Since the early 1990s, German photographer Michael Wesely has been inventing and refining techniques for using extremely long camera exposures to take uniquely compelling photographs. Through the use of filters and a very small aperture, yet one that is standard in a professional camera lens, he is able to diminish the amount of light hitting the negative to the point where he can extend the exposure many thousands of times longer than we would ordinarily expect. Some of Wesely's pictures of the rebuilding of Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, for example, in a series completed in 1999, were continuously exposed over a period of 26 months. The results of Wesely's explorations are as surprising as they are beautiful. In 2001, as The Museum of Modern Art began to prepare for its ambitious construction and renovation project, a turning point in its history, it recognized in Wesely's work an unequalled opportunity to artistically document that project. In August of that year, then, Wesely set specially designed cameras in long-term installations in and around the museum, choosing his locations for the construction views they provided. Nearly three years later, the images are complete, and their pentimento-like strata of transparencies and overlays render the construction project's evolution in time as a dense and delicate network of forms and colors in space. Open Shutter accompanies an exhibition organized by Sarah Hermanson Meister, Associate Curator of the museum's Department of Photography. Included in the book are several images of the construction of the new Museum of Modern Art.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is an art book. The photographs in this book derive their meaning as much from the concept behind them as from their inherent beauty. The concept is clearly explained in the introduction and in an interview with the artist. Both these texts are indispensable if you want to enjoy Wesely's work to the fullest extent. Summarized, it comes down to the idea that Wesely leaves the shutter of his camera open for very long periods of time (months, or years even), thus recording processes rather than isolated events in one and the same photograph. This gives the photo's an eery, layered look. Things that did not move throughout the exposure period appear sharp and contrasty like one would expect, but things that appeared or disappeared in that same time are recorded more or less translucent, depending on the time they spent in front of the lens. Thus, one witnesses the growth of a building over time asif it were a motion picture, but instead of a sequence of images, this is a movie in one photograph.
The photographs in the book focus on two projects, the Open Shutter project which Wesely did for the new Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Potsdamer Platz project, which he did in Berlin in the mid-1990s.
The reproductions of Wesely's art are all in all very good and my only minor problem with the book is that it does not go into the "how" of the art very deeply. For art lovers, this may not be important, but as a photographer, I would really like to know more about how it was done. If you ever get a chance to see his work in a gallery or a museum, go there!
The photographs in the book focus on two projects, the Open Shutter project which Wesely did for the new Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Potsdamer Platz project, which he did in Berlin in the mid-1990s.
The reproductions of Wesely's art are all in all very good and my only minor problem with the book is that it does not go into the "how" of the art very deeply. For art lovers, this may not be important, but as a photographer, I would really like to know more about how it was done. If you ever get a chance to see his work in a gallery or a museum, go there!
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