"The Zone System"
July 3, 2014
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Description
Nana & Felix
The Zone System
3.7.–1.8.2014
PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY HIPPOLYTE
It is not a matter of the passport matching you, but of you matching the passport.
In this exhibition we study Photography as an institutional tool used to register, categorize and label people. The works exhibited build upon the historical origins of the official photograph. By producing caricatures of early law enforcement photography (such as passport photos, mug shots, and facial composites) we aim to question both the foundations of this practice as well as the limits of photographic representation.
The exhibition consists of three works.
The Zone System is an installation of 42 digital displays. This work borrows American photography-pioneer Ansel Adam’s technical zone system and replaces the different shades of grey with a continuously changing human greyscale.
Kanta|Väestö is a diptych formed out of a total of 236 passport photographs. The sculptures respond to the idea behind the positivist use of photography in 19th century criminological and eugenic studies.
Facial Composite consists of twelve portraits of the artists. Based on the identification methods used by law enforcement, twelve participants were asked to answer a questionnaire describing the facial features of the artists.
As an artist duo, Nana & Felix work on photography-based projects. The main concern in our practice is to play with the established notion and use of photographic images. The exhibition The Zone System is our second project together.
This project has been kindly supported by Koneen Säätiö, Svenska Kulturfonden and Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse.
