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Seen By #13
Modus Operandi

15.11.2019 to 12.01.2020
Museum für Fotografie

Louisa Boeszoermeny • Viiri Linnéa Broo Andersson • Mateo Contreras Gallego  • Tania Elstermeyer • Eva Friedrich • Friederike Goebbels • You Gu • Moritz Haase  • Elizabeth Hepworth • Miji Ih • Frank Jimin Hopp • Jakob Ketzel • Lucia Krug  • Gonzalo Ruelas • Schlack / Giménez • Joram Schön • Anouk Tschanz • Greta Wildhage  • Asís Ybarra • Zerrahn Monty Meyer

20/21sec. Overlay

Modus Operandi is a large format double analog projection comprised of 162 individual photographs. It collides images which otherwise don’t belong together, yet spontaneously respond to one another. The mechanics of two projectors put into motion a cycle of continuous exchange in which two images meet. For a moment they stand together in direct proximity. This proximity reaches an abrupt conclusion, marked by the characteristic mechanical sound of the changing analog slide – a sound which is transformed into a signal simultaneously concluding one pairing whilst anticipating the start of something new. The two differently programmed time intervals shift the sequence in such a way that a repetition of any single pairing only occurs every 12 hours.

81x81 Slides

In a months-long process in the absence of content specification, 22 artists were asked to feed material into an image pool. With regular screenings, a selection and arrangement were vigorously reworked with the intention of generating a collective visual language, exceeding the sum of its parts. The rhythmic switching sequence and persistent presence of the approaching image heavily entwine previously isolated artistic voices. Each image shifts the impression of the other, before vanishing and being replaced.

E-6 Process

To ensure comparable coexistence, each image has been transferred onto the same medium. The use of the analogue slide as an image surface gives each individual picture autonomous physical presence within a collaborative work. At the same time, each slide enhances qualitative differences between the variable techniques used with a particular clarity. Alongside images photographed directly onto slide film, digital as well as analog b/w and colour pictures, graphics, objects, text, and performance find their way into the installation by means of their collective reproduction. These elements combine to throw light upon the integrative character of photography and make Modus Operandi a visible object of its infinite possibilities.

474m³ Pictorial Space

Projection is the simplest form of photographic enlargement; repeating in the opposite direction the process of taking a photograph. Through its integration with the exhibition space, a three dimensional experience of pictures is made possible. Through corresponding proportions between the blacked-out room and the illumined surface, Modus Operandi becomes a kind of walk-in camera; one in which the viewer is exposed to an exaggerated and multi-dimensional interpretation of the images. Their unpredictable emergence, alongside the stringently transient nature of each image’s visibility open very particular avenues of perception– as individual an experience as the connections made by each viewer in relation to their own image association and memory.

Exhibition Series Seen By

Seen By #13 is part of the exhibition series Seen By, a joint project presented at the Museum für Fotografie and organized by the Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). Its aim is to rethink curatorial and artistic strategies for working with contemporary photography. More information: www.smb.museum/seenby 

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10623 Berlin

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Sun 11:00 - 19:00
Mon closed
Tue 11:00 - 19:00
Wed 11:00 - 19:00
Thu 11:00 - 20:00
Fri 11:00 - 19:00
Sat 11:00 - 19:00

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Exhibition Series Seen By