The Never-Taken Images documents a unique long-term project that Swiss photographers Francoise and Daniel Cartier have been pursuing since 1998. They have put together a vast collection of unfixed photographic papers, glass negatives, and films, mostly dating from 1880 to 1990. Samples of these are mounted and displayed, and, exposed to light over the course of several exhibitions, evolve towards colour saturation. Instead of looking at still images, the Cartiers’ installations, titled Wait and See, allow the viewers to perceive a kind of reality for themselves. The book features on around 100 pages the entire test catalogue that the Cartiers have put together to date, showing some 900 different papers and photosensitive supports. These facsimiles offer an almost real impression of their formats, colours, and materiality. Essays by Kathrin Schoenegg, photo historian and curator, Thilo Koenig, scholar of art history and critic, and Christophe Brandt, former director of the Institute for the Conservation of Photographs at the University of Neuchatel, supplement the images and place the Wait and See project in the art historical and technological context of abstract media art. The Never-Taken Images also celebrates the industrially manufactured photo-sensitive support, representing the long central pre-digital period in the history of photography. Text in English, French and German. AUTHORS: Daniel and Francoise Cartier, freelance photographer and visual artist respectively, form the artist duo F+D Cartier, based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Their experimental work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions internationally, including museums and galleries such as Musee de l'Elysee, Lausanne (Switzerland), Musee de la Photographie, Charleroi (Belgium), Museet for Fotokunst, Odense (Denmark), Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles (France), Kunstbezirk, Stuttgart (Germany), Cinema Avorio, Rome (Italy), Cornerhouse, Manchester (United Kingdom), Yossi Milo Gallery, New York (US), Houston Center for Photography (US), H Gallery, New York (US), and Minnesota Center for Photography, Minneapolis (US). SELLING POINTS: . Documents a unique long-term artistic project using photo-sensitive media . Artists Francoise and Daniel Cartier have put together the world’s largest collection of unfixed photographic papers, glass negatives, and films . Essays by distinguished experts of the history and technology of photography supplement beautifully reproduced facsimiles of the test catalogue compiled by Francoise and Daniel Cartier 1000 colour, 60 b/w illustrations
