Con". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  19. ^ Sterling, Bruce. "Futurist Visions of the Present". Wired. Conde Nast. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  20. ^ Jardin, Xeni (26 February 2009). "Coilhouse Vol. 2 on stands". Boing Boing.
  21. ^ Ruz, Christopher. "Why Coilhouse Deserves Your $20". Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  22. ^ Broadley, Erin. "Full of So Much Win: L.A. Weekly Web Awards". LA Weekly. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  23. ^ a b "Featured Speaker: Nadya Lev". World VR Forum. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  24. ^ a b "Matter Portfolio: Aconite". Matter Ventures. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  25. ^ Borwing, Rebecca (29 September 2016). "A couple of pivots, lots of pitches, and a party". Medium. A Matter-Driven Narrative. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  26. ^ "Aconite". Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  27. ^ a b c "Let's Get Virtual: San Francisco New Tech Showcase". SFNT. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  28. ^ a b Comer, Steen. "Limberlost". Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  29. ^ Damiani, Jesse. "Aconite Comes Out Of Stealth And Announces First Game: 'HoloVista,' A Stunning Mobile Mixed Reality Experience". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-12-01.

External links[edit]

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