Hard Copy: the zine rethinking pictures via Xerox

Photocopiers have lengthy been related to comfort. Originally invented as an affordable and quick manner of reproducing authorized paperwork, they later discovered an unlikely second life in punk zines and the DIY publishing scene, the place their grainy textures and gritty, high-contrast imperfections grew to become an aesthetic all of their very own. Now, in an age of high-definition perfection, Hard Copy zine is inviting photographers to have their work reimagined via the photocopier, and bringing the medium into the gallery.

Curated by Aaron Stern and David Campany, the fourth iteration of Hard Copy launched throughout Rencontres d’Arles, the world-renowned pictures pageant which takes place yearly within the south of France, in a real photocopy store within the centre of Arles. This version introduced collectively photographers working throughout documentary, style and artwork, together with Mark Borthwick, Christopher Anderson, Collier Schorr, Justine Kurland, Peter Sutherland, JH Engström, Jeff Mermelstein, Jim Mangan and Olivia Reavey. Here, every artist has been invited to have their work reinterpreted via the Xerox course of.

The origins of Hard Copy may be traced again to 2012, when Stern was engaged on his second e-book. “C-prints were pricey, so I used laser and Xerox printers for the dummies,” he recollects. “But I quickly realised I was more into the tonality and aesthetic.” Around the identical time, photographer Andreas Laszlo Konrath launched Stern to the method of constructing bigger Xeroxes. “The idea incubated in my head since then, but it took me ten years to find someone who would let me do it.”

That strategy of transformation is central to how Stern approaches choosing artists for Hard Copy. “I’m looking for artists whose work I like first,” he explains. “I want a mix of older, established, and emerging artists.” Before approaching an artist, Stern makes check prints to see how their work responds to the photocopier. “For the pictures, I know what I don’t want. Too much white space doesn’t work. But a certain type of picture translates. I usually know right away.”

Throughout Hard Copy, Stern is cautious to stability established photographers with rising voices. The clearest instance is the pairing of artists Olivia Reavey and Collier Schorr, whose works seem alongside one another within the newest version. Reavey, who lately graduated from the Yale School of Art’s MFA programme, was beforehand taught by Schorr, who serves as a senior critic there.

One of essentially the most private works within the zine comes from Gray Sorrenti’s decade-long archive of FaceTime portraits, remodeled right into a large-scale Xerox collage. “Without Gray there’d be no Hard Copy,” Stern says, describing the work as “the centre point”. Beginning when Sorrenti was 16, the mission follows her buddies, household and associates over ten years, capturing moments from her life that may in any other case be misplaced.

Despite working with a expertise that belongs to a different period, Stern is cautious to not place Hard Copy as a backwards-looking mission. “I’ve heard a lot of artists say they’re at war with nostalgia,” he says. “I dunno if that’s how I feel. I’ve been making analogue pictures since the 90s. It’s what I’ve always done. The difference is that Hard Copy has given me the platform.” 

Instead, what continues to attract Stern to the medium is the way in which it transforms a picture. “The non-preciousness of the materials and large-scale prints resonate with people,” he explains. “The physicality and tonality of the greys and blacks. The Xerox obscures and creates a painterly, almost Robert Longo-like charcoal look. The prints are almost in motion.”

In an period of countless digital circulation and fixed picture consumption, Stern sees the bodily expertise of pictures as more and more essential. “There’s clearly, to me at least, a push for physical objects. I think people want to see photography printed, installed, presented in a fresh new way,” he says. “It’s important to me to see art in person every week. Especially in New York. But no matter where I am, I want to see something good.”

For co-curator Campany (artistic director of the International Center of Photography), Arles felt like the precise setting to launch this situation. “Rencontres d’Arles has a long history of presenting innovative, provocative and informal exhibitions, both within the official festival and alongside it,” he explains. “Making an exhibition that was light on its feet, irreverent but also serious, was irresistible.”

Rather than making a retro aesthetic for its personal sake, Stern’s purpose with Hard Copy is finally to create moments that pull folks away from the countless circulation of photographs which saturate our lives at present. “My goal with these shows is to get others out to have an experience like that,” he says. “The world has always been a dark and frayed-at-the-edges kind of place. I think seeing art in person serves as a respite to it all.”