Alise Tifentale

Dr. Alise Tifentale is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art History at the City University of New York (Kingsborough Community College), specializing in global photography history, transnational cultural networks, and Soviet/post-Soviet visual culture. She also teaches at CUNY Queensborough, SUNY Old Westbury, and Marywood University.

Education

• Ph.D., Art History, The Graduate Center, CUNY (2020)
• M.A., Art Academy of Latvia (2010)
• B.A., Journalism, University of Latvia (1998)

Research Focus

Her work examines photography as a social practice, mid-20th century photo-club culture, and Instagram’s role in contemporary visual culture. She analyzes intersections between technological evolution and artistic agency, particularly in Eastern Europe.

Publications & Teaching

Author of Photographer Alnis Stakle (2009) and The Photograph as Art in Latvia, 1960–1969 (2011), her upcoming book Photo Club Culture: Global Image Circulation, Competition, and Collaboration in the 1950s and 1960s (forthcoming) synthesizes decades of research on transnational photography networks. She has taught courses on art history from prehistory to the 19th century and 20th-century art.

Scientific Awards

• Fulbright Foreign Student Fellowship (2011–2012)
• AAUW International Postgraduate Fellowship (2013–2014)
• Research Fellowship, Cultural Analytics Lab, CUNY (2013–2018)
• Doctoral Student Research Grant and Marian Goodman Travel Grant, CUNY (2016–2017)
• AABS Jānis Grundmanis Scholarship (2013–2014)
• Provost’s Summer Research Grant, CUNY (2014)

Curatorial & Institutional Roles

Founder and director of the Art Days Forever archive (Zenta Dzividzinska and Juris Tifentals estates), co-curator of the 2013 Latvia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and founder of Foto Kvartals (Latvia’s first photography magazine). Affiliated with professional societies: College Art Association (CAA), Photography Network, and Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES).