Presentation
The Magic Lantern
I make pinhole projectors and room-sized cameras that give people an embodied, firsthand experience of the mechanics of picture making. In the spirit of direct contact, I will forgo a lecture about my previous work and instead demonstrate how images are made by projecting a selection of light bulbs through a crudely made magic lantern. For several years, I gave a similar demonstration on the first day of class for my introductory students. It was a great way of introducing them to the wonder of photography while also giving them technical perspective on the handheld cameras they would soon hold and tote around town. I have since used this technique to guide people through my studio process. At the core of my practice is a conviction that all illuminated space is picture space, and that images will be revealed when the ratio between light and dark tilts toward dark.
Chris Fraser
Chris Fraser is an artist and educator living and working in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He constructs environments modeled on historical image-making technologies, from the camera obscura to the magic lantern. Fraser has exhibited projects in North America, Europe, and Asia, at venues including the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Arizona; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco; the D-Museum in Seoul, South Korea; and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. His work is included in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Jose Museum of Art, and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. He is Artist-in-Residence and Head of Photography at Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Gallery
