Marion Palace, Ohio: Hiroshi Sugimoto
The word 'photography' means literally 'drawing with light', and I have referred to this connection with drawing several times before. But sometimes a photographer seems to make the connection so clear that it is useful to unpick why a little more.
Hiroshi Sugimoto came to the attention of the art world in the 1980s because of his photographs of cinema interiors. The images were made while films were showing, but in order for the details of a cinema's interior to register on the film, the camera's shutter was held open for very long exposures. This resulted in a series of images whereby the films being shown were all whited out, their over exposure erasing them and yet in some way also 'recording' the time of their passing, condensing the durations of various films into the frozen moment of a still photograph. These photographs are for me very close to a drawing practice, because they are photographs that can be both read as images that belong to the 'simultaneous now' and as images that can be used to unfold time.
Movie Theatre, Canton Palace, Ohio, 1980: Hiroshi Sugimoto
The fact that these images also highlight the older relationship between film and theatre is also important. The older use of cinemas was as theatres, hence several conventions of the theatre continued as the use was changed, in particular the continuing use of the stage curtain and of decorative interiors that often echoed the forms that the architect Inigo Jones (1573–1652) had devised as sets for royal masques, and which he later used to design 17th century theatre interiors. Jones was in many ways referring back to the work of Vitruvius and in response to his reflections on Vitruvius he also introduced the first proscenium arch into theatres in England; the decorative architectural frame that presided over the stage. Echoes of all of these things can be seen in the cinema photographs of Hiroshi Sugimoto.
The drama of the theatre interior has always interested film makers and the type of compositions that result in framing composites of close and far views was something storyboard artists such as Mentor Huebner, have often used very powerfully. It is as if the history of film becomes embedded into the ideas of how 'dramatic' viewpoints are arrived at, in particular those views we have of the stage from high up in the gods or upper balconies.
Mentor Huebner
These edges are old ones and they belong to the world of the theatre and the perspective frame. The events that take place on the stage have edges, the front edge of the stage is a dividing line between the audience and what occurs, and the audience understands that this edge is a line between what is real and what is an enactment. A theatrical production can unfold through time, with a beginning and an end and in doing so is designed to help the audience understand or become aware of some aspect of what we often call the human condition. This 'human condition' is itself a sort of framing device. In cutting our experiences and life away from the rest of the world, we have come up with a way of presenting situations as if the world itself is simply a stage for humans to act out their various lives. Early perspective drawings, the layout of the theatre and the invention of camera obscuras, are very closely linked in this conception. As lens based images become ubiquitous, we find our society experiencing the real world as if it is theatre.
During the Renaissance there were several
attempts to create stage perspectives, including those
drawn by Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554), and published in his book 'Architettura'. Serlio's drawings show stadium seating set out around an orchestra, in the centre of which only the duke or
prince would sit. The stage is set at the eye level of the duke, who therefore is the only one with a perfect
view of the spectacle. The space is also raked, to increase the illusion of depth via perspective. This control of the eye point essentially gives the viewer power. A power that we forget is still there when a viewpoint for a photograph is selected. Serlio
designed three all purpose settings to
place in this 'picture frame', one for tragedy, one for comedy, and one for
pastorals. These needed rapid changes of scene and this was initially achieved by the use of a periaktos, an ancient theatrical device consisting of a revolving triangular form made of wood. While one scene was presented to the audience, the other two could be changed. Not only was the eye point controlled but the 'mood' or content of the play was suggested by the set design. Together these controls simplify and clarify the fictive world of the theatre, so that audiences can experience a fable like view of life. It is the frame that allows this to happen, but the things framed by cameras are not fables they are slices of reality and this is I would suggest a big problem.
In the image below a slice of the world is captured inside a camera obscura and is being contemplated upon by a human being, who in effect turns his back on the world in order to contemplate it. In many ways the interior of the camera obscura resembles a theatre, a box like space within which an isolated set of events can be explored.
The world of microscopes and telescopes takes the concept of separation and moves it on into an even further dimension of literal distancing.
Galileo in his studio
A 148 feet long focal length Keplerian astronomical refracting telescope 1673
As more and more optical devices were invented, you could argue that human beings became more and more distanced from reality. Humans were no longer 'believing their own eyes' and were beginning to rely on enhanced optical instruments to reveal what had previously not been apparent. The craters on the moon shown by this drawing by Galileo below, are evidence of a new reality born of a fusion between humans and technology.
Galileo: drawing of the moon:1611
If we no longer believe our own eyes everything becomes fictional and if it is, it is very hard to respond in ways that reflect the actual reality of a situation. This is why we find it so hard to respond to global warming or other threats to our environment revealed to us via technology. Like Sugimoto's photographs the central content is wiped away, whited out due to overexposure, which is perhaps why a return to old fashioned looking and drawing might help us take situations for real.
Cornelia Hesse-Honegger a Swiss scientific draughtswoman, draws images of mutant insects that she finds around nuclear power plants, she finds them by collecting insect samples from contaminated areas, first of all spotting them by eye, but then she does use a microscope to ensure precision, as she makes her very precise renderings. Her work reminds us that we can still use hand made imagery to question the status quo and that it is possible to work outside of the lens based imagery frame.
Cornelia Hesse-Honegger: Mutant insects
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