27 March until 21 June 2015
Stadthaus Ulm (small exhibition rooms)
Artwork: Randy Taylor (link)
Curated by: Tommi Brem
Randy G. Taylor (above, right) has been a photographer for more than 40 years. He had stored his photographic work in a professional storage facility in New York, along with the family photo archive, spanning several generations. In October 2012, New York was hit by hurricane Sandy and the storm flooded the entire archive. When Taylor was allowed to access it weeks later, the damage was done: Mildew, dirt and bacteria had gotten to the prints, negatives and slides (some of which can be seen at the top of this post), causing the material to deteriorate, to crack and to dissolve.
Looking through the debris of his career, Taylor suddenly noticed that the damage had in some cases led to quite stunning results. He found an aesthetic beauty among the destruction he had not expected to find, as can be seen in his photo of the Statue of Liberty above.
The exhibition, put together by Randy Taylor and Stadthaus curator Tommi Brem, presented a selection of the salvaged material and documented the unusual collaboration between a photographer and the forces of nature.
(The text above is based on the text I wrote for Stadthaus Ulm.)
Below is one of the short videos Randy produced for the exhibition, explaining the nature of these unusual works:
Liberty – Sandy Art Image By Randy Taylor from Randy Taylor on Vimeo.