SNAPSHOT: PRODUCTION WORKSHOP WITH POLAROID MATERIAL
CARLOS LEÓN
11 and 12 June 2016
In 1947 Edwin H. Land astonished the world by presenting the first instant photograph to the American Optical Society: a camera that developed and printed the image in just 60 seconds. Since then, with more than half a century of history, Polaroid has manufactured around 250 different camera models and throughout the 1980s museums dedicated to artistic production with Polaroid were founded, including photographs by Andy Warhol, Sarah Moon, Helmut Newton, Jean Michel Basquiat, David Hockney and others. In 2009 Polaroid permanently discontinued the production of material for its analogue cameras.
Curiously, Polaroid is considered the precursor of digital photography, although ironically it was the one that killed it. And in this time important questions arise such as: Do instants exist?, What has the immediacy of the digital image led us to?, Do we need social networks to be sure that we exist?, Have we become connected to the void?, Are digital media linked to human incommunication?, Why is human communication not technological?, Why do new technologies lead us to lose our memory?Why did analogue photography allow for emotionally charged communication, What sense does the use of instantaneous material make in this time, Is there a discourse of its own in this medium, Photographic objects vs. virtual images, This workshop proposes a pause for reflection on the instant we inhabit linked to the use of the logbook as a support for the experiences and images that are presented to us in the events of everyday life.
Temary:First session:History of the polaroid until its decline in the 90's.Most singular artists who used the polaroid for their production.Knowledge of the polaroid camera, its functions and the different types of film.Text and film support for class discussion:The social life of snapshot.Plastic Cameras Toys.Memento.
Second session:Practice:Emulsion transfer.Pigment transfer.Negative recovery.Painting of photographs.Text and film support for class discussion:Time Exposure and Snapshot.Framed Spaces.The lost image.
CARLOS LEÓN
MEXICO
(Estado de México, 1983) He studied at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEM) where he studied a degree in Art with a specialisation in Artistic Creation. In 2014 he was part of the Contemporary Photography Seminar at Centro de la Imagen. He has exhibited collectively in MACO, Photo España, Paraty Em Foco (Brazil), Foto Museo Cuatro Caminos, CENART, Photo Lumens (Colombia), San José Foto (El Salvador), Photo Patagonia (Argentina), Festival Photoimagen (Dominican Republic) and LACA (United States).
He was one of the photographers internationally nominated by curator Hester Keijser for the first Latin American edition of the Joop Swart Masterclass, World Press Photo, 2015. He has given lectures and workshops on photography in Mexico City and other states of the country.
His work has been published in newspapers and magazines in France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Mexico. His work is part of the collection of Fundación Televisa. He recently received a grant from FONCA and PECDA in Visual Arts in 2017-2018.
