UNTITLED FILM SETS 2013
pinhole photographs
exhibition VIEWS : Museum Folkwang, Essen 2017, GALERIE Stadtpark, Krems 2016
The photographs from the series Untitled Film Sets were made in military surroundings which served as the setting for an experimental film project Walentynowicz documented in her very own way. Whilst the preparation and performance took place, she positioned her camera and exposed the squeezed-in negative; sometimes for several hours. Finally, the whole lasting action was captured in one single negative. It holds everything but shows nearly nothing. It can hardly be read. Just a few straight light-lines may be decoded. Reminding of Étienne-Jules Mareys’ (1830–1904) early attempts of chronophotography they abstract from the real, with light and, of course, time as their main criteria. Whereas some photographs may depict a particular scenario or spatial depth, others conceal their relation to reality entirely. Here the outside world is embedded deeply into the silver gelatine layer. (Franziska Kunze)