It’s printed!

Fig. 1: Rauschkolb, 2020. Title of »Greetings from the Parade Ground«

When working on a portfolio, one of the greatest moments is seeing it real, tangible, printed. The first portfolio of my travels through my neighbourhood, »The Paprika Village« (Rauschkolb, 2020), was a DIN A4 booklet, digitally printed and bound by myself. As a reminiscence to photographers’ albums of the 1930s and 1940s (Curtis 2011, 59 ff., 142 ff.), I used wire binding. 

»Make it big!« was the advice my tutor Colin Pantall gave me in a webinar. I gladly followed. I like small, tiny publications, they have a certain charm, but for the images of »Greetings from the Parade Ground«, I found a large-sized publication appropriate. Because my network of people who support me grew, I needed more issues than before. I started researching at »The Newspaper Club«. I like their products, but in this case, the paper stock-size-edition ratio was not satisfying. As a solution, I used an approach I have used earlier in another project: Ordering printed, plain sheets and assembling them by myself. So I ordered DIN A2 (594×420) posters, printed on both sides in the offset-process. I used 135 g/m²-paper, which is stable enough but also folds nicely.

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Fig. 2 – 10: Rauschkolb, 2020. Spreads from »Greetings from the Parade Ground«

When they arrived, I folded them to a DIN A3 (297×420 mm) format and assembled them to the publications. I folded the ones destinated to be shipped by post a second time to get a DIN A4 (297×210 mm) format. To get everything nice and clean, I had to fold each sheet separately and then assemble them. The last step was smoothing with a roller to reduce the volume. With a little bit of routine, the process wasn’t very time-consuming.

The results meet my expectations: I can show my images in a big size and have a publication which appealingly presents the work. As a side effect, I like the combinations, that result when opening the book. Because of the folding, the left page shows image one; the right page shows image two. With this, a new, temporary image evolves.

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Fig. 11 – 20: Rauschkolb, 2020. Spreads from »Greetings from the Parade Ground«

For the first flight, I printed an edition of 20. If people get interested, I will publish a second edition. While working on this, I think about re-publishing the first portfolio in the same way.

Fig. 21: Hornstra and Van Bruggen, 2009. The Sochi Project

Inspirations

Three of Rob Hornstra’s and Arnold van Bruggen’s publications served as a first inspiration. All are printed on newspaper stock. If the »The Sochi Project« (Hornstra and Van Bruggen 2009) sheets were laid together, a giant image of an abandoned site appears. »On the other side of the mountains« (Hornstra and Van Bruggen 2010) can be read as a regular magazine with images and text. But with two issues and a large wall (six meters), the reader can build his exhibition. The last one, »The Europeans« (Hornstra and Van Bruggen 2019), serves as a promotional paper for their new project as the first one mentioned.

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  Fig. 22: Hornstra and Van Bruggen, 2010. On the other side of the mountains

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  Fig. 23: Hornstra and Van Bruggen, 2019. The Europeans

Fig. 22: Hornstra and Van Bruggen, 2010. On the other side of the mountains and Fig. 23: Hornstra and Van Bruggen, 2019. The Europeans

Another, lesser-known, but exciting publication is »49/51« by Swedish photographer Björn Larsson (Larsson 2016). He is dealing with abandoned Swedish wooden houses and barns. Similar to my work is his interest in the traces of the past and the usage of new and archival images.

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Fig. 24 – 26: Larsson, 2016. 49/51

In summary, I can say that this is an excellent and affordable way to publish a portfolio.

List of Figures:

Figure 1: RAUSCHKOLB, Marcel. 2020. Title of »Greetings from the Parade Ground«. Griesheim. Self-published. Images of the publication are available at: https://www.marcelrauschkolb.de/printed-greetings-from-the-parade-ground

Figure 2 – 20: RAUSCHKOLB, Marcel. 2020. Spreads from »Greetings from the Parade Ground«. Griesheim. Self-published.

Figure 21: HORNSTRA, Rob and Arnold VAN BRUGGEN. 2009. The Sochi Project. Netherlands: The Sochi Project.

Figure 22: HORNSTRA, Rob and Arnold VAN BRUGGEN. 2010. On the Other Side of the Mountains. Netherlands.

Figure 23: HORNSTRA, Rob and Arnold VAN BRUGGEN. 2019. The Europeans. Netherlands.

Figure 24 – 26: LARSSON, Björn. 2016. Björn Larsson: 49/51. Stockholm: Journal.

Resources:

RAUSCHKOLB, Marcel. 2020. The Paprika Village/ Das Paprikadorf. Griesheim. Self-published. Images of the publication are available at: https://www.marcelrauschkolb.de/printed-the-paprika-village

CURTIS, Verna Posever. 2011. Photographic Memory: The Album in the Age of Photography. 1st ed. New York, N.Y. : [Washington, D.C.]: New York, N.Y: Aperture; Library of Congress; Available in North America through D.A.P./Distributed Art Pub.

HORNSTRA, Rob and Arnold VAN BRUGGEN. 2009. The Sochi Project. Netherlands: The Sochi Project.

HORNSTRA, Rob and Arnold VAN BRUGGEN. 2010. On the Other Side of the Mountains. Netherlands.

HORNSTRA, Rob and Arnold VAN BRUGGEN. 2019. The Europeans. Netherlands.

LARSSON, Björn. 2016. Björn Larsson: 49/51. Stockholm: Journal.

Thoughts on virtualising an exhibition

My virtual exhibition seen on an iPhone and the Zeiss VR one plus glasses | ©Marcel Rauschkolb

For some reasons, I haven’t shown much activity about the lockdown because of COVID 19. But the lockdown gave me something to think about alternative models of presenting art and what possibilities virtual reality and augmented reality can provide us with.

The virtual exhibition of »The Europeans« by Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen | https://theeuropeans.fm

Several triggers made me think about virtual exhibitions: First Rob Hornstra’s and Arnold van Bruggen’s announcement, that they are not able to show their project »The Europeans« in a real gallery and decided to create a virtual exhibition on the Artsteps-platform (‘The Former Capital, by The Europeans’ 2020). The second was the closing of »Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie« in Mannheim/Ludwigshafen/Heidelberg and their fast switch to virtual presentations, including guided tours (‘Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie’ 2020).

The exhibition »Walker Evans revisited« at Kunsthalle Mannheim. The exhibition is part of the »Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie« | https://biennalefotografie.de

My exhibition, together with sculptor Christoph Kappesser (‘Christoph Kappesser Und Die Ausstellung »Begegnungen«’ 2020), was opened only for one day. Then, it was decided to close museums and galleries. Everything was set up, and I thought it was a pity that the works could only be viewed through the shop windows.

Demosntration of the virtual tour of the exhibition »Begegnungen« together with Christoph Kappesser | https://www.marcelrauschkolb.de/overviewchristoph

I decided to play around with two platforms: Artsteps and VReasy, which is used by Karlsruhe’s ZKM (centre for art and media) (‘Startseite | ZKM’ 2020). The platforms use different approaches: In Artsteps, the exhibitor creates a room with an easy to use 3d-tool and puts his works into this (only virtual) space. VReasy bases on 360-degree panoramas which are linked together. Additional media, like images, video and text, can be added.

Virtual tour through Karlsruhe’s ZKM | https://zkm.de

I decided to use VReasy for this project. Reasons were to show the character of the exhibition space and the sculptures, from which I have no digital data.

For another project, Artsteps may be better suited, perhaps if the character of the real exhibition’s room isn’t that important, or if there is only the virtual exhibition. Or, if the artist simply wants to build the »ideal space« to show his works.

Later, I learned about the third concept of virtualisation of an exhibition: German photo artist Florian Albrecht-Schoeck used the 3d-platform »Das Konvolut« to create a virtual-only room for his series »Lock Down Load« (‘Lock Down Load – A growing contemporary photography exhibition’ n.d.). On this platform rooms, or perhaps better objects are created that couldn’t be built in the real world. 

Screenshot of the virtual exhibition »Lock Down Load« by Florian Albrecht-Schoeck together with Max Fuellbier | https://lockdownload.daskonvolut.de

I think that COVID 19 forced us to think about new concepts of exhibiting art. In my case, I would say that I am at the beginning. I documented a real space with 360-degree imagery to make the exhibition accessible (like many museums and galleries worldwide). Artsteps can be used for the same purpose, but the possibility of creating the »gallery that you want« expand its possibilities. It is to say, that also in an image-based platform like VReasy artificial rooms can be used (as an export from a 3d-tool like Blender). »Das Konvolut« goes one step further: It doesn’t imitate real-world buildings or rooms, it creates new worlds.

All approaches have their justification, and we have to decide per project which one to choose. But they all mean new ways of presenting art, we have to explore them. For me, the next step is to experiment with these or other platforms and to analyse the results. Also, the combination of »real« and »virtual« exhibition space and how they can work together will be interesting.

For further reading, I would recommend Daniel Birnbaum’s article »In the Changed World After Lockdown, We Will Need Smarter New Ways to Interact With Art. I Believe Virtual Reality Is the Answer« (Birnbaum 2020) and Manuel Borja-Villel’s »Letter From Madrid: The Director of the Reina Sofia on What It Will Take for Museums to Rise Again—and What They Can Do in the Meantime« (‘Letter From Madrid: The Director of the Reina Sofia on What It Will Take for Museums to Rise Again—and What They Can Do in the Meantime’ 2020), both on artnet.

And I will close with Daniel Birnbaum, who cited Buckminster Fuller »that we should be designers of the future, not its victims.«

Thank you for reading so far.

Resources:

‘The Former Capital, by The Europeans’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://www.artsteps.com/view/5e81f24eb733f3186e8fb567 [accessed 15 Jun 2020].

‘Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://biennalefotografie.de/ [accessed 15 Jun 2020].

‘Christoph Kappesser Und Die Ausstellung »Begegnungen«’. 2020. Marcel Rauschkolb Photography [online]. Available at: https://www.marcelrauschkolb.de/overviewchristoph [accessed 15 Jun 2020].

‘Make Your Own Virtual Exhibitions’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://www.artsteps.com/ [accessed 15 Jun 2020].

‘vr-easy.com’. 2020. vr-easy.com [online]. Available at: https://vr-easy.com [accessed 15 Jun 2020].

‘Startseite | ZKM’. 2020. [online]. Available at: https://zkm.de/de [accessed 15 Jun 2020].

‘Lock Down Load – A growing contemporary photography exhibition’. n.d. [online]. Available at: https://lockdownload.daskonvolut.de/ [accessed 15 Jun 2020].

BIRNBAUM, Daniel. 2020. ‘In the Changed World After Lockdown, We Will Need Smarter New Ways to Interact With Art. I Believe Virtual Reality Is the Answer’. artnet [online]. Available at: https://news-artnet-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/news.artnet.com/opinion/will-need-new-ways-interact-art-lockdown-believe-virtual-reality-answer-1839591/amp-page [accessed 2 May 2020].

‘Letter From Madrid: The Director of the Reina Sofia on What It Will Take for Museums to Rise Again—and What They Can Do in the Meantime’. 2020. artnet News [online]. Available at: https://news.artnet.com/opinion/madrid-reina-sofia-director-1824210 [accessed 15 Jun 2020].

Thoughts on Jeff Walls “Hunters and Farmers”

PHO702, Week 3 – Reflection

“Marks of Science”: A detail of the floor at a former workshop of Darmstadt’s Technical University | ©Marcel Rauschkolb

Even if Jeff Wall is not on the list of my favourite photographers, I like its analogy of dividing photographers into “Hunters” and “Farmers” (Cotton 2014). A hunter is someone who takes photographs of the reality in front of him. The farmer makes and stages photographs. 

To illustrate this: More or less every advertising photographer is a farmer in his studio. He constructs, he stages, he stakes the shot. On the other hand: The classic photographers from Magnum, like Cartier-Bresson, Capa, Burri, Barbey – they deal with the actual situation.

Thinking about this simple classification concerning my work, I would describe myself as one of the hunters. But at a second look, it turns out that isn’t so easy. When starting my photographic career, I was a hunter: I took pictures of what was in front of me — not everything, but what I thought that it was worth recording.

For my practice in the last years, and perhaps even more since the start of my studies, I would not fully agree to the hunter metaphor anymore.

“Marks of Science”: A detail of the floor at a former workshop of Darmstadt’s Technical University | ©Marcel Rauschkolb

I am selecting more, wait for a particular light or add artificial light, shoot more alternatives. When shooting portraits, I direct the person, and so, more or less, I stage the image. I must confess that I should sometimes lead more, but perhaps this is a process and depends on the situation.

While writing this, I think of what Mathieu Asselin taught in a workshop he held in Frankfurt: “The story doesn’t exist, you have to create that story, you have to create everything” and “it’s your own point of view”. I have to add that Mathieu works in a documentary manner and is a great advocate of research. And thinking of other photographers I appreciate, like Rob Hornstra or Alec Soth, both working in a documentary manner, too, I would say that the metaphor of the hunter has to be expanded or sophisticated.

“Marks of Science”: A detail of the floor at a former workshop of Darmstadt’s Technical University | ©Marcel Rauschkolb

Working on a photographic project always means researching and learning. With this background, I understand the persons and things in front of me better; and it can influence which pictures I take or in which way I will edit them later.

In his Essay “Show and Tell: The Image in Research”, Francis Hodgson states that “Imagery helps to make things clear to the specialists; imagery becomes the prime way to make things clear to the non-specialists” (Hodgson 2019). This can be added to both hunters and farmers – interpreting photography’s mission as a tool to explain situations.

In my opinion, pure hunting isn’t enough to be an “explanator” or a storyteller. The hunt needs preparation and follow-up, and the hunter is more an explorer or explainer today.

“Marks of Science”: A detail of the floor at a former workshop of Darmstadt’s Technical University | ©Marcel Rauschkolb

Addendum (about the pictures in this article):

I title this series of photographs “The marks of engineering”. They are all made inside of “Halle 4”, a former workshop for engineering sciences at Darmstadt’s Technical University. The machinery is now dismantled, and the hall is used as an art gallery.

During a meeting at this location, I discovered the marks and structures left by men and machines. Using the right framing and point of view, oil stains, floor covering and pressure marks of the equipment appear as abstract figures. The remnants of science become works of art.

At this time, the images are not part of a project. But they have connected to my work at a sculptors studio: Surfaces, abstraction through framing, marks of work.

References:

WALL, Jeff in COTTON, Charlotte. 2014. The Photograph as Contemporary Art. Third edition. New York, New York: Thames & Hudson.

ASSELIN, Mathieu. 2018. ‘Idea into actions. Long-term project first steps’ [workshop]. Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, 19 May 2018.

HODGSON, Francis. 2019. ‘Show and Tell: The Image in Research’. Francis Hodgson [online]. Available at: https://francishodgson.com/2019/04/09/show-and-tell-the-image-in-research/ [accessed 18 Feb 2020].

An inventory – about human choices and the state of things

Frankfurt at night, drive-by shot, ©Marcel Rauschkolb

To be honest: This is my third attempt to write this post about the current state of my practice. I don’t know why, but I am blocked. I found examples, both successful and other, in my archive, got stuff from practitioners and around me desk are a lot of books and papers. But I don’t get a start …

So, next try.

I have a lot of working experience as a photographer, and for this, I would attempt myself a good knowledge of photographic techniques. What I would like to improve, or expand, is my theoretical background, my criticality and my editing abilities. These are some of the reasons for studying at Falmouth.

Another reason is curiosity. In my opinion, this is an essential factor in design work of all kinds. To quote Ed Ruscha, “I am interested in what is interesting” (Brouws et al. 2013) – and I would like to add “and try to make others interested in these things”.

In my work, I am stuck with the mundane, and try to find out and show what is extraordinary about it. One of my influences is Walker Evans and the expression he shaped, the “lyric documentary”. In a lecture from 1964, he says about it: “However, I find that those who think of common things in an excited and sort of a side-stepping way have this frame in mind that I would call lyric documentary. Mind that it’s, in a sense, it’s a sort of the natural childish wonder and imagination grown up.” (‘(1964) Walker Evans – “Lyric Documentary”. | Éditions Ismael’ n.d.)

When I try to analyse my work with this statement and John Bergers’ “human choices” in mind (Berger 2013), I regularly use still lifes, relatively close-up, in a kind of “objet trouves” to describe my impression about a location or a person.

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  At a local store in Darmstadt, ©Marcel Rauschkolb

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  Workshop detail, from the series “The Workshop, ©Marcel Rauschkolb

Actually, I am working on two projects. The first is about the nights’ appearance and peoples’ relation to it. For this, I shot nightscapes and portraits.

With two examples from the portrait-sessions, I will illustrate success and weakness in my work.

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  Ralf, night portrait, ©Marcel Rauschkolb

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  Katrin, night portrait, ©Marcel Rauschkolb

The left was one of the first shots for the project. It’s nice, but in the context of the project, it is a failure. When I took it, I was so influenced by Christopher Andersons “Approximate Joy” (Anderson 2018), which I read at this time, that I paid too little attention to my own idea.

The second, which I took after a talk with my tutor Michelle Sank, represents my idea much better: Katrin is portrayed at one of her favourite places and with the wider view, later accompanied by text, the viewer gets an understanding about her relation about the night.

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  At the sculptors studio 1, ©Marcel Rauschkolb

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  At the sculptors studio 2, ©Marcel Rauschkolb

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  At the sculptors studio 3, ©Marcel Rauschkolb

My second project is a collaboration with a sculptor. It has an exhibition with his sculptures and my photographs as its goal. The purpose of my images should be to show the viewer the place of the sculptures’ origin and its atmosphere.

It started with the idea of a photo essay in mind. It became for me a reflection on the similarities and differences between photography and sculpture. I think the impetus for this extension of the project into theory was also triggered by my studies at Falmouth.

I will end with plans for further development. During my studies and in the projects I do, I will try more experiment. Here I follow a statement from László Moholy-Nagy that I became known of while working on an exhibition about Bauhaus photography: “The enemy of photography is the convention, the fixed rules of ‘how to do’. The salvation of photography comes from the experiment.” (Famulla et al. 2019, 105) Another point is to make the projects more multidimensional, here are the works of Donald Weber (“War Sand”), Rob Hornstra (“The Sochi Project”) and Mathieu Asselin (“Monsanto”) are my role models.

I am still trying to figure out how I’m gonna do that. At the moment, these are thoughts for taking pictures and presentation which I have to concretise.

Thank you for reading so far.

References:

BROUWS, Jeffrey T., Phil TAYLOR, Mark RAWLINSON and Edward RUSCHA (eds.). 2013. Various Small Books: Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

‘(1964) Walker Evans – “Lyric Documentary”. | Éditions Ismael’. n.d. [online]. Available at: https://editions-ismael.com/en/1964-walker-evans-lyric-documentary-2/ [accessed 24 Jan 2020].

BERGER, John. 2013. Understanding a Photograph. Edited by Geoff Dyer. London: Penguin Books.

ANDERSON, Christopher. 2018. Approximate Joy. London: Stanley Barker.

MOHOLY-NAGY, László in FAMULLA, Ute, Kai-Uwe HEMKEN, Christoph SCHADEN and Kris SCHOLZ. 2019. Bauhaus Und Die Fotografie: Zum Neuen Sehen in Der Gegenwartskunst = Bauhaus and Photography ; New Vision in Contemporary Art. Edited by Corina Gertz. Bielefeld: Kerber Verlag.

WEBER, Donald, Larry FROLICK and Teun van der HEIJDEN. 2018. War Sand. First edition. Edited by Paul Carlucci. Canada: Polygon.

HORNSTRA, Rob and Arnold van BRUGGEN. 2013. The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus. First edition. New York, N.Y: Aperture Foundation.

ASSELIN, Mathieu. 2017. Monsanto: une Enquête Photographique. Arles: Actes sud.

Week 3 Webinar: Work in Progress

Frankfurt Airport (© Marcel Rauschkolb)

This week was the first time to present ideas or first steps of the Final Major Project. My theme is about the night, darkness and light pollution and people’s relation to it. The idea is to realize it as a portrait series, combined with personal statements.

For a photographer shooting at night, it is always a challenge: Grain, details will get lost because of high contrasts, blur from long exposures. However, if everything works well, you will get outstanding images.

Also, night fascinates and fears people and is often treated in literature. Today the darkness is more and more in danger because of too much and misused artificial light. In the project, I want to discover how people think about the night, darkness, and how vulnerable this part of our life and environment is.

I am still in the conception phase, and shooting the portraits will start next week. I will try different camera systems, don’t know what will work better in the darkness.

I will end this post with some links and books that inspired me in different ways (only an excerpt):

Bookmaking and Storytelling:

Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen: “The Sochi Project” – This work and a workshop with Rob Hornstra last year impressed me very much, so you will read this name often in this journal.

Donald Weber: “War Sand” – A great photographer and storyteller. If you don’t know the book, buy it, you won’t be disappointed. He uses the story of his grandfather as the basis, combines it with landscape and scientific photography – and tells so the story of the landing in the Normandy.

Matthieu Asselin: “Monsanto” – I attended a workshop with him in 2018. His thoughts on how to plan a story and methods of how to circumvent obstacles were a great inspiration for the concept of my project.

Art and Photography:

Brassai “Paris by Night”
The work of Edward Hopper
Erwin Olaf’s perfectly orchestrated images
Ruth Blees Luxemburg
Todd Hido

Literature:

Platon
Robert Louis Stevenson
Rainer Maria Rilke
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Sound:

Francesco Novarras “Ready to Fly”: I saw him performing live at a launch event of ESA in Darmstadt. He used sound samples from the Rosetta Mission to compose his music.

Science:

Scotobiology – The biology of the darkness
International Dark-Sky Association (IDA)
Verlust der Nacht

Photography and …

In this week’s webinar, we discussed what other disciplines and critical contexts are relevant to our own practice.

I focused on the relation between photography and the written word. To illustrate this, I added two examples from photographers I am connected to, Rob Hornstra and W. Eugene Smith, and one from advertising’s greatest: Bill Bernbach.

I think the closest companion to photography is text, whether its prose or poetry. Especially in documentary photography, the written word adds another layer of information to the photographic image. The combination makes the investigated situation clearer to the viewer.

I refer here to a classic, W. Eugene Smiths “The Country Doctor”– Very insightful photography. Still, the captions tell another part of the story which Smith could not put into images.

W.Eugene Smith “The Country Doctor”, excerpt from LIFE Magazine 1948

As contemporary examples, I mention two pieces of Rob Hornstra‘s work: “The Sochi Project” and “Man Next Door”.

For “The Sochi Project” he worked closely together with author Arnold van Bruggen. Here the text gives all the background information to entirely understand what was so strange about letting the Olympic Winter Games take place in Sochi, a place called the “Summer Capital”.

Spread from “Man next door”, Rob Hornstra, 2017 (Self-published)

In “Man Next Door” Hornstra tells the sad story about his neighbour Kid. The images are combined with quotes from police reports from the last year of Kids life. The sometimes funny or strange-looking photos together with the harsh language of the reports show you a life on the edge of society.

But the written word in combination with photographic images can also entertain in many ways. This pair is often used in advertising to attract people. As an example, I chose a vintage Volkswagen ad from Bill Bernbach (From the sixties, I think). A clear, simple image and the headline “Impossible”- the contrast of the images content and the meaning of the headline attract attention.

Volkswagen advertising from the 1960ies

There are also other disciplines which are related to photography, like using scientific methods or materials, the way of storytelling similar to graphic novels, or graphic design and illustration – but I would say that the word has a powerful connection to the photographic image.

Addendum: I wrote a post about Stefanie Seuferts “Towers” later which relates to this post.