The Conductor
Video projected on a cyanotype, 8:20 min loop, Super 8 transferred to DV-tape, 4:3, color, mute, 2023.
The installation consists of a cyanotype, a technique invented by an astronomer, in which two types of iron salts are coated onto a substrate that is then exposed to sunlight, and a film projected onto it. In the film, large felines are seen moving around an artificial pond. Repetitive circular movements, constantly moving but sometimes some of the animals stop to drink some water. It is a dreamlike state, day and night are merged. Captured animals and captured images. Captivate instincts. It is a closed system.
The image is rasterized, a reminder of another vision. An extreme mechanical and automated image reality, where the production of images can almost be seen as a mechanical extension of the body. I am interested in photography's own materiality. Its basic chemistry is materially conditioned, dependent on the extraction of raw materials – silver mines and developed early printing processes using gelatin from animal carcasses. Both copper plates and silver are essential in the development of photography, and the metals reached photographers' studios via colonial networks.
