17.4.11

Photography: Idris Khan, Michael Wesely and Darren Almond



I have just seen a reference to the work of Idris Khan in the Observer (17.04.11) - I realise now that he did the visuals for the Editor's albums. I was reminded, when looking at this work of the photographer Michael Wesely who also creates amazing images of architecture, spaces and places.

Above is "Homage to Bernd Becher" or "every…Bernd and Hilla Becher Prison type Gashouse" from 2004. Here Khan has taken the Bechers' works and overlaid them to produce a single image.
It looks like a time-based piece created by Muybridge or Marey but is instead multiple photos of spaces placed one over the other to create a new kind of space. There is a ghost-like nature to the image with the space appearing undefined or undefineable, while also appearing to move or spin.

Michael Wesely generates similar ghostly apparitions in his photographs (and they are photographs - often made with pin-hole cameras) by creating single images from extremely long exposures. The images below reflect long term architectural construction processes in Berlin and MOMA New York - the New york image was something like a 3yr exposure.





This in turn reminds me of the 'Fullmoon' images created by Darren Almond. The images were created by using long exposure times at night using only the light of the moon.



Fullmoon-Tondo@Orkney C-Print 2007