Exposures… through water, through sand – creatures of thought

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Below – and above – are the results of my recent experiments in Peenemuende, mentioned in an earlier post. Several pieces of photographic paper hidden in the sand and under water for 30 minutes without any light protection.

Photographic paper is a rather patient absorber, and therefore very suitable for these kind of experiments, as it is not as sensitive as fellow film materials. In the thought-o-grahical context of these experiments, light has a double purpose. On one hand it naturally exposes all light sensitive materials and on the other hand it acts as a carrier of something that I will call creatures of thought (whatever these creatures of thought might be and wherever they might come from and whatever they might tell me), I will maybe never know. It is also not important.

The inclusion of light in these experiments allows or even enables these creatures of thought to be absorbed and/or reflected and finally revealed throughout chemical processing on the very photographic paper.

In my earlier thought-o-graphic experiments where light was strictly excluded during the entire process, I was (and still am) concerned with objects or subjects that reflect their specific memory, history, feelings, atmosphere, thought forms etc.. onto the photographic paper. Most of the time in direct contact, the object or subject emits or transmits, the paper absorbs.

In both cases the sensitive layer acts as a revelation or mirror of the presence of these alleged emissions or respectively creatures of thought.

PS: Drawing with light, reflection and absorbation, creatures of thought

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Exposures… through water, through sand

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During the latest trip to Peenemuende I did two new thoughtographic experiments. Continuing recent experiments including light and using it as some kind of thoughtographic carrier, i buried – without any light protection – photographic paper in the sand and partly under water > see above images. (Thank you Mr. PF). Exposure time until recollection was 30 minutes and afterwards they got stored in light tight containers until final processing.

Results will be shown very soon.

PS: Light, sand, silver, salts, grain, textures, humidity, sea, water, temperature, reflection, exposure, alfred kubin.

The Dream Detective

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Thoughts are things, Mr. Coram. If I might spend a night here – upon the very spot of floor where the poor conway fell – I could from the surrounding atmosphere (it is a sensitive plate) recover a picture of the thing in his mind – indicating Conway – at the last! (…)

What is it, continued the weird old man, but the odic force, the ether – say it how you please – which carries the wireless message, the lightening? It is a huge, subtile sensitive plate. Inspiration, what you call bad luck and good luck – all are but refelections from it. The supreme thought preceding death is imprinted on the surrounding atmosphere like a photograph. I have trained this to reproduce those photographs!

Excerpt from The Dream Detective, 1925 by Sax Rohmer, Double Day Edition

Katier shows: Occulto Fest 12 -13th March

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All Infos:

OccultoFest

La Gioiosa Macchina da Guerra in collaboration with AC Galerie and
Occulto announce

OCCULTO FEST
A two day festival. A series of sound performances. A video screening. A
workshop.

12-13 March 2011

Ausland
Lychener Straße 60
10437Berlin

Ausland

SCREENING
Preview of THIRD PILL – Episode 2 – Curated by Alice Cannava (AC Galerie)
SAT 12 March: h 8 pm
SUN 13 March: h 9.30 pm
http://www.ac-galerie.net

Meris Angioletti – “Night Shifts” (2005)
http://web.freeundo.it/astro/www/home.htm
Alessio delli Castelli – “Marry! Marry!” (2008)
http://www.ac-galerie.net/adc_pr.html
Condominium – “U.S.O. Unidentified Submerged Objects”
http://www.condominiumfilm.com
Bill Dolson – “Storms” (2009 – ongoing)
http://www.billdolson.com
[epidemiC] – “Loveletter.vbs reading” (2001)
http://epidemic.ws
Jon Fawcett – “Common Star” (2005)
www.jonfawcett.com
Kathrin Günter – “Cabinet for Thoughtography” (2008-ongoing)
http://www.fotokatie.com
Jeff Mann – “Apparition Apparatus” (1999)
http://jeffmann.com
Roy Menahem Markovich – “Untitled”
http://vimeo.com/15485432
Sandro Pizzichelli – “HG” (2008)
http://www.vimeo.com/sandropizzichelli
Marcel Türkowsky & Elise Florenty – “Pendulum Report” (2009-2011)
http://www.myspace.com/marceltuerkowsky

SOUND PERFORMANCES Curated by Federica Rossella aka DuChamp
http://soundcloud.com/duchamp-1/duchamp_gemini

SAT 12 March: h 9pm
Preslav Literary School
http://www.preslavliteraryschool.co.uk
Thomas Zunk
http://www.myspace.com/thomaszunk
TestCard – Brainmachine
http://www.testcard.org
Miguel Negrão
http://www.friendlyvirus.org/artists/zlb/zlb_music.html
Fausto Maijstral
http://www.myspace.com/faustomaijstralband
Roi Poingi
http://soundcloud.com/poingi
Paulo Chinatown
http://www.facebook.com/ChinatownSoundSystem

SUN 13 March: h 8pm
Rinus Van Alebeek
http://zeromoon.com/rinus/
Francesco Cavaliere & Marcel Türkowsky
http://www.myspace.com/marceltuerkowsky
http://www.nathiascatola.com/
LifeLoop
http://lifeloop.org/
throuRoof
http://www.blissland.co.cc

WORKSHOP
Martin Howse & Martin Kuenz – “Detection”
Workshop fee: 30 euros – subscriptions here: info.occultofest@gmail.com
Sat 12 + Sun 13 / h 11.30-19
http://www.1010.co.uk/org

STATEMENT (for those who read)
At the end of the 1970s Sam Wagstaff put together an extensive collection of photos taken between 1870 and the 1930s, including Mumler’s ghost portraits, Kirlian’s experiments, Darget’s “thoughts photographic pictures” and other pioneering photographer’s works attempting to demonstrate the reality of certain supernatural phenomena. These pictures, beside the historical and ethnographic interest, are strongly suggestive abstract pieces, and Wagstaff explained that the he had collected them to satisfy his own desire to contemplate and explore the “pleasure to see, as when we see people dancing from a window”.
With somehow similar hopes and fears, several people tried to start a communication within a non-human dimension, experiment known as Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP), voice-like sounds not resulting from intentional voice recordings or renderings. They have been claimed to derive either from paranormal events, or from a kind of materializing of the subconscious (apophenia, or auditory pareidolia), or to be simply hoaxes.
In his short novel It Belongs to the Cucumbers, William Burroughs traces a similitude between his own writing technique of cut-up and Raudive’s “ghost voices” recordings, intentionally creating a mysterious aura around the subconscious process of creativity. Acousmatic music could be seen to be treading the same path; and maybe the same could be said for most creative exploration.
Artistic and musical research often brings results that are surprising not only for the viewer/listener, but also for the artist as well. Unexpected changes, distortions and deviations are a lively part of any creative and intellectual process; but sometimes they are also intentionally part of the project from the beginning.
In his debut as a director Shadows, John Cassavetes let the actors free to improvise on a scenario, something accustomed in the Italian Comedy of Art, but quite unusual in Hollywood. Besides exploring the issue of interracial relationships in a very simple and enlightened way, he also offers one of the best family rows in the history of cinema.

Occulto Fest involves artists and musicians that often focus on unusual, creative and diverted ways to collect and use
data, be they recorded sounds, scientific data, legends, computer programming languages, novels, circuits or images
found on the web. But this is not the full story; they also do so with wit, utilising well developed skills and with the criticaland challenging approach which has always been the best part of any DIY philosophy.
Occulto Fest proposes an exploration of something between scientific experimentation, wonder, hoax, subconscious suggestions and physical reality, using music, videos and other media.

Alice Cannava + Federica Rossella


AC Galerie + Occulto Magazine
Talstrasse 3
13189 Berlin
www.ac-galerie.net
www.occultomagazine.com

Thoughtographic Transmissions in the Developer Tray

Below are three results that I got today experimenting with thoughtographic transmissions throughout the fingertips onto photographic paper in the very developer tray. Letting my fingertips flow over the photographic paper in the developer fluid I concentrated onto different states of mind like anger, fear and affection, until my hands would lift themselves and the state of mind was vanished. Each experiment took not more than a couple of minutes.

I tried to do some more experiments this afternoon, but I didn’t get any visible results.

Anger:

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Affection:

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Fear

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The Traveling Envelope: Berlin-London-Berlin

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This is the story of an envelope inhabited by three sheets of photographic paper that I send to my friend Masumi in London. As part of our thoughtographic experiments she took the envelope on a journey out and about london to let it absorb its ever changing environment including thoughts, smells, tastes, sounds etc. Tomorrow I will develop the three travellers and I am very curious what will come out! Thank you Masumi!

Workshop at Worm in Rotterdam: Screening the Results

Late but at least !at all!, I can publish one video that I was shared thankfully by Maria Botella, via Judith (THANK YOU!).
It shows the evening screening at Worm: 4 Projectors reveal several 16 mm thoughtographic film loops, which have been exposed by very fluid participants throughout a very inspiring and funny day !! Thank you all!! And especially Esther from Worm for all chemicals, materials, darkroom & hot soup support!
I hope there will be more results soon to be shown, but a crashed computer and missing internet doesn’t help….

“Cabinet for thouhtography” from María Botella on Vimeo.

Thoughtographic Experiments by Masumi Hirayama

Masumi is an artist, that I am very happy to have met during the Psychogeophysics Summit. Concerned with body and mind relationship, also with Time as in past – present – future, she opened a completely new level to my thoughtographic experiments. Combining drawing, rubbings and also audio memories – she experimented to influence the photographic paper simultaneously to – and in the very moment of – her actions.

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