Hasta La Ideas

Self-reference in art takes… delicacy. Turn the gaze around and you can quickly wind up with work that feels like endless MFA show self-portraits of the young artist as a young artist. Rising to the challenge, Canadian photographer Michel Campeau has documented the declining use of darkrooms in our increasingly digital world for over a decade. More than a nostalgic look at methods fading from fashion, Campeau’s work highlights the notion of obsolescence and the role of technology in changing the meaning and function of art.

These photos capture a clear sense of decay and a startling variety in working environments. Their weight comes from the our historical remove as viewers: Despite photography’s ubiquity, the writing has been on the wall long enough that we’ve cleaned it up and moved on. The darkroom as a space for creating is no longer necessary. As fitting evidence, Campeau’s own work is almost entirely done with a digital point and shoot.

To explore the importance of this changing landscape, Campeau draws heavily on Walter Benjamin’s seminal essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (it is unofficially mandatory to refer to this essay as “seminal”—negligence on this point may lead to expulsion from the Frankfurt School). And you should too, if you’re interested in the power of pop culture or the foreboding commentary of a social critic who predicted the dangerously successful use of mass media by the Fascists.

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