Venice, Italy 29 1964

Curator: Venice, Italy 29, a gelatin silver print from 1964 by Robert Frank, presents such an intriguing, almost tactile, quality due to its form as a photographer’s contact sheet. What strikes you about it? Editor: I find the presentation as the artist’s contact sheet incredibly interesting. I’m immediately drawn to the materiality of the film strip and the rough edges. How do you interpret Frank’s choice to display these negatives as the final piece? Curator: It directs our attention to the labor and the mechanical process behind the photographic image. This isn't a carefully polished presentation, it shows us the means of production. We see the indexical traces – the frame numbers, the sprocket holes, the density variations. It invites us to consider the context of the photographer's darkroom labor as part of the work. Think about what this contact sheet tells us about Frank's method - his decisions, editing process, the very selection of images to print, and, even more intriguingly, what those images were initially captured for. Does this choice seem like an embrace or critique of consumer culture in some way? Editor: That's fascinating. It feels almost like an unedited stream of consciousness; a challenge to traditional notions of artistic perfection. The material of the contact sheet really emphasizes that Frank had to pick and choose – it was a deliberate act of labor to edit. Do you think this reflects his feelings about industrialization and the increasing ease of producing images, the impact of images that flood our society, at the time? Curator: Precisely. He's using the inherent qualities of the photographic medium to reveal a deeper layer of meaning, challenging the separation of art and process. We see the image, but are constantly reminded how that image was extracted out from the continuous possibilities afforded by modern industrialized imaging technologies. Editor: I see, this is all fascinating. I never would have considered the implications of this kind of presentation on the overall statement made by this piece of art. Thank you!