Der Beitrag workshop — on cyanotype and bookbinding erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

In the past, I have often used photography as a medium to tell stories. A few years ago I started searching for other media to make work and my relationship with photography changed a little. I still like photos, but the layers in an image are more important than they used to be. A photo can tell one story or contain different storylines, you can read an image in different ways. I think the strength of an image lies in the fact that it gives the reader and maker the possibility to make his or her own story out of it.

Still, an image has a manipulative side. In some circumstances, the picture will choose his own way, in others not…
Photography means selecting, setting priorities. This photographic process allows me to distinguish the necessity of the banality within a story. As a photographer, you frame and compose your image and you decide what you show and in which order/context you show it. Although, I realise that editing only controls and does not imply absolute truth. This is for me one of the beauties and the strength of the photographic medium.

What role does publishing play in your photographic practice and in particular in your work Forain, Kaffers en Boerin?

My latest photographic work is Forain, Kaffers en Boerin. For me, this work needed a book form to exist. I worked a lot with audio recordings during the making of this book. But it became a real photo book after all. It also became a time document, which, I think, is a very nice side effect of photography in combination with a book.

Another great thing about a photo book is that it continues to exist. It is not removed from walls after an exhibition, it is not possible to erase it, it can be viewed several times with no time limit… it becomes part of someone’s interior, someone’s life. Whether it is in the attic or between other books in a library. It continues to exist.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now I’m starting a project about my experiences with physical vision. Probably photography will be part of it, although I don’t mind her absence.

To get a closer view inside Siska Vandecasteele’s work visit her website under www.siskavandecasteele.be

malenki.net features the following publications by Siska Vandecasteele

Der Beitrag Meanwhile in Antwerp — Interview with Siska Vandecasteele erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

Photography starts from reality, but it doesn’t necessarily show the truth. You can capture things and moments with a photographic apparatus which would never be visible to the naked eye. Time is an important aspect in photography, and you can stretch that time by using a slow shutter speed to expose things that are otherwise imperceptible. I like to explore perception, create images which aren’t really there. The act of creating an image is important, and the mixture of controlling all technical aspects and embracing chance at the same time. My interest is shifting more and more towards experiment and photography which explores the medium itself.

What role does publishing play in your artistic practice and in particular in your work Antrum?

An artist book is a portable, mobile exhibition that can live a life of its own. It is also a nice way to share your work. A book is the best form to show the old Lourdes grottos of Antrum. It has a certain narrative. It allowed me to mix my own images with old images by anonymous photographers, and for the first time I used text. Since it was my first book, it was a whole different medium, with endless possibilities, and a lot of decisions to make.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working on two projects: Space, reflected is an attempt to evoke the idea of three dimensionality on the flat surface of a photograph. By using and manipulating elements inherent to the medium like light, shadow, reflection and colour, I aim to create another sense of space. For my other project I am experimenting in the darkroom making photograms.

Until now only in Black and White, but I really want to work with colour paper soon. Meanwhile I am examining different tactile papers and ways of folding for an edition I am working on. It shows a photogram which I scanned and colored. I want to present it as a folded poster with a sculptural quality.

To get a closer view inside Rio Staelens’ work visit her website under www.riostaelens.com

malenki.net features the following publications by Rio Staelens

Der Beitrag Meanwhile in Antwerp — Interview with Rio Staelens erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

There are three things that instantly come to mind: The medium of photography allows for an almost infinite number of techniques and combinations of its different parameters. It can be a very simple tool to make an image. It can also be made into a very complicated piece of wizardry, a black box that creates beauty by accident, in ways we can’t fully comprehend nor describe properly.
 Besides the technical aspect, photography is known to have the ability to create time capsules. It is the fossil making machine I dreamed of as a kid. When I was little I was sure I would become an archaeologist, like many other kids of the Jurassic Park generation. Then I was lucky enough to grow a bit older and I wanted to become a writer and movie director… Which brings me to third aspect of photography that makes it interesting to me and that is the narrative capability or incapability of the medium. Photography is maybe not so suited for truthful storytelling, but that is where it gets interesting: Its power to suggest truth. In connecting photographs there is room in between images to be playful, to suggest something to the viewer. It’s a form of poetry or prose in which I can translate some deeper feelings… which I have trouble with bringing to words… Something I clearly struggle with as you might notice here.

What role does publishing play in your artistic practice and in particular in your work Camouflage Studies?

Publishing is also part of what I describe above as the infinite number of possibilities to combine different parameters and techniques. It offers room for experiment and is an honest and humble way to share work. Camouflage Studies for example is the result of experimenting and bringing together techniques that weren’t necessarily meant to be used together.

It started with finding this weirdly beautiful black and white negative of chameleons, animals known for their ability to change color. The photographic paper the print was made on was initially developed to give very bright colors to the images that were printed on it. The characteristics of this paper seemed to be a good way to give back the chameleonic impulse of the image’s subject.

What are you working on at the moment?

Normally I would be preparing for a trip to Denmark to make images for a new publication. The plan is to document a cultural heritage site in South Jutland, which is not well known but is a clear example of visual imagination of people who were isolated. It is in some way an extension of my book AÆUÅÆØ which dwells on the outsider feeling of being isolated, of being on an island…

To get a closer view inside Nick Geboers’ work just visit his website under www.nickgeboers.com

malenki.net features the following publications by Nick Geboers

Der Beitrag Meanwhile in Antwerp — Interview with Nick Geboers erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

Der Beitrag malenki.NET #1 erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

Der Beitrag workshop — on creative writing and publishing erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

Der Beitrag Antwerp Academy Art Book Fair 2018 erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

Der Beitrag workshop — from idea to publication erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

Kim Gorus will share a selection of artist publications focussing on the relation between image and language, authorship and originality/appropriation. In addition each work relates to Between Time and Timbuktu a tele-novella and publication by Kurt Vonnegut from 1972.

Her selection includes, among others, A Play by Uta Eisenreich & James Langdon (Roma 2016), The Ideal Form by Paul Hendrikse (Occasional Papers 2016) and Natalie Czech’s Je n’ai rien à dire. Seulement à montrer (Spector Books 2012).

Kim Gorus is the artistic and financial director of KultuurKaffee, a multidisciplinary arts centre at the heart of the Free University of Brussels (VUB). She was previously connected to St Lucas School of Arts Antwerp as a researcher, editor and lecturer, focussing on artist’s books and visual writing.

Kim will talk in English at
Tique | art space, Korte Vlierstraat 5, 2000 Antwerp.
Tique Salon is formulated and organized by Katrin Kamrau (malenki.net) and Welmer Keesmaat (Tique).

Der Beitrag Tique Salon #9 — Kim Gorus erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

Der Beitrag Antwerp Academy Art Book Fair 2017 erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.