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Rundbrief Fotografie
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Playing with Fire - Cellulose Nitrate Negatives in Photograph
Collections
In Germany, the preoccupation with cellulose nitrate materials in
photograph collections is a rather neglected area. A survey of
various institutions showed that it is hardly known that nitrate
negatives fall under the explosives law. Even where this is
recognized, the potential dangers in handling these materials are
usually underestimated. The City Archives of Reutlingen have
numerous photograph collections containing over a million
individual photographs, most of which are negatives. Since the
majority of these date from the 1930's onwards, a large quantity
was assumed to be on a cellulose nitrate base. For reasons of
liability, the City Archives began to preoccupy themselves in
detail with issues of handling, storage, evaluation and
duplication of cellulose nitrate negatives in mid 2003. The aspect
of the collection manager's personal liability in the case of
damage caused by cellulose nitrate negatives should be a
particularly pressing reason for all responsible persons to become
occupied with the hazard potential of their photographs. Depending
on the specific conditions, compensation for damage may easily
soar, or criminal offence charges may even be made. Legal
requirements of the explosives law and their regulations for
implementation forced the City Archives to transfer the cellulose
nitrate negatives from the archive's magazines to a bomb shelter
on lease from the German Federal Armed Forces. With the help of
spectroscopy, the chemical composition of the negatives was
analyzed, thus enabling the differentiation of harmless acetate
from nitrate film. Surprisingly, cellulose nitrate could be shown
to be present in photographic negative film bases even until the
beginning of the year 1960. Following an evaluation of the
material, those nitrate negatives classified by the City Archives
as worthy of archiving will be duplicated on microfilm and the
originals will be destroyed. This article describes the Archive's
experience with cellulose nitrate and reveals the hazard
potential.
Gesetzliche Bestimmungen - Identifizierung - Spektralanalyse -
Nitrozellulose bis 1960 - Auslagerung - Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
- Bewertung - Anmerkungen
Reversing the Negative in the Viewers Mind
The aesthetic theory of an art form may not be separated from
its technical circumstances. This becomes particularly apparent
when viewed from a historical perspective, if one pays attention
to transformations. Painting was changed by photographic processes
and perception; music by electronic enhancements; the theatre by
cinematic projection and acoustic innovations; literature by
inter-medial structures, etc. The process of reversal, among the
prerequisites of conventional photograph technology, may be
regarded as the epitome of essential artistic incidence. Following
the principle of transformation, the process-related aesthetic
substantially inherent to photography since Talbot's invention
consists of negative perception (perception, excitation, sensitive
exposure). This is indicative of a characteristic of conventional
photographic technology, which, at the same time, metaphorically
summarizes the inclination of art to move toward transformation.
Two examples show that this metaphor of art, borrowed from
photographic technology, is, in particular, paradigmatically
relevant to modernity.
Empty Accounts-Full Archives: Potential for Income through the
Commercial Exploitation of Collections of Public Archives and
Museums
Marketing one's own collection material offers archives new
prospects of income, but, in addition, also contains numerous
risks. The key issues to consider, which must be deliberated at
the top management level of the archives before beginning a
marketing scheme, are presented in the following in short form
with no claim to completeness.
Die Zielgruppen - Das eigene Angebot - Rechtliche Klärungen -
Bereitstellung des Angebots - Qualifikation der Mitarbeiter -
Vermarktungsformen
The Photographic Collection in the Library of the Deutsche
Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG)
The 29th German Orientalists' Congress with the key theme
'Barriers-Passages' took place in Halle (Saale) from September 20
to 24, 2004. It brought together approximately 1000 researchers
from the many branches of the study of the Orient and related
areas of knowledge and activity. The diverse supporting program
included a presentation about the photographic collection in the
Library of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG) in
the form of a photo CD and the associated exhibition 'Through the
Caucasus to Samarkand'. The leitmotif of the exhibition is the
analogy of travelling and photographing, which interconnects
perception, experience, and mediation. A reconstruction of the
experience of travelling is avoided, as is the deconstruction of
historic photography. The parallels of photography and travel are
found in their progression of events. The preparations for the
journey and the first exposure of the photographic plate produce
pictures of actuality that are the wrong way round; in order to
obtain a true depiction of reality, an opposite exposure, or the
reversal of the first picture, or the first impression, must be
made. Annegret Nippa reflects the content of the exhibition from a
scientific perspective in the publication of her inaugural talk.
In addition, the following text by Petra Steinhardt presents the
collection, the considerations and strategies for the realization
of the photo CD, as well as the contents and conception of the
exhibition.
Ethnologie: Fotografieren und Reisen (Bild-Interessen -
Umkehrungen) - Foto-CD zur Sammlung (Inventarisierungsprojekt -
Sammlungsprofil - Inhalt und Gestalt der Foto-CD - Über den
Kaukasus nach Samarkand) - Anmerkungen
Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG): www.dmg-web.de
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