Llorenç Carbonell Playing Guitar, Ibiza 1933

Curator: Immediately, the ghostly repetition strikes me—it's a visual echo that amplifies a sense of timelessness. Editor: Here we have Raoul Hausmann’s gelatin silver print, “Llorenç Carbonell Playing Guitar, Ibiza,” created in 1933. Hausmann was a prominent figure in the Dada movement. Curator: Dada... it all makes sense now. The photographic technique used to generate multiple superimposed images speaks directly to Dada’s disruption of conventional representation. We are seeing the instrument but also witnessing the implied motion and the fleeting moment. Editor: Indeed, Hausmann frequently questioned the role of the artist and the artwork’s production in mass society. These multiple exposures… It really could be reflecting upon the mass production of images through photography in this era and, as a Dadaist, critique it, I presume? Curator: Precisely. The commodification of image and identity, absolutely! We see an image of a working man, most likely an Ibizan local. Hausmann uses avant-garde photographic techniques to deconstruct the image; it resists simple readings and notions of clear identity or representation of Carbonell and local tradition. The materiality of the print itself, the choices in the darkroom, serve this exact purpose. Editor: It feels surprisingly intimate, though, considering its radical roots. Despite its seeming artifice, the sitter almost dares you with their penetrating look. Curator: Yes! Perhaps a bit defiant, which ties in beautifully with Hausmann’s wider oeuvre. But this very photographic study suggests a very real labor of sitting for Hausmann, one that becomes abstracted, multiplied. He challenges the viewer, doesn't he? It’s a layered examination of a real subject but rendered unreal. Editor: It is amazing how one can perceive its deeper significance through its technique and materials, and by taking in account the conditions of production behind such striking, layered image. Curator: Indeed, this interplay of formalism and contextual depth only enhances its enduring appeal.