Carnival--Basel no number 1952

Robert Frank made this photographic work, Carnival--Basel no number, using a camera and film. As you can see, the final presentation displays uncut strips of negatives, offering a look into Frank’s working methods, and into the labor of photography itself. There's a lot of implied labor in this piece, from the production of the film stock itself, an industrial product that's made to be consumed, to the artist's act of shooting frame after frame. Frank has left the traces of his activity, showing us the sprocket holes and frame numbers, drawing attention to photography as a means of production. By leaving the strips of negatives uncut, he underscores the material reality of the medium. Frank prompts a critical awareness of how images are made, circulated, and consumed, blurring the boundary between the art object and the industrial means of its creation.