Grey double-layered cardboard, Fuji matte photographic paper mounted on PVC, 90 g/m² kraft paper, polypropylene tape
Summer 2008
Photograph production (2nd element): Christophe Urbain, Strasbourg, France
Overall dimensions: 90 × 240 × 0.4 cm
Individual dimensions: 90 × 60 × 0.4 cm
Photography: Jean-Philippe Senn, Strasbourg, France
The starting point of Cardboard, UV & Conservation is a rectangular piece of cardboard exposed to sunlight. Due to the acidity of the material, its colour gradually shifts from a neutral grey to a golden-grey, almost yellow ochre. The outer surface, shielded from the sun’s rays, retains its original tone, while only the central area undergoes this chromatic transformation. The result is a grey rectangle of cardboard, within which a second, sun-imprinted rectangle appears—photographed by light itself.
This work raises the issue of exhibiting an object that is, by its very exposure, being altered. In fact, this reaction to sunlight unfolds over a relatively short period and quickly leads to saturation of the material. The result is a fragile object—each new exposure degrading areas once protected, and thus compromising the work as a whole.
So then, how can it be exhibited if it is to be preserved in its current state?
One solution would be never to exhibit it at all—or never to reveal it to light—or else to show it veiled. I propose all three.
What is presented here is a three-part solution.
The first is a life-sized photograph of the cardboard sheet marked by the sun—the original. The photographic reproduction offers a lasting image of things. However, a photograph can never be the thing it depicts. It distorts the substance of what it captures. The essence of the photographed material is lost in favour of that of the photographic medium.
This physical loss of identity in the original leads directly to the second part: another cardboard sheet, this time unaltered, free from any solar imprint. This blank panel diverts attention from the reproduction and redirects it towards physical reality. Like a reminder, the second sheet simply presents the raw material from which the work originated.
The original—the initiator—could not, in the end, evade its fate. And yet, its eclipse is absolutely essential, for it can only be shown under a shrouding layer, both light-proof and gaze-proof. The moonchild owes its survival to a strict and unwavering modesty.