The term metamorphosis describes the transformation of a form of existence into a new, possibly different form. Applied to photography, it can refer to changes in images through analogue and digital processes of recording and reproduction.

Part 1 (analogue): Silke Helmerdig and Jens Schünemann
Silke Helmerdig and Jens Schünemann show an automatic-performative projection of two series of analog slides onto both sides of a semi-transparent screen that is floating freely in space. The rhythm of the series is predetermined, but the time disrupts the sequence of the projection: the projection rhythms are not the same, the series never run synchronously. In this way, new, never-repeating composites emerge from two rows of images – a series of metamorphoses that continues over and over again, itself subject to perpetual metamorphosis.

Part II (digital): Stefanos Pavlakis and Sabine Wild
Stefanos Pavlakis and Sabine Wild present photographs of the “Horseshoe Bend” rock massif in Glen Canyon, Arizona, which they appropriated from online photographic archives. The scenic motif “Horseshoe Bend” was photographed in a very similar way by different visitors and posted online more than 670,000 times (as of February 2022). For what reason? Pavlakis and Wild are concerned with the intersection between individuality and popular imagery, the search for sublimity in the context of an iconic landscape that has been photographed millions of times.

Background

While photographs themselves are not virtual objects, but always part of the “presents that pass away in the real” (Deleuze), the objects photographed appear as they were in a past present: related but different from theirs present present. So while the printed photo remains tangible as an object, the photographic representation – the image – presents “a past that differs from any present”. This is where the virtuality of a photograph comes into play: taken at a specific moment in time and space, the image only manifests itself after the photographed event and reappears in future moments as its re-presentation.

Sep 4 — Oct 1, 2022
Opening Reception: Saturday, Sep 3, 7 – 9 pm
Finissage: Saturday, Oct 1, 7 – 9 pm

KUNSTWILD – Projektraum für Fotografie

Eschenstraße 4 · 12161 Berlin
[District: Friedenau | Borough: Tempelhof-Schöneberg]

Opening hours: Fri 6 – 9 pm, Sat & Sun 3 – 6 pm

Admission free