An Espresso with…Christiane Pratsch Monarchi
What’s success for you?
At present, success means building a community and supporting artists in their practice. It's not just about income generation, which used to be my traditional measure of success when I worked in finance, and it has taken a long time to unlearn that. Now I measure success in having people that I don't know email me and want to collaborate, which has led to a lot of interesting things in my life that involve working with new people and ideas. I look forward to the possibility of larger collaborations in exhibitions and festivals, like the Bristol Photo Festival in 2026. Definitely, success is meeting interesting artists, learning about their work, and occasionally collaborating on a project. That’s a dream come true.
Why do you focus on photography?
My love of art and an MA in ‘Contemporary Art History’ led me in that direction. Additionally, I took a seminar with Susan Bright on contemporary photography, which sparked my interest. Photography has an inherent ability to tell many different narratives and be read in a variety of ways, which made me want to learn more and to work in this area of the arts for twenty years so far. After creating Photomonitor, a digital magazine specialising in photography, during lockdown, I went on to develop and launch with co-director Gordon MacDonald the Hapax Magazine, an international print-only photography magazine that commissions new projects to artists, offering an incubator for their new ideas on print without any online sharing. Some of these ideas may develop into exhibitions, photobooks, and festivals. Now, Hapax has expanded the idea into ‘Hapax Living Room’, a project space that showcases new or experimental photographic ideas, brings people together, and shares ideas in person.
How has your work developed from your initial steps to the present?
Initially, after my MA, I had the privilege of working with James Hyman at the former James Hyman Gallery. Together, we created a photography exhibition programme representing a great group of photographers, and it made me realise how few sharing possibilities exist for artists who aren’t invited to exhibit in galleries. About thirteen years ago, I created Photomonitor to serve as a platform to share people's work online and provide visibility. It was built on the model of gathering some funding to pay writers to cover photography with exhibition reviews, interviews, book reviews and essays. Then, about five years ago, Gordon and I had the idea of Hapax magazine because we wanted to support artists and curators with a small commission to try out new ideas in the development of their practice and reinforce the beginning of the art cycle. It’s a special honour to be in the position to work with people who are starting a new project, and hundreds of people from around the world respond to our open call every six months. Now I can say that I enjoy being a facilitator or enabler of others’ artistic ideas and helping them grow. It’s a pleasure to have this sort of collaborative relationship and have people come to Hapax Living Room or engage with us about the magazine at a publishing fair. The Living Room isn’t a commercial gallery, but a space for sharing ideas and allowing pure collaboration.
HAPAX Magazines in the Living Room
Me with Gordon MacDonald (my co-editor on HAPAX) and Jermaine Francis whose show we just finished in the Living Room.
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