Dana Stirling : Editor dana.stirling1@gmail.com Yoav Friedlander : Editor Contributing Photographers Laura Letinsky / essay: Professor Martin Jay Yael Eban Barbara Ciurej Lindsay Lochman Harri Pälviranta Alexandra Lethbridge Collin Avery Orli Perel Nir Oliver Wasow Emma Kisiel Fossile Büşra Şavlı
Cover Laura Letinsky Back Cover Alexandra Lethbridge Contact floatzine@gmail.com
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Float v. float路ed, float路ing, floats Middle English floten, from Old English flotian; see pleu- in Indo-European roots. a. To remain suspended within or on the surface of a fluid without sinking; b. To be suspended in or move through space as if supported by a liquid; c. to put forth (as a proposal) for acceptance; to be lighter than air, and to move slowly through it; to suggest an idea for people to consider to see how they will react;
laura letinsky www.lauraletinsky.com
upcoming shows 2015 : (March) A Moment on my Lips: Illinois State Museum Gallery, Normal, IL | (March) FOCUS Festival Mumbai 2015 | (October) Delhi Photo Festival 2015 |
Courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery www.YanceyRichardson.com
Laura Letinsky and the Art of Stillness | by Professor Martin Jay It
is
always
ess ential of
hazardous
character istics
photography,
whos e
to of
p osit
the
histor y
the
me dium is
an
astoundin gly rapid evolution of chan ges— te chnologic al, institutional, f unctional and aesthetic—that defies easy summation. And yet, if such a r isk were taken, one could do wors e than c all it an “ar t of stillness.” In s everal meanin gf ul ways, it c an justif y that app ellation. Wreste d from the flow of time, photographic ima ges are synchronic inter r uptions in the diachronic flux of nor mal exp er ience, defiant punct uations in the inexorable transformation of pres ent into past as we hur tle into the f ut ure. Not for nothin g are the static ima ges taken from mov ies c alle d “stills.” A s e cond s ens e of the word is express e d in the silence that accompanies photographic ima ges, at least when we move past the click of the shut ter. Mov ies s e em to demand a s ound track w ith dialog ue, dia getic or ex tra-dia getic nois e, and even music al accompaniment, the last of thes e already in place w ith s o-c alle d “silent mov ies.” Photographs, in contrast, stand alone as v isual rather than acoustic mir rors of the world, s olicitin g the stillness of mute contemplation. Stillness is als o ev ident in the frozen p os es we s o of ten take in front of the lens, comp osin g ours elves into an idealize d s elf whos e b est feat ures, s o we hop e, w ill b e c apture d for eter nit y. “D on’t move! ” is the implicit plea of p or traitists ever y where, even thos e who take their ow n s elfies.
Finally, if tacitly at o dds w ith the sy nchronous, instantane ous, atemp oral qualit y of the photographic ima ge, photographs are als o exemplars of the ar t of stillness in their ma gic al—that is the only word for it—ability to convey the impression that s omethin g that once was is still here. A moment in the past is not entirely lost or consi gne d to the va gar ies of memor y, but s omehow, like the li ght of lon g dead stars, sur v ives to b e s e en now and p ossibly in the f uture. W hatever one makes of the debate amon g the oreticians ab out the imp or tance of the indexic al trace of the real in photography, it is clear that its ability to pres er ve a moment that inev itably pass es, an event that has happ ene d only once, is one of the most p ower f ul claims the me dium has on us. W hat it shows is irretr ievably gone, and yet dog ge dly still pres ent in a lin ger in g ima ge. Hi ghli ghtin g this final meanin g of the ar t of stillness aler ts us, however, to the inherent tensions in the concept its elf. For rather than merely stillin g the flow of time, the photographe d ima ge als o generates an uneasy s ens e of the entan glement of two temp oral moments in the act of v iew in g, a kind of unc anny rep etition of a past that ref us es entirely to fade away. In fact, s omethin g similar c an b e of ten s aid of photographs that str ive to c apt ure — or inadver tently pro duce —a s ens e of movement in their ver y immobility. Not only the successive ima ges of a mov in g obje ct in chronophotography, that l9 thcent ur y te chnique foreshadow in g of the animation cells of cinema, but als o ima ges of blur lef t by shut ter sp e e ds unable to fre eze motion, def y the neat opp osition of diachronic and sy nchronic. T he ar t of stillness, it t ur ns out, is more diale ctic ally complex than mi ght s e em ev ident at first glance. Perhaps nowhere is this complexity more
ev ident than in the at tempt to employ photographic means to render what painters have lon g c alle d “still lifes” (from the D utch stilleven). thos e ima ges of arran ge d, inanimate obje cts, natural or man-made, that have b e en found as far back as Eg y ptian and Gre ek tombs. W hen they reache d their hei ght in the late Renaiss ance and B aro que p er io ds, most notably in Nor thern Europ e, they gradually she d their allegor ic al reli gious implic ations, but of ten maintaine d the moral less ons that made them more than exercis es in hy p er-realist comp ositional ar tistr y. In par ticular, the obje cts depicte d— hour glass es, w ithere d flowers, worm-eaten fr uit, even skulls- could s er ve as memento mor i in “vanitas” paintin gs, which reminde d the v iewer of the transience and ephemeralit y of life. It was not by chance that the s ame genre c ame to b e c alle d in France in the l8th cent ur y “nat ure mor te.” Althou gh de clinin g in imp or tance in mo dernist paintin g, the still life, as Michael Petr y has re cently show n, has b e en rev ive d in re cent years. 1 Photographers have inev itably b e en draw n to the opp or t unities they pres ent
1 Mic h ael Pet r y, N at ure Mor te: C ontemp ora r y A r t i s t s Re v iv e t he S t i l l-L i fe Trad it ion ( L ondon , 2013).
for aesthetic expression, as they are clearly clos er to the “made” than “taken” end of the sp e ctr um that defines the me dium’s tension b etwe en controlle d ar tifice and contin gent s erendipity. T he earlier examples in the work of celebrate d photographers like Edward Weston and Ir v in g Penn have b e en succe e de d by more
sustaine d effor ts by such contemp orar ies as Sharon Core, Darren Jones, Mat Collishaw and Jeanne D unnin g, to name only a few ar tists whos e o euv res have showc as e d the p ossibilities of the genre. But p erhaps no one amon g the re cent adepts of photographic still lifes has plumb e d the complexities of the ar t of
stillness as de eply as Laura Letinsky. Still lifes, b oth in paintin g and photography, of ten convey a s ens e of the s olidit y and mater ialit y of the world they p or tray. Even as they allegor ic ally gest ure towards the ephemerality of human existence and the vanit y of hop es for ear thly happiness, they do s o by show in g us, of ten in exquisite detail, the r ichness of the dis crete obje cts— or more pre cis ely, the insistent thereness of the thin gs—that make up our world. It is almost as if they cons ole us for our transience by s ay in g, lo ok, at least this mat ter w ill endure. T he obje cts in Letinsky’s ima ges, in contrast, reveal their fra gility and v ulnerability, threatenin g to fade away almost as we lo ok at them. S ome in fact are not obje cts p er s e, but already photographe d ima ges of obje cts, which are mixe d w ith ones that are real. By depictin g obje cts that are thems elves the residues of a past action, usually a meal already consume d, they intensif y the temp oral disjunctures of the ar t of stillness. T hrou gh a kind of internal citation, they duplic ate the “still there” quality of all photography by photographin g dis c arde d, sp ent obje cts that thems elves have sur v ive d— or we mi ght s ay outlive d--the moment of their actual us a ge. However entropic their implie d
traje ctor y, they retain the residues of the v ital f unctions they once s er ve d. In addition to the unre concile d temp oralities of thes e ima ges, a numb er als o convey a stron g s ens e of the ambi g uities that c an undermine the coherence of spatial order. Letinsky has acknowle d ge d an affinity in her work for the dis or ientin g spaces of baro que v isual
The objects in Letinsky’s images, in contrast, reveal their fragility and vulnerability, threatening to fade away almost as we look at them. culture, which playe d w ith li ght and shadow to shake the hierarchic al author it y of Alb er tian p ersp e ctive. Of ten there is no fir m ground in thes e photographs, no sure s ens e of up or dow n. W hereas the tradition of painte d still lifes normally str ives for fidelit y to thre e-dimensional space, usin g li ght to mo del obje cts in realistic ways and placin g them in the familiar s et tin gs of ever yday life, Letinsky takes lib er ties w ith the env ironments in which hers find thems elves. Not only is the temp oralit y in thes e ima ges unc anny, but als o, of ten, is the space, evokin g the or i ginal G erman word “unheimlich” or “unhomeyness” as way to understand their stran ge effe ct on us of b ein g literally displace d. No less notable is Letinsky’s choice of white as the back ground color a gainst which her obje cts, real and already me diate d, are p ositione d. Or more cor re ctly, the f ull register of different shades of white that prov ide a dazzlin g counter p oint to whatever is s et a gainst them. One of my first impressions of the photographs was that they s omehow
mana ge to c apt ure what is of ten c alle d “near death ex p er iences.” T hat is, they convey the s ens e of b ein g immers e d in a br i ght li ght that suff us es a s cene of s erenit y outside of normal spatiotemp oral parameters. But like such ex p er iences, however one may inter pret them, they als o resist the f ull transition b eyond ear thly existence, and br in g us back to our world. O s cillatin g at the cusp of life and death, or rather “still life” and “nat ure mor te,” they p er form the ar t of stillness in all of its ambi g uous complexities, enactin g b oth stasis and movement, exhaustion and v italit y, uneas e and s erenit y. As a result, they combine the melancholy of loss and regret for time passin g, the traditional allegor ic al less on of vanitas, w ith the st ubb orn hop e of sur v ival and endurance, despite it all.
Ma r t in Jay, Sid ney Hel l m a n Eh r m a n P rofe s s or of H istor y at t he Un iversity of C a li for n i a , B erkeley
laura letinsky
Untitled #8 from Fall series, 2009
Untitled #13 from Ill Form and Void Full series, 2011
Untitled #3 from Ill Form and Void Full series, 2011
Untitled #54 from Hardly More Than Ever series, 2002
Untitled #55 from Ill Form and Void Full series, 2014
Untitled #18 from Ill Form and Void Full series, 2011
Untitled #60 from Hardly More Than Ever series, 2002
Untitled #46from Ill Form and Void Full series, 2014
“ Oscillating at the cusp of life and death, or rather ‘still life’ and ‘nature morte’, they perform the art of stillness in all its ambiguous complexities, enacting both stasis and movement, exhaustion and vitality, unease and serenity. “ Martin Jay
With great appreciation to Laura Letinsky, Professor Martin Jay and Yancey Richardson Gallery
Laura Letinsky essay by: Professor Martin Jay
General Assembly Yael Eban
Natural History Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman
News Portraits (School Shooters) Harri Palviranta
The Meteorite Hunter Alexandra Lethbridge
Remain Calm Collin Avery
100 Years of Red Sun Orli Perel Nir
Processed Views: Surveying the Industrial Landscape Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman
Artist Unknown Oliver Wasow
Cher Ami
Emma Kisiel
4
52
66
86
106
124
140
168
FRAG MENTED 42
float magazine - issue no. III
24
General Assembly / Yael Eban "Ge neral Asse mb ly" is the exa mi na tion o f a space tha t e xists b etween the pub lic a nd p ri va te archives tha t re present my fa mi ly hist o ry. The l ingering onli ne presence o f my la te grandpare nts is the a ncho r fo r my resea rch. M y grandfa ther was a n Isra eli di plo ma t a nd my grandmother an avid a rt co llect o r. My ro le i n this proj e ct is tripartite: I crea te as a rtist, a rchi vist, a nd cura t or . The body of wo rk itself is the convergence of these three ro les—a series o f phot ogra phic combina tions or co llages tha t vaci lla te b etween dual ities or contra dictions: the pub lic a nd p ri va te, the ra tional and emotiona l, a nd the documenta ry and interpretive . www. y a e le b a n. c om
I search for sp e cific images a nd o b j ect s t ha t re l a te t o t he l ives of m y gra nd pa rents , and I follow t hei r traj e ct o r y fro m t he h o me t o t he In ter n et , or vice -versa . A l l t ypes of i mages i n this p roj ect are l egit ima te a nd o f equa l va l ue : a sn a psh ot , a f in e a rt ph ot ogra ph ,
a n ews pap er c l ipping , a sc ree n sh ot of a n e Bay re ce ipt . I ask t he viewer t o re f lect on the new ex perience a nd pa ra meters o f t he a rch ive , a nd t he l ives of ph ot ogra phs as objects i n a digita l age.
I
Pa rt
Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman / Natural History Birth, death and regeneration pulse through the ephemeral beauty of the natural world. In Natural History, plant forms integrate with portraits of women in the ripeness of their years, representing maturity as a web of potent connection. We photographed friends, family and mentors in the dignified attitudes of Roman portraits. After the application of a lightsensitive solution, the images are overlaid with plants from our garden and exposed in sunlight. Sun and season inscribe the passage of time. Portraits and plants merge in the shadowy blue tones of the cyanotype process. Gathered in a portfolio to evoke an herbarium, taxonomic references draw parallels between human and plant nature, layering histories worthy of study. w w w. c iure jloc hma np hoto. c om
Tia with R ose mar y R oots impression
Betty with Dill Weed impression
Mar y Ann S with Sweet Woodruff impression
“ They wished to flower and flowering is being beautiful: but we wish to ripen and that means being dark and taking pains. � (Rainer Maria Rilke)
Annie with Cle matis impression
Ja net with Choke berr y impre ssion
E va wi th Sna k eroot i mp res s i on
Helen with Hare Bells impression
News Portraits (school shooters) / Harri P채lviranta
w ww. ha rrip a lv ira nta . c om
N ews p ortra i t # 9 (s chool s hooter H a rri s a nd Kl eb ol d , USA )
Detail from Ne ws portrait # 5 (school shooter Lanza)
News Portraits (School Shooters) | by Harri Pälviranta
confront the horrible act from a safe distance. As
These
images
perpetrators
are
of
portraits
the
ten
of
most
the fatal
Susan
S ontag
reminds
us,
photographs of agony not only remind the
viewers
of
the
explicit
issues
school shootings since the Columbine
presented in the photographs, but also
m a s s a c r e i n 1 9 9 9. F i v e o f t h e s h o o t e r s
of the existence of a culture of violence
a r e f r o m t h e U S A , t w o f r o m G e r m a n y,
in
two from Finland and one from Brazil.
considerations,
general.
Connected images
to of
ethical violence
can invite viewers “to pay attention, to S chool shootings are rare, but repetitive
reflect, to learn and to examine” not
phenomenon,
perpetrators
only the images and their aesthetics,
similarities.
but also the culture of violence they
sharing
with
the
significant
Re s e a r c h s h o w s t h a t s c h o o l s h o o t i n g s
depict
are
unavoidably a part.
acts
motivated
by
individual
and
of
which
the
viewer
is
troubles rather than political motives.
Po r t r a i t s o f A m e r i c a n s c h o o l s h o o t e r s
and they are never totally impulsive
are
a c t s . R a t h e r , t h e s h o o t e r , a yo u n g m a n a particular school, will slowly become from
his
peers.
Often
he
faces bullying at school. His family circumstances may be normal but the
“ These Images are portraits of the perpetrators of the ten most fatal school shootings...” man
himself
and
I nternet
news.
S i m i l a r l y,
the
portraits of Finnish school shooters are constructed from Finnish media, German
portraits
from
German
alienated.
media and the Brazilian portrait from
There is usually some sort of serious
Brazilian media. All of the appropriated
drawback in his personal life and he
articles are gun and shooting related,
feels rejected. His final attempt to
and
redeem his position as an alpha male
thousand
is to commit an act so horrific in scale
T hu s
that it will give him eternal fame.
mu l t i l i n g u a l a n d mu l t i c u l t u r a l d e s p i t e
The
treatment
of
feels
photographed
clippings from American newspapers
the yo u n g
from
“His final attempt to redeem his position as an Alpha male is to commit an act so horrific in scale that it will give him eternal fame”
w h o i s a s t ud e n t o r f o r m e r s t ud e n t o f e x c l ud e d
constructed
portrait
contains
different
this
over
a
news
headlines.
is
inherently
series
shootings
the singularity of each image and event,
in the media has both positive and
a l l ud i n g t o t h e s o c i a l c o n n e c t e d n e s s
negative
t h a t t h e s e yo u n g m e n h a v e t h r o ug h
effects.
school
each
On
the
one
hand,
the dramatic stories can construct a
the
myth around the shooter making him
and other web based practices these
the idol he wished to be, encouraging
shooters constitute a kind of imagined
c o p yc a t b e h a v i o u r a n d c e l e b r a t i o n o f
c o m mu n i t y
violence. On the other hand, media
that this series hopes to reveal and
presentations of violence people can
understand.
I nternet.
T h r o ug h
and
social
common
media
culture
News portrait # 7 (school shooter Steinh채user, Germany)
News portrait # 8 (school shooter Weise, USA )
News portrait # 1 (school shooter Saari, Finland)
News portrait # 4 (school shooter Kretschmer, Germany) / N ews p ortra i t # 6 (s chool s hooter Cho, USA )
News portrait # 9 (school shooter Oliveira, Brazil) / News por tra i t # 9 (s chool s hooter Ka zmi ercza k , USA )
News portrait # 5 (school shooter Lanza, USA)
The Meteorite Hunter / Alexandra Lethbridge The Meteorite Hunter is an archive of a search for meteorites and the places they come from. The work is based on the impulse to search for the "other" within the everyday. Using the notion of the Meteorite as a metaphor for the fantastical hidden with in the everyday, the body of work is a document of a hunt to locate the ethereal and sublime in the mundane and banal. A Meteorite Hunter is a person who commits to the art of finding space rocks. It's a search within our everyday for a glimpse of a translunary guest, a clue to something that tells us more about who we are and where we come from. The Meteorite in this way becomes a beacon, negating hunters through our landscape to find clues of celestial company. The act of searching is to thoroughly seek and pursue to find something concealed.
w w w.alexand r alethb r id ge.com
The meteorite, in her modest way, hides reservedly in our surroundings, concealed in layers of the ground, sand, water and dirt covering her over, her exotic homeland hidden in her camouflage. The art of archeology that then takes place expresses a need that we have to understand more than what we know and more than what we have. The job of a Meteorite Hunter is one of patience, understanding and skill. To constantly seek what you search for, to understand your aim and to pursue it forsaking all others. The search sees us sift and wade through our surroundings, constantly casting aside the fantastical that exists all around us in favour of the extraterrestrial and otherworldly. The need to hunt, to know, to find, engages our imagination and we aim to find something outside of what we can imagine, something that mirrors the space of which we cannot visit. The journey that is documented becomes one of evidence and perspective. In the hunt for the meteorite we are faced with objects and places that question our understanding and knowing of our own surroundings. Forcing us to engage with the familiar and mundane with questioned doubt and opened perspective, we begin to see the beauty of having uncertainty about the origin of a photo, a rock, an object.
The flight of the meteorite itself can be broken down into segments. In orbiting through space the rock is a Meteoroid. Once it has been pulled into the Earth’s gravitational pull it becomes a Meteor and if it manages to travel as far as to impact with Earth and survive it becomes a Meteorite. The spaces that are reflected in both journeys act as signals. Space, to the ethereal and celestial and Earth, to the concrete and factual. The combination of the Meteorite landing on Earth from Space creates a realm where these two things interact and create a dialogue that is unusual and unexpected. The artifacts that are collected along the way begin to cluster and multiply until you are left with a vast archive of forms which ultimately create a document of what is found here around us. This collection forces us to un-know what is familiar and therefore overlooked. By unknowing our surroundings we reconsider them and therefore engage our imaginations in our own hunt for the truth. Using these ideas, the work aims to challenge our preconceptions of our surroundings and question the parallels between our own world and our imaginations. One of these images is in fact a meteorite that has landed from space. Part of the work is the text sections which reveal the source of the imagery and encourage participation in locating the actual meteorite in the work.
NO place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film
Robert Adams
Remain Calm / Collin Avery M y ph ot ographs a re a bout a pa rticu l a r p rocess of o bserva t ion wh ich I acqu ired du ring a dol esce nce . A s a ch i l d , I was af raid o f con f ron ta tion , so as a way t o esca p e d i f f icul t me nt al and ph ysica l situa tion s I ha d design a ted h id i ng zones loca ted th rough out the h ouse a nd ya rd where I coul d d isapp ea r . Duri ng t hese t i mes of se l f in trosp e ction , I b eca me fixa ted on cert ai n ph ysica l deta ils of the space . The subtl e nuances and i nt i ma te m ome n ts of sil e nce were m in e alone . I t is t h is way of see ing wh ich has in fl u e nced m y p ersonal ph ot ographic p ractice. Obser va tion has b e come my new way o f esca ping. M y images a re n ot a bout f inding t he e xt rao rd i nary i n the ever yday, but in stea d a re a bout f i nd i ng t he everyday e x tra ordin a r y.
www.collinav er y.com
Fossiles are obtained by digging. They are preserved remains or traces from the past discovered and undiscovered. Büşra Şavlı- Stealing other people’s memories might be wrong, but I just share their happiness and sadness as a future friend. It’s a pleasure to introduce my friends from the past, not in a usual way but as an integrated whole of my different perspectives on their existences. I met this family in a box that full of old memories at a flea market. Besides all those great printed black and white photos which I actually collect, this baby bath album was on negative, shining and waiting to be printed or at least to be s c a n ne d . For we e k s , I l o o ke d a t t h e neg a t ive s a l m o s t eve r y d ay to figure out the features of faces. It was obvious from some hints to say that these photographs b e l o n g t o a t l e a s t 3 0 y e a r s a g o , t h a t ’ s w h y, I w a i t e d a n d w h e t t e d my appetite to meet these people from a time when I didn’t even exist in.And it was literally nice to meet this little guy and beautiful ladies i n t h e i r v e r y s p e c i a l d a y. Having no idea about who they are, when and where they have lived, what their relationship actually was or how they l i v e i n n o w, i f t h e y s t i l l d o , i s n o t i m p o r t a n t s i n c e t o b e f r e e to write millions of different scripts for every time I look a t t h e m i s t h e t h i ng t h a t a c t u a l l y m a t t e r s t o m e . To s e e h o w t h e y ’d l o o k l i k e i n ‘ r e a l ’ f o r m w a s t h e p u r p o s e . S o h e r e you a r e : t h e a nony m ou s f a c e s , e noug h t o r e v e a l t h e i r uniquenesses. As for the everything else, that identify them in that particular time and space, stayed negative and always will be for me. Now their faces belong to today as if they’re ready to resume on.
100 Years of Red Sun / Orli Perel Nir 100 Years of Red Sun is a series of portraits of young cadets from military academies in Eastern Europe, where strict military education from an early age still takes place and being a part of a the national identity after long centuries of tradition. For an outside viewer this world might seems far and strange, but altogether a unique remnant of a glorious era, a current hallmark of a distinctive heritage throughout history; a world that retained its own rules and beliefs despite the enormous changes throughout time. Young boys are being trained to be senior officers in the army while the choice of military life is being made from a very young age. The thin line between childhood and manhood in the pictures is being crossed over and over, as well as dreams and disappointments. The subjects were chosen carefully and were staged like on a theatre stage; emerging from the black background behind them or being swallowed by it. Young children posing like in the old portraits of war heroes painted in the 16th and 17th centuries, the faces of the future being held back by the past.
www.or lip n.com
II
Pa rt
Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman /
Processed Views: Surveying the Industrial Landscape Processed Views interprets the frontier of industrial food production: the seductive and alarming intersection of nature and technology. As we move further away from the sources of our food, we head into uncharted territory replete with unintended consequences for the environment and for our health.
w w w. c iure jloc hma np hoto. c om
Flamin’ Hot Monolith
B lu e Dye #1 Precipice
Moon ligh t on Balogna
White Bread Mountain
Fruit Loops Land s ca p e
Marshmallow Chasm
Cola S e a
In our commentary on the landscape of processed foods, we reference the work of photographer, Carleton Watkins (1829-1916). His sublime views framed the American West as a land of endless possibilities and significantly influenced the creation of the first national parks. However, many of Watkins photographs were commissioned by the corporate interests of the day;
Deep Fried Bluffs
the railroad, mining, lumber and milling companies. His commissions served as both documentation of and advertisement for the American West. Watkins images upheld the popular 19th century notion of Manifest Destiny – America's bountiful land, inevitably and justifiably utilized by its citizens. We built these views to examine consumption, progress and the changing landscape.
S aturate d Fat Foothills
M onocul ture P l a i ns
oliver wasow www.oliverwasow.com
a r t i s t unknown
The images that make up Artist Unknown were all found on the Internet and taken for the most part during the 20th century, using analog cameras. At some point these pictures were separated from their original owners and reclaimed by others, who in turn chose to upload them to the Web. As it stands now, they occupy an undefined and immaterial space somewhere between the analog and digital worlds. They’ve been rescued from physical deterioration and at the same time opened up to the potential for endless manipulation and digital redistribution. The pictures presented here were culled from over onehundred-thousand images, uploaded by thousands of individuals who, one imagines, found them to a great extent in thrift stores and yard sales. It’s also very possible, likely in fact, that the individuals posting them also found them on the Internet and simply re-blogged them. With screen names like Superbomba and Sarcoptiform, the people sharing these pictures participate in a kind of “crowd sourced” curatorial practice, creating an archive of analog images larger than anything a single individual or institution could ever hope to amass. In editing and indexing these images, Wasow has created a singular artwork that not only speaks to picture-taking practices of the Twentieth Century but also underscores the idea that in a digital environment the artist’s practice is increasingly migrating from the confines of the studio to the image-rich landscape of the World Wide Web.
Cher Ami / Emma Kisiel Cher Ami was a famously loyal homing pigeon who, during World War I, suffered from a shot to the breast and a destroyed leg, yet diligently delivered a message that saved hundreds of lives. The meaning of his name is "Dear Friend." Animals play many roles to us as humans, but to me, their most significant role is as kindred spirits; dear friends. In Cher Ami, I explore the meaning of examining animals fragile bodies up-close, as I have done since childhood, and spend quiet moments appreciating the small but significant lives of the beings with which we share the planet.
www.em m akisiel.com
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P h ot o : Da na St i rl i ng / / I ll us t r at i o n : Racheli Tzair i
E d i t e d by D a n a Sti rli ng & Yo av Fri ed l채nd er. M a n y Th a n k s t o La ura Leti snky and Pro fesso r Marti n J ay