Amalgam, Untitled 79/17 1979

Editor: So, here we have Barbara Kasten’s "Amalgam, Untitled 79/17," a photograph from 1979. It strikes me as a very calculated exploration of space and form... almost like a stage set, but for light itself. What's your read on this work? Curator: "Stage set for light" – I adore that. It reminds me of those old Bauhaus exercises, all about playing with form, shadow and the stark beauty of industrial materials. For me, Kasten is like a magician. She conjures depth and dynamism from simple shapes and photographic processes. It's more than just geometry; it's an alchemical process. See how those colored lines pierce the image plane? What do they suggest to you? Editor: A destabilization? They sort of disrupt the illusion of depth and flatten the picture. It's like she's reminding us that it’s just a photograph, a constructed image. Curator: Exactly! She is toying with perception, laying bare the bones of artifice. I always find myself wondering: How much control did she have? And how much did she surrender to the unpredictable dance of light itself? Do you think she planned every little interaction? Editor: Hmm, I bet there was an element of chance… a collaboration between intention and accident. Curator: Precisely. And isn’t that where the real magic happens? The intentionality is in dialogue with surprise. It is a dance of composition, not just documentation. I confess it makes me yearn for the darkroom again and the unpredictable. What have you taken away from Kasten's work? Editor: Definitely a newfound appreciation for how much a single image can say about perception, space, and even the artistic process itself!