Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.1-3), 2023
In collaboration with David Odo and the Harvard Peabody Museum Archives
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.1-3), 2023
Man in Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album, 2023, is based on mid-19th-century Japanese photographs by Austrian photographer Raimund von Stillfried. Intended initially as tourist souvenirs from Japan, these images were later collected by Western travelers and eventually donated to Harvard's Peabody Museum for Ethnographic Studies, where they were archived as scientific evidence of an 'exotic' culture. Consequently, Stillfried's images underwent a radical transformation in interpretation, context, and meaning, prompting important questions about the entanglement of institutional power, eurocentrism, and image representation. If we consider these processes of decontextualization, a significant question arises: What do these shifts in perception say about how we produce knowledge and, even more so, about the images themselves? Without their contextualization and narratives, what are they? And how might art meet the challenge of achieving the images’ state of aesthetic fact? Man in Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album exaggerates the perceptual shifts in viewing Stillfried’s images –– by deconstructing the same-titled image 'Man in Samurai Armor' (1860s) into individual color pixels and arranging them sequentially, the viewer is invited to engage with the image pixel by pixel, or page by page, much like the experience of flipping through a photo album or a flip book. By “seeing” the image in this manner, the viewer ultimately apprehends the complete photograph. However, the depicted subject remains elusive, leading to the deconstruction of the ethnographic gaze. Drawing inspiration from the aesthetics of Minimal Art, the project explores themes of image materiality, objectivity, and the rejection of metaphor. The project also reflects on the analog origins of Stillfried's photographs, emphasizing the various media through which his images have been shared, circulated, and archived over time. – NP
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.3), 2023
Medium: Casebound book; Dimensions: 3 Volumes, 2500 pages each, 7.5 x 7.5 x 7.5 inches; Pixel Sequencer Programm: Andrew LeClair; Typography and Graphic Design: Zak Jensen and Matt Mayerchak; Print: Todd Pauly and Graphic Arts Studio Chicago; Binding: Daniel E. Kelm
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.2), 2023
Medium: Casebound book; Dimensions: 3 Volumes, 2500 pages each, 7.5 x 7.5 x 7.5 inches; Pixel Sequencer Programm: Andrew LeClair; Typography and Graphic Design: Zak Jensen and Matt Mayerchak; Print: Todd Pauly and Graphic Arts Studio Chicago; Binding: Daniel E. Kelm
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.2), 2023
Supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture (BMKOES)
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.2), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.2), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.2), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.1), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.1), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.1), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.1), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.1-3), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.1), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.1), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.2), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.2), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.3), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.3), 2023
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Man In Samurai Armor CMYK Pixel Sequence Album (Vol.1-3), 2023
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