New Artificiality
From its initial primary use in prototyping, 3D printing has become a rapidly growing medium with a wide range of applications in the last decade. With its increasing democratization and its ever-growing possibilities, Catherine Leutenegger explores the current limits and future developments related to 3D printing in the process of revolutionizing numerous business sectors.
Additive manufacturing’s potential seems endless, but what are its limits? With what degree of precision can 3D printers replicate reality? And what happens when the computer or machine fails, or when a glitch in the 3D digital model is materialized as a physical object in tangible space? With the decreasing prices of 3D printers, personal manufacturing will certainly become more available and gain wide appeal. Although this is very exciting, there are also some ethical and safety concerns regarding what will be mass-producible in the near future.
Apocalyptic-Post
Presented in the form of lightboxes, Apocalyptic-Post presents a series of photographic reproductions from Facebook and Instagram’s posts. The original posts – displayed on the screen of a smartphone – are intentionally blurred in the photographs. Dematerialised into vague, vaporous floating shapes, these posts are transformed into intriguing visuals through the lense of a high resolution camera. The imposing dimensions of the boxes and the light coming from it give the pieces a magnetic aura that inevitably attracts and holds the viewer’s gaze. The blurring adds a sensation of rhythmic motion, like a three-dimensional surface movement.
The dissolution of the subject generates aesthetic, sensory and emotional impulses in our perception that are difficult to define, inviting viewers to reflect upon the post’s real substance, which has become diluted in the infinite abyss of news and disinformation.
Kodak City
The Kodak headquarters were founded by George Eastman in Rochester, New York, in 1888. In its prime, Kodak employed thousands of people and turned Rochester into a wealthy town. After the digitalization of photography, the business declined. Catherine Leutenegger’s Kodak City series, reveals what remains of Kodak as a business and the ways in which the decline of the company impacted the city of Rochester. It is a testimony that is both engaged and objective, covering a part of America’s industrial heritage that faces inevitable disappearance. It is also a way of paying homage to the father of modern photography, George Eastman (1854 -1932) in his hometown, which he transformed into the cradle of the world’s collective memory for the entire 20th century.
Catherine Leutenegger (b. 1983 in Lausanne) is a photographic archeologist with a fascination for the culture of photography and its impact on the way we live and work. With her photographs, she examines historical shifts related to transformations in our identities. Her first monographical book titled Hors-champ revealing photographers’ workspaces, was published by Infolio through the Manor Cultural Award 2006. In 2007, she took part of an artist residency program in New York and started her project named Kodak City in Rochester. Her second monography was published by Kehrer Verlag in 2014 and looks at the demise of the once booming Kodak empire. Throughout her recent body of work titled New Artificiality (2015-), Catherine Leutenegger investigates the current potential and limits of 3D printing technology in numerous business sectors.
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Awards
- 2018Prix culturel Photographie, Fondation vaudoise pour la culture, Canton de Vaud
- 2017Arles Photo Folio Review Award, (special mention), Arles, France
- Swiss Federal Design Award (nomination), Bern, Switzerland
- 2008Swiss Federal Design Award, Bern, Switzerland
- The Raymond Weil Club, International Photography Prize, Geneva, Switzerland
- 2006Manor Award, Lausanne, Switzerland
Exhibitions
- 2024SPECIMENS 24, New Artificiality, Palais de Rumine Lausanne (CH)
- 2023TECHNO-MONDES, Centre d’imagerie Dubochet, UNIL Lausanne (CH)
- 2022UNNATURAL STUDIES, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne (CH)
- Fotofestival Lenzburg, New Artificiality, Lenzburg (CH)
- 2021WE ARE HUMANS, featuring the work New Artificiality, Cortona On The Move, Italy (IT)
- Entanglement, Bieler Fototage, Biel (CH)
- 2020Between Hills, Mountains and Lake, Gaotai Gallery, Urumqi (China)
- Between Hills, Mountains and Lake, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (China)
- NEW ARTIFICIALITY, Gallery of Photography Ireland, Dublin (IR)
- 2019INFINITY ROOM, ArtLab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EPFL, Lausanne (CH)
- Kodak City, Chennai Photography Biennale, Chennai (India)
- 2017SHI(F)T HAPPENS, Espace abstract, Lausanne (CH)
- 2016Kodak City, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki (FI)
- 2015Kodak City, Festival Circulations, Paris (F)
- Kodak City, Coalmine, Winterthur (CH)
- 2008Hors-champ, Galerie Aperture, New-York (USA)
- 2006Hors-champ, Manor Award, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne (CH)
Publications
- 2019EXIT #74 Interiores featuring the series MOTEL , Madrid (Spain)
- CAMERA AUSTRIA, featuring the works New Artificiality , Vienna (Austria)
- Better Photography, featuring the work Kodak City , (India)
- 2018GUP Magazine#56, The Transition Issue, (The Netherlands)
- 2015Rosa Olivares, ‘100 Fotografos Europeos’, Ed. Proyectos Utópicos, Publicaciones EXIT
- 2014SURFACE Magazine, NY (USA)
- Monography Kodak City, Kehrer Verlag (Heidelberg) / Authors: Urs Stahel, Joerg Bader, A.D. Coleman
- 2013British Journal of Photography, London (UK)
- 2011PHOTO+, contemporary photography magazine (Korea)
- 2006Monography Hors-champ, Infolio Editions & Musée de l’Elysée. Foreword written by William A. Ewing
Awards
- 2018Prix culturel Photographie, Fondation vaudoise pour la culture, Canton de Vaud
- 2017Arles Photo Folio Review Award, (special mention), Arles, France
- Swiss Federal Design Award (nomination), Bern, Switzerland
- 2008Swiss Federal Design Award, Bern, Switzerland
- The Raymond Weil Club, International Photography Prize, Geneva, Switzerland
- 2006Manor Award, Lausanne, Switzerland
Exhibitions
- 2024SPECIMENS 24, New Artificiality, Palais de Rumine Lausanne (CH)
- 2023TECHNO-MONDES, Centre d’imagerie Dubochet, UNIL Lausanne (CH)
- 2022UNNATURAL STUDIES, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne (CH)
- Fotofestival Lenzburg, New Artificiality, Lenzburg (CH)
- 2021WE ARE HUMANS, featuring the work New Artificiality, Cortona On The Move, Italy (IT)
- Entanglement, Bieler Fototage, Biel (CH)
- 2020Between Hills, Mountains and Lake, Gaotai Gallery, Urumqi (China)
- Between Hills, Mountains and Lake, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing (China)
- NEW ARTIFICIALITY, Gallery of Photography Ireland, Dublin (IR)
- 2019INFINITY ROOM, ArtLab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EPFL, Lausanne (CH)
- Kodak City, Chennai Photography Biennale, Chennai (India)
- 2017SHI(F)T HAPPENS, Espace abstract, Lausanne (CH)
- 2016Kodak City, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki (FI)
- 2015Kodak City, Festival Circulations, Paris (F)
- Kodak City, Coalmine, Winterthur (CH)
- 2008Hors-champ, Galerie Aperture, New-York (USA)
- 2006Hors-champ, Manor Award, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne (CH)
Publications
- 2019EXIT #74 Interiores featuring the series MOTEL , Madrid (Spain)
- CAMERA AUSTRIA, featuring the works New Artificiality , Vienna (Austria)
- Better Photography, featuring the work Kodak City , (India)
- 2018GUP Magazine#56, The Transition Issue, (The Netherlands)
- 2015Rosa Olivares, ‘100 Fotografos Europeos’, Ed. Proyectos Utópicos, Publicaciones EXIT
- 2014SURFACE Magazine, NY (USA)
- Monography Kodak City, Kehrer Verlag (Heidelberg) / Authors: Urs Stahel, Joerg Bader, A.D. Coleman
- 2013British Journal of Photography, London (UK)
- 2011PHOTO+, contemporary photography magazine (Korea)
- 2006Monography Hors-champ, Infolio Editions & Musée de l’Elysée. Foreword written by William A. Ewing