Sept 2016~Sept 2017 Goldsmiths University of London

Final Writing Wor k

Un/*Series, Volume #2: Un-Consciousness Perceiver - Room 1

d I G I T A L - p H O T O G R A M

*A Temporary Conclusion during Two Year Time of Research in London, 2017

The process of “Materialize-Dematerialize”

Wan-Ru, Lin
33357776
mRes Filmmaking, Photography and Electronic Arts
 1. Un/* Series = “Un-Titled From 2 AM (2016)” +” Un-Consciousness Perceiver (2017)”

 First Edition: Un-Titled From 2 AM (2016) |

Art work with four Duratran Images and one 3’01” documentary video
 Second Edition: Un-Consciousness Perceiver (2017) |
 Room 1: "Digital-Photogram” (London, 2017)
The process of “Materialize-Dematerialize”
Two videos + Photo Installation
 Room 2: Dream of Perceiving
One video + Large Digital print
 Entrance and Exit: Real? or Reality?
Two documentary videos

2. "Digital-Photogram" = The photo, which utilizes the light from a digital device as a source
material to produce a photogram image through dark room process, which is an
unprecedented photogram created only for this exhibition.

3. “Materialize-Dematerialize” = A process, which created by "Digital-Photogram"

Past, “Now” and Future

Everything has a historical meaning, so does Photography. It has its past, its “now” and its future.
Roughly speaking, the past of Photography is film, analogue and darkroom printing. Nowadays, in
the year 2017, Photography can be stored in any digital device, be printed out as digital prints or be
presented on various type of digital screens. Therefore, I am asking myself: how will the future of
Photography from artistic perspective look like? In this article, it will discuss my personal assumptions
about the artistic future of Photography through my practical based experimental work named
“Digital-Photogram”. The work began with a practical “light” based film, namely “Un-Titled From
2 AM”. Subsequently, I further explored the meaning of “Light”. The process mainly focused on
artistic research both in Photography and Filmmaking.

What is “Digital-Photogram”? Why do I do “Digital-Photogram”?

The “Digital-Photogram” means the photo, which utilizes the light from a digital device as a source
material to produce a photogram image through dark room process. To degrade the clear figurative
of the daily image into an abstract figure, the “Digital-Photogram” has been created for a year
through photogram’s history and development from Moholy-Nagy’s theory during 1922-1930s. The
result of “Digital-Photogram” is an image created through an indirect printing using a darkroom
process and a digital photo as basis. My work aims to open the question “how will artistic
Photography look like in the future?”. Could Photography carry its historical meaning, its past, and
its “now” to present the future in artistic way? Is it possible to merge “a new way of seeing” and “a
new way of thinking” together onto a piece of one photographic paper?

“Dematerialize” and “Materialize”

To accomplish this challenge, the process began with a light. The black and white image needs light
as a pigment to draw a path onto a photographic paper. The zinc paper then shows the variety of
greys depending on the density of the blocking light and the length of exposure. Therefore, “light”

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can be thought as one language of Photography and “time” is a decisive element. One of Moholy-
Nagy’s artworks, which is presented in Bauhaus Museum, Berlin, was created by light that directly
touched the photographic paper and produced the image. This particular work made me realize that
I need to focus on the relationship between light and Photography when researching the Un/* Series.
The photogram is a camera-less photography without a film, which in Moholy-Nagy’s theory is the
best way to “dematerialize” and to present the light.

Moholy-Nagy’s camera-less photo sublimes an image through a process without any material, which,
in his definition, includes a camera, and represents light’s abstractive figure directly onto paper in
order to reach his definition of “Dematerialize”. According to him the light through the camera has
already created an indirect figure on the film and destroyed the original meaning of light or image.
His “Dematerialize” concept inspired my own theory. But, instead of a one-step process
“Dematerialize”, I extended my concept by “Materialize” resulting in a “Materialize-Dematerialize”
procedure. Firstly, I “Materialize” by taking a photo with a digital camera and using the
representation on a mobile phone as source material. Secondly, I “Dematerialize” the digital photo
in Moholy-Nagy’s approach to reach an abstractive figure. In my “Digital-Photogram” the
“Materialize” process represents the “now” and the “Dematerialize” process represents the future.
The process of the “Digital-Photogram” sublimes the “now” by utilizing the past, namely a darkroom
process, towards an abstract and “Dematerialized” future. This “Dematerialized” future and abstract
figure freeze the time and space by the only light, which is generated by a digital device. I will discuss
this light in greater detail later.

Instead of freeing the material as Moholy-Nagy did, I embraced the material at beginning of process,
utilized it up to its limitations and then set it free.

The History of Photogram

From the earlier usage of photogram for scientific purposes, namely to illustrate specimens of insects
and different leaves, to its modern application in art and technology, the photogram has a history of
over one hundred years. It had its artistic breakthrough in the late 1910s and early 1920s when the
Dada artists Christian Schad and Man Ray began presenting photograms in a surrealistic and Dada
way (E.M. Hight, 1995, 67). Even though Moholy-Nagy was inspired by Dada and followed the
footsteps of Man Ray for a while, he developed his own technological way to discuss light, which is
Suprematism and Constructism. The theory of “Digital-Photogram” is uses both Man Ray and
Moholy-Nagy’s developments as references in the work but then redefines a new photogram
technique to fit the “now” of the year 2017 and the future.

“Digital-Photogram” did not follow Man Ray’s surrealistic steps but directly explored the medium of
the light. Renger-Patzsch believe “true to the medium” about using the close-up perspective to
discover and to sense a medium ‘s characteristic such as a building’s surface or the skin of trees. In
“Un-Titled From 2 AM (2016)”, I utilized a lot of close-up skills to over focus on the phenomena of the
light in the dark in order to emphasis the strong contrast of light and dark. Therefore, those over
focus light can be thought as a “true to the medium” and those medium can be used in an
experimental purpose of “Digital-Photogram”.

Medium?

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The early age of Moholy-Nagy’s photogram focused on playing the recognizable daily objects on
photogram to create a collage style, which Man Ray did as well. Moholy-Nagy’s collage style was
soon affected by Dada, which freed his photogram by rearranging the objects to adjust the
composition of an image. However, he did not have a direct connection to Dada. Soon his intention
of doing photogram changed to the “texture of the material”, which directed him to think about the
relationship between technology and light. In addition, instead of using a recognizable figure on the
pictures, he became more interested in minimizing the very characteristics, the mysteriousness.
Therefore, in Moholy-Nagy’s later age of photogram research, namely in the late 1920s, he started
to construct mechanic sculptures and light beams to create and discover more possibilities in his
photogram.

The Light-Space Modulator (fig 1) is a mechanic sculpture, which Moholy-Nagy expanded his
photogram by including more commonly held views about the medium in order to produce the light
and movement in his research. In the early 1920s, he collaborated with animation artists such as Hans
Richter to produce films about exploring light forms, light movements and the texture of the material.
He took this research as a source to produce his early photogram. In the 1930s, he developed those
early ideas again in his kinetic sculpture, The Light-Space Modulator, which was made by geometric
forms, mostly planes, which were set into motion through a series of gears and an engine in the base.
When the kinetic sculpture is set into motion and its part begin to move, a variety of light reflections
are thrown off its surface (E.M. Hight, 1995, 93).

Fig 1. A Light-Space Modulator, 1930. Kinetic Sculpture of steel, plastic, wood, and other materials with electric motor.151.1
x 69.9 x 69.9 cm. Courtesy of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums. Gift of Sibyl Moholy-Nagy.
Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0x730uP2yI

A Light-Space Modulator emits over one hundred colours of lights on each side of the box, which can
record the mobile light forms through a pre-setting kinetic sculpture and light display. Originally the
kinetic sculpture was displayed in a box to present in the exhibition but afterward this sculpture was
put into an empty room to show in public in the 1930s. Not only is A Light-Space Modulator related to
a technological meaning of 1930 but can also be thought as a pre-model of light environment of
photogram.

Similar to A Light-Space Modulator, “Digital-Photogram” found its medium in 2017, which can be the
lights in a city. Therefore, “Digital-Photogram” utilizes for this exhibition “city’s light” as a medium
to record the light memories and light paths as a form. Of course, there are other alternatives, which
could be used as a medium. The remaining question, however, is where can the perfect machine to
produce the lights in my current city be found? The answer is everywhere! Because London, as a huge

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city, does have a lot of machines that can produce lights and those machines can be found
everywhere in the city. They can be found in the underground, street, bus, advertisement’s displays
and so on.
In addition, the city can be thought as a huge box, which is an analogy to Moholy-Nagy’s room or box
in A Light-Space Modulator. Also, this modern city box does not only contain various light reflections,
light refractions and light performances but also its history, memories, imaginations and dreams. To
record this huge amount of light memories, a device or material, such as a camera for recording and
rethinking, is needed.

In addition, the recorded light forms, the discussion of medium of light or the physically sense of the
light are essential to the Photography. In Moholy-Nagy’s notes, he mentioned the words “light” and
“to write” just like the photographic paper recorded the light notes. “Digital-Photogram” utilizes this
metaphor to elaborate a deeper meaning by recording the city memories through the light as light
notes, which are stored in the photogram.

Time, Light and its Physical Language

The darkroom process forces a person to be engulfed by surrounding blackness and sense the light
carefully in a low light environment while working on an image. Physically, the pictures from “Digital-
Photogram” were produced through a series of body movements. The operator needs to sense every
single second without a timer. In detail, the operator has to execute a series of fluent movements
when controlling the light between digital devices, the photographic papers and the right rational
developer. Each picture from “Digital-Photogram” was customized through the only characteristic
by the image itself. The resulting “Digital-Photogram” is created without a negative, is a negative
image and is similar to Moholy-Nagy’s early photogram in the 1920s.
I. First Stage: through “Un-Titled From 2 AM”

The first stage (fig 2,3,4) of the “Digital-Photogram” was experimented in the first edition “Un-
Titled From 2 AM”. The work utilized the light video as the first mobile light.

Fig 2. A comparison of a photogram and its digital photo. The photo was made by “Un-Titled From 2 AM”.in the end of
December

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Fig 3&4. More photogram pictures made by “Un-Titled From 2 AM”.

II. “Ghost Image” Stage: Daily digital Image use

Then, in the second stage, “Digital-Photogram” explored more fields through the daily images (fig
5, 6). This part of exploring has an analogy to Moholy-Nagy’s early stage of doing photogram of daily
objects. This stage used a huge range of daily images taken by different devices, which included
cameras, iPhone and iPad. In the final stage of “Digital-Photogram”, I chose iPhone as the ultimate
device to print out the image. In addition, “Digital-Photogram” was printed out without a negative /
positive film and create an abstract figure, which originates from a solid figure, a digital image, stored
in digital device during this stage. An interesting part is the outcome of images, which has a similar
feeling as a negative film but the process did not include a film. Therefore, I named the second stage
“Ghost Image” stage.

The “Ghost Image” sublime an image to create an abstract figure, which can be recognized if the
observer looks at the image closely. Furthermore, to make this abstract image, the operator needs
not only to have dance-like movements while producing every image, but also to fully involve in an
image. The process is similar to using the editing software to edit photos. However, there are two
different questions one has to ask in this stage: “how much abstract figures does an operator wants
to present” and “how much abstract figures of an image can be presented on a paper?”

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fig5&6. Two comparisons of digital image and their photogram pictures

As it is seen in those two different stages, “Digital-Photogram” sublimes an image not just to present
its original or real figure but also forces an operator to trace back to the darkroom process as well as
memories or feelings from an image. The creation automatically generates a thought process while
being in the darkroom. This thought process reflect every person’s inner feeling of an event and some
phenomenon towards every single moment of an operator’s life. For instance, the digital image of
Wall (fig 7.) shows the feeling of texture. However, its “Digital-Photogram” presents a sense of the
time and a memory like or a dream like feeling.

Fig 7. Wall A comparisons of digital image and its photogram pictures

III. Final Stage: City lights from London

The final stage includes, so far, the recording of a series of city’s memories through lights as well as
different phenomenon of light in East London. The result will be shown in the exhibition of “Un-
Consciousness Perceiver - Room 1”, in order to present the abstract figures and feelings of the light
in East London.

How does “Digital-Photogram” present Artistic “Future”?

“Digital-Photogram” attempts to discuss the future possibilities of image and video, and their
relationships. Generally, the process or the history of the video was created by multiple images. To
produce a video, a huge number of images it needed which then can create a movement. The

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standard process of creating a video used to be creating a lot of images and then compiling a video.
But: How about thinking inversely by making the video first and then discovering the possibilities of
images? It is a new way of thinking, which is about the “Still and Moving image”. Also, the inversed
process can be used on “Digital-Photogram” to discuss further about what “Digital and Analogue” is.

Here are some experimental processes:

1. Image  moving image  video

This is the standard process, which was developed in the years shown by the historical
evidence. Nowadays, animation and moving images are still created using this standard
process.

2. Original Video  Image  Photogram Video

The following set of images is a series of movements, which was recorded in an elevator.
After recording the video, the photogram preserved every second of the movement on the
photographic paper.

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3. Original Video Image only (Presenting the process of a video)

4. Original Video  physically adjusting the video through the speed, inverse, pause and so on
 involving a process and presenting this process

This is a photogram, which recorded the light of the video “The lake in Green Park”

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In the darkroom, I created two additional possibilities to discover more hidden meanings of the image
through different colours of light on a digital screen and a variety of resulting possibilities based on a
video and my body movements.

A Temporary Conclusion

I believe “Digital-Photogram” can be an artistic future of an image. Its “Materialize-Dematerialize”

sublime photography to involve a material first. After fully understanding a material then lifting this
understanding to another level of thought. Once reached, another level of thought process sets those
thoughts free of a simple medium, light, in order to reach the level of “Dematerialize”. The process
of “Materialize-Dematerialize” can be used as the future of artistic photography, which not only
records a solid figure but also processes a sense of emotions, a solid thinking and a darkroom process,
by the body language, in order to transform or transfer a huge amount of feelings. Through the
process of artistic sublimation, I intend to elevate material objects captured in photography to the
levels of human soul.

Reference
Eleanor M Hight, “Picturing Modernism: Moholy-Nagy and photography in Weimer Germany” The
MIT Press Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, 1995: 42-95

Word Count: 2685

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