The Lamp & the Laboratory
From Feb. 24 to 28, Zavitz Gallery exhibited a solo show by Sam de Lange, titled The Lamp & the Laboratory. The show contained four separate pieces, which, as de Lange described, are “part of an ongoing investigation of the ecologies of photography.” In simpler terms: the relations between images, their modes of production, and the viewers in the physical surroundings.
The four works – “The Lamp (or Equivalent),” “After Use Before,” “culled from the same cloth,” and “Excerpts from the Laboratory” – were presented in separate groupings, which together considered the larger subject of image-making technology through photography, video, and installation.
By keeping most of the gallery lights turned off and using his own fluorescent light bulbs where needed, de Lange created an almost chapel-like environment in which each work was given space to be truly admired.
“Excerpts from the Laboratory” consisted of a series of test prints made using experimental developing methods, including de Lange’s own recipe of an instant coffee and vitamin-C formula. The images were made as cyanotypes (entirely blue-tinted), calotypes (paper coated with iodide), and salt paper prints, which hung on long strings of nylon rope between the left and back walls of the gallery. Images of industrial parks conveyed through this DIY approach to development contextualised manmade edifices and developments in a new photographic manner.
“After Use Before” was a series of small, framed Polaroid 545 prints taken with expired film. The images moved between industrial landscapes, open fields, and otherwise desolate sceneries. The unforeseen effects of the expired film added another dimension of presence to each image, such as a dark circle in the middle or the appearance of tearing, like tangible versions of ghosts caught on film.
While looking at the Polaroids, the soft humming and crackling sounds coming from “The Lamp (or Equivalent)” made it feel like one was watching an old film shot through a car window, roving through the back roads of some unknown place. Peaceful, secluded, unpredictable – yet somehow safe and controlled.
“The Lamp (or Equivalent)” was a digital video projected onto a large screen hanging diagonally to the back right corner. The projection appeared as a scene of what looked like clouds with a large bright spot in the centre. The video played at such a slow rate that it seemed to not be moving at all. Standing between the screen and the corner produced silhouettes of the viewer onto the video, implying a human presence in the landscape.
As with “After Use Before,” interacting with the work was like observing a scene. It resembled a meta-exercise in watching a video of oneself watching the sky, as the clouds slowly part on an overcast day and the white sunlight comes through. This was an obvious manufactured environment – an opportunity to stare directly into the sun without the consequences of blindness.
The fourth piece, “culled from the same cloth,” was a reclaimed muslin backdrop from the Kodak film testing facilities in Toronto. By hanging the large cloth to cover the gallery window, the dark fabric put the final touch on preparing an environment that was isolated but comfortable.
The subject matter of de Lange’s work negotiates the associations of the natural and the manufactured. Images that represent and imply physical landscapes are intersected by the manmade technologies of photo-based processes that make up the contemporary media landscape. His multidisciplinary approach addresses the relationships between outmoded forms of photography and contemporary media interventions, and draws a connection between the ‘high tech/low life’ notions of what de Lange calls the “first-person cyberpunk narrative.”
In dealing with the concepts of “provisional history,” metadata, and “future archive” in his work, de Lange constantly seeks to smudge the boundaries of past, present, future to tell a rhizomatic story in which everything can be connected. The Lamp & the Laboratory created a symbiotic installation in which the darkened and austere physical environment felt like an inviting embrace, situating the viewer in the space between distance and deference.