Photochemistry, Darkroom Basics and the Contemporary Photograph as an Object, with Kela
Kranj Foto Fest Workshop 2024
Printing photographs in the darkroom with liquid emulsion on various substrates (paper, glass, wood, …) and creating frames and/or supportive structures from stone, wood, metal, and their use in coherent presentation of the work.
In contemporary art, the line between photography and other artistic practices is increasingly blurred. During the workshop, this intertwining will move from Kela to Layer House. The workshop will take place in two groups working simultaneously. One group will work on the application of liquid emulsion on different materials (paper, glass, wood, etc.) and the other on the handling and manipulation of different materials (stone, wood, metal) to make support frames for their work with the first mentor. In this way, participants will explore the interplay of techniques and materials and create links between experimental and experiential work in contemporary photography.
Participants will be divided into two groups, alternating between two mentors:
I. Group I with Peter Fettich
On the first day, participants will learn about the darkroom, the basic equipment and the chemicals they will use in their work, as well as how photosensitive materials and photochemistry work in theory. They will also learn how to use liquid emulsion, apply it to different substrates (paper, glass, wood, etc.) and observe a demonstration of the making of photographs. On the second day, they will make their own photographs on the material they prepared the previous day.
II. Group II with Sara Rman
On the first day, participants will learn about different materials and the tools used to process them. In the second part, they will get to grips with the handling of different materials that will be used to make frames and/or support structures and explore creative processes and methods that will allow them to present their work coherently.
Sara Rman / Kela
Participants' works created during the workshop will be showcased in a pop-up exhibition at Kranj Foto Fest 2024!
PROGRAMME
Thursday, 22.8.2024, 10:00–16:00
10:00–12:30 Group I: darkroom, theoretical part and demonstration of the use of liquid emulsion
10:00–12:30 Group II: garden, introduction to materials
12:30–13:30 break
13:30–16:00 Group I: garden, introduction to materials
13:30–16:00 Group II: darkroom, theoretical part and demonstration of the use of liquid emulsion
Friday, 23.8.2024, 10:00–16:00
10:00–12:30 Group I: darkroom, making photographs
10:00–12:30 Group II: garden, making frames and/or support structures
12:30–13:30 break
13:30–16:00 Group I: garden, making frames and/or support structures
13:30–16:00 Group II: darkroom, making photographs
From 16:00: setting up the pop-up exhibition
About Kela
The Kela art production space is a meeting point for artists of different generations, who bring to it their experience and diverse knowledge in the fields of culture and art. Kela has a fully equipped photographic darkroom, two workshops with a variety of tools for paper, wood, clay, textiles, etc., a shared studio for project work and an office. In addition to the founders, the space can be visited and used by the wider professional and lay public, who can benefit from professional help and creative guidance in addition to their preferred workspace, according to the system in place. This kind of sharing of spaces and exchange of intergenerational knowledge and experience encourages quality artistic production, provides support for individual artists and opens up the possibility of forming new artistic groups. The logical consequence of this is a richer public cultural space.
Sara Rman
Sara Rman (1992, Ljubljana) is Slovenian artist working in various fields of arts and crafts. The photographic medium serves her as a tool of expression through which she explores concepts of identity, the dimensions of the field of freedom and raw aesthetics. She is interested in boundaries, in reaching and crossing them, in mixing, obscuring and overlapping. She approaches her work comprehensively and methodologically, not through a formalistic view of the medium and its specificities. The process on its own is crucial for her and most often dictates the final format, which is often interactive and installation-oriented. In her photographic practice, she most often questions the indexical quality of the medium and its alternative functions beyond its purely image-forming capacities and arbitrariness.
Peter Fettich
Peter Fettich (1979, Ljubljana) has been working in the field of photography since 2009. He first worked as a professional photographer in the field of commercial and sports photography, and enrolled at the Faculty of Applied Sciences in Ljubljana (VIST) in 2011, where his photographic pursuits evolved from a primarily photojournalistic to a documentary/author approach, and his active work in the photographic darkroom began. In 2019, he completed a semester at Vraa Hojskole (Denmark), where he gained experience in “alternative” photographic techniques under the mentorship of Emil Schild. Since 2020, he has been the co-founder of the Artard Institute, under which the Kela production space operates and develops. He is actively involved in developing photographs, self-publishing publications and running photography workshops. He presents his work in solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad.
Places are limited to 12 participants.
To register, please send your application to info@kranjfotofest.org
Early Bird price: 150€, valid for payments before 15th July 2024.
Full price: 180 €, valid from 16th July 2024 until places are filled.
What to bring: A developed 35mm black and white film (if possible). Previous knowledge is not required.
Peter Fettich/ Kela