SoFiET-X "Carol of the candles"

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Date 🛈

2012-2014

Description 🛈

This camera, used to make 28 Oscillators, consists in two parts: a burning chamber, which can be heated to over 1000°C; and a “dark chamber”, heated to a lesser degree, equipped with a pinhole on a tungsten plate (tungsten has a very low expansion rate under heat) and an attachment for a medium-format camera.

A previously fired piece of ceramic is hung by a metal thread and heated in the burning chamber with a weed burner; then, the lid of the chamber, from which the piece is hung, is lifted and transferred to the dark chamber, which is just hot enough to slow down the cooling of the object without letting the walls glow. The film camera, loaded with infrared film, is then attached to the dark chamber and the shutter is opened, exposing the film until the piece is cold (10÷30 minutes).

In some images, the chamber is tilted to let the piece swing during exposure, to create an “oscillation” effect.

This technique required to rethink lighting in photography entirely differently, since all lighting comes from within the objects, and the thinner parts cool down more quickly resulting in darker areas, while the thicker and less curved parts remain hot for longer and emit more light.

The design, construction, and testing of this camera, and the exposure of all 28 final images took over two years.

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