Analog Total: Photography Today

Analogue photography is enjoying a revival. Whereas digital photography is predominantly used for documentary and everyday purposes, its analogue counterpart is becoming increasingly popular as an artistic and experimental medium. This catalogue showcases the wide variety of contemporary trends in analogue photography as exemplified by individual and serial works, as well as photographic installations. Produced by 24 artists from German-speaking countries, the works are grouped into four thematic sections that illustrate different facets of this art form, all with a distinct focus on the material and experimental uses of light, chemical ingredients, and technique. The publication highlights contemporary takes on photograms, chemigrams, and lumen printing, which all hark back to the early days of photography. Silver daguerreotypes and ambrotypes of modern-day sceneries create a disturbing anachronistic effect. Yet other artists employ very different forms of photography that go beyond simple cameras. The catalogue also includes artistic positions that blur the boundaries between analogue and digital photography, e.g., by interacting with artificial intelligence, collaborating with digital machines, and transposing digital images into analogue pictures. The show includes work by: Sylvia Ballhause, Eun Sun Cho, Gunter Derleth, Jana Dillo, Tine Edel, Alexander Gehring, Spiros Hadjidjanos, Alexander Kadow, Georgia Krawiec, Martin Kreitl, Antje Kroeger, Ute Lindner, Lilly Lulay, Harald Mairboeck, Florian Merkel, Falk Messerschmidt, Elisabeth Moritz, Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, Helena Petersen, Rene Schaffer, Karoline Schneider, Regina Stiegeler, Claus Stolz, Ria Wank. Text in English and German. 77 colour, 55 b/w illustrations