In 2026, the world of photography will mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of the first permanent photograph, “View from the Window at Le Gras,” by Nicéphore Niépce. To mark this milestone, culture and art institutions worldwide are organizing events and exhibitions that shine a light on the history of photography.
At ArtSpace, we marked the event by establishing residency programs. We turned one of the display rooms into a traditional darkroom and invited four photographers to work in the photography lab for a week each and create printed works in real time. The works printed in the lab will be presented, as they come, in the adjacent display space. Only the first works will be on display at the opening event, with new works added each week so the space changes gradually. A camera records the work process, documenting everything that happens in the darkened lab, and broadcasting it to a screen in the adjacent display room.
Over the past few years, the world has been inundated with images. Social networks and Artificial Intelligence engines have exponentially generated a multiplicity of photographs and other visual digital products. Amid this excess and the dizzying rhythm of the visual world, we seek to slow down momentarily and return to the traditional processes of analog photography. It may not be incidental that, in recent years, traditional, chemistry-based photography has been experiencing a resurgence, mostly among young people. The passion for matter, sentiment, and photography containing human traces is evident here too.