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In UNIT2 there have been important moments of reflection, especially when we presented our work through the symposium and the UNIT2 essay. Other key reflective moments that are key to my practice are highlighted in green.
UNIT2 essay
A reflection and evaluation of the entirety of my project, Industrialism brought forward. In this essay I evaluate the key developments and the key examples of new knowledge that I have acquired as well as the future of my project.
Symposium
In this post you can see the video I prepared for my presentation at the symposium where I form a synthesis of my practice-based research by analysing and reflecting on my work of 2 years at MA Digital Arts. As well as my thoughts on how the presentation went.
Inking and printing
Here – after a whole day inking the plates and not getting a result – I reflect on the practical challenges that using Photo Intaglio presents if I want to achieve my goals.
The printing Surface
This blog is a reflection and validation of my practice. I talk about the printing surface and why I chose a traditional method of printing as my chosen output instead of using a digital printing technique.
Tutorial III
After Tutorial II I decided I was going to concentrate on the moving image piece and the typology of valves as the practicalities of getting permissions for shooting on location became more and more difficult.
From the beginning of my project my aim has been to capture some of what remains of the architecture of the industrial era in an attempt to represent this period of time through modern digital technology and in this way make a connection between our current digital revolution and the industrial revolution of the 19th & 20th century.
This essay is a reflection on my two year journey into the project, on my learning, development and contextualization of ‘Industrialism brought forward’.
This is the link to the PDF file of my essay
Industrialism brought forward….
After the presentation of my video I didn’t have a lot of feedback from my peers. I was expecting a few more comments but I am happy as the general reception was very good. I was asked about the output of the typology and I explained that is going to be two sheets of paper with 6 valves printed by the process of photo intaglio. I also mentioned that I would like to continue expanding my project and continue with the theme of typology in the future as I think that two years part-time are not sufficient to finalize this project. I still feel that I have more research and work to do.
TEXT for the video:
The aim of my project has been to capture some of what remains from the architecture of the industrial era in an attempt to represent this period of time through modern digital technology making a connection between our current digital revolution and the industrial revolution.
My work has a documentary nature and I have used photography as my main methodology. The weight of photography as a documenting tool can be observed in its history as an indexical sign and with its reference to the past, the ‘still’ creates a signifier of the memorable.
The following are key contextual points that helped to form the foundation from which my project was constructed:
I have taken inspiration from photographers of the New Objectivity movement (1920s) like Renger-Patzsch, Karl Blossfeldt (1928) and Emmanuel Sougez (1939) characterised by a detached, almost scientific objectivity and precise attention to detail. These aesthetics kept influencing photographers in the 1960s such as industrial photographer Wolfgang Sievers.
They also influenced Bernd and Hilla Becher whose photographic prints where ordered to form object families – called typologies. By putting the images next to each other the rhetoric of a document was reinforced. An archive concept was created, photography being a starting point for the memory to work.
Most recently, influenced by Duchamp, we have Hiroshi Sugimoto and his series Conceptual Forms (2004). He is interested in the 19 and 20th centuries. He regards all photographs as being found objects, “they are stealing the image from the world” and making it into a multiple.
In connection to my moving image piece, I must mention Étienne-Jules Marey (1890s) whose work was developed out of methodological and precise experiments. His experiments to capture movement where named Chronophotography, which were a set of photographs of a moving image taken from the same viewpoint at equal intervals.
The theme of water, an aspect of my own piece, is recurrent in Roni Horn’s work. In her installations for Library of Water (2007) she created an archive of water from 24 glacial sources across Iceland. And her Still Water piece (1999) is a series of photographs of water with tiny numbers that refer to footnotes presenting a series of quotations on the moods and narratives that the river evokes.
Visiting different industrial locations I observed that a key component to machinery of the time was their valves, both an essential artefact for the machine to function and a direct allusion to the human/machine relationship and dependency.
Water was also a very important element, the vital force that made steam engines possible – and with them the creation of numerous kinds of revolutionary machinery – and it was a vital means of transport, the canal system being the main artery for commerce and industrial expansion.
I considered that my project, being a photographic documentation, should have a methodical and definite stylistic approach. I researched what was going to become my methodology; a way of working that will allow my referents to talk for themselves. I explored different techniques to acquire a good range of tonality in spaces with low lighting issues.
I have chosen two different ways of representing the two elements (valves and water) and currently I am working on finalising my two pieces.
1. The valves I have photographed methodically and I intend to present them forming a typology of 12 that will depict the archival desire invested in the capturing of these images. The long exposure photographs have been treated in postproduction by using an HDR process in Photomatix and then synthesising two different exposures in Photoshop. They have then been taken through a process of photo intaglio. Because of the nature of my image referent I find it appropriate to reproduce it in archival paper made using a traditional cylinder mould machine from 1907. The surface of this paper has a gentle texture made out of cotton that offers a long life and durability, so in some way this paper has been infused with similar craftsmanship as that of the valves. By mixing the sophisticated digital processes with a printing technique that has its origins at the birth of photography I am trying to make a reference to the encapsulation of time as well as investing thought into the different output surfaces in which the digital image can be reproduced.
2. The water, I have chosen to represent this second aspect as a piece of moving image made out of Chronophotography. Chronophotography allows the subversion of real time to a different pace, it creates a juxtaposition of technologies; photography representing a pensive moment and film representing the present. Photographs when showed one after the other give us the illusion of motion whilst presenting the subtleties of individually captured moments.
I methodically photographed the same spot of water on different days. I took over 6000 photographs that compose five different captures. To mirror the process used on the valve images where I merged two different exposures I am exploring the merging of two different footages into one. This presents to the viewer a double set of information of exactly the same location captured at different times, bringing the concept of time capture closer to mind.
The pace of the sequence will slow down at random intervals reminding us of the static nature of the footage and bringing back the pensive quality of photography.
First day of inking the first six plates. I made an acrylic sheet registration plate, marking with a pen the outline of the six plates in their correct position and the paper size.
The fine stochastic screens I used create a very delicate aquatint, especially in the soft highlights. I used Charbonnel black etching ink
55981, is a universal supple black, viscous but easier to wipe than others. I applied the ink initially with a square bit of card spreading an even thin layer. Then I used cheesecloth with a twisting motion of wrist, lightly grinding the ink into the tooth of plate and at the same time wiping off the excess of ink and smoothing it out. I followed this with a tissue paper wipe to control and smoothen highlights. Once the plate was cleanly wiped I took a clean piece of cheesecloth and lightly dragged it over it in a random pattern. This is called retroussage, it cleans up and smoothens remaining micro-clumps of ink in a random fashion.
Finally, I wiped the edges with flannel rag changing the angle so it moves the ink toward the back of the plate. When the rag came back relatively clean, I flipped the plate face-down onto clean newsprint and wiped the back with the rag too. Then I double-checked and rewiped the edges. This process took about 40 minutes per plate. Luckily I had some help from Claire Alonge, who made the whole process much more bearable 
Towards the end of the day the plates were ready to print. The paper, Somerset satin 410gms, had been soaking for the last forty minutes and it was time to place the plates in the right position on the bed of the press, following the marks of the registration plate underneath. The paper was then blotted and put on top of the plates facing down and covered with two sheets of tissue paper with the blankets on top. I run the press with some help as it was a big heavy wheel due to the pressure needed to print, trying to move through the press consistently and not too quickly (if you stop once the press is in motion you may leave a heavy roller mark on the print).
Once it was through I had a look at the print. Unfortunately it hadn’t printed properly. It looked like some parts of some of the plates didn’t print; there were white patches near the center of the two columns, especially in the two last plates. It may have been due to the paper being too wet or not wet enough, it could be due to the pressure of the printer. However, I was not certain of which.
What I am trying to achieve presents a challenge. Printing six plates at the same time on a single sheet of paper puts six different pressure points on the single sheet, the tension applied to the paper when it goes through the printing press is irregular and to achieve uniformity is very difficult.
Disappointing after a days work but next week I’ll do it all again.
I had a chat with Martin Newth about my work. I explained about the process I am following with my typology of valves. He liked the images but he was concern about the output. He considered that the work I had already invested on the capturing and postproduction of the valves was sufficient for the images to talk about parallels between the old and the new. That they would be a finish product if I were to digitally print them with a matte laminate.
I think that my images would look good as a digital print on matte laminate, and yes they already tell a story. A digital image is not only a flat surface, it also involves all the layers of work that remain in the computer.
But I find that I really want to take it further. I want to invest time exploring a different output for a digital composition. A surface that invite us into the object accepting the tactility of the represented subject (my referent) and the tactility of the traditionally printed surface.
For hundreds of years artist have thought about the surface and our reaction to it has evolved as time passes. For example, with the invention of photography, engraving, which at the time was tainted by its application in reproduction, acquired a higher status and it became ‘fine art’. In 1928 hand-engravers were accepted into the Academy on an equal basis to painters and sculptors. Photographic processes were relegated to a second-class status, they were viewed as a commercial process. It took a long time for photography to be accepted as fine art. Similar differences have occurred more recently between hand printed photography and digital prints as the latter still holds quite a commercial status. Although it is true that things are changing and, following history, commercial techniques are being appropriated by fine art.
By selecting a traditional method of printing I am putting emphasis on the materiality of the artistic surface, the chosen paper gives the images a ‘haptic quality’ that complements the craftsmanship of my image referents and directly connects with the time when they were created. It is also a printing method where the artist’s touch is implied, furthermore maintaining a direct relation with the craftsmanship of the valves. American critic Laura U. Marks describes haptic visuality:
‘(it) sees the world as though it were touching it: close, unknowable, appearing to exist on the surface of the image. Haptic images(…) help us feel the connectivity between ourselves, the image and its material support, and the world to which the image connects us’.
Using this traditional printing method allows my work to express my intention of connecting the industrial revolution period with our digital revolution period by creating a parallel between them through the application of traditional and digital techniques.
