Darsie Alexander was wrong when she said that the history of slide projection was over.[1] Even though slide projectors are not commercially available, artists are finding new ways to work with slides and projection. Susan Sontag said photographs experienced an “extramural life” when they were used in something else like a postcard.[2] Now slide projection is experiencing an extramural life as artists make their own slides or work from slide material and makers create projectors from other objects. Long live slide projection!
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Luther Price
Price's slides, made from altered found footage or insects and dirt between two plates of glass, were shown in the 2012 Whitney Biennial. His works focus on the qualities of light but his slides bring attention to the material and give substantiality to projected images.[3] (image: whitney.org)
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Angelica Vergel
Vergel is a New York-based artist. She has shown her homemade slides at "Single Frame," a regular event at the Anthology Film Archives where attendees are invited to share their slides.
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Marco Maggi
"Stairs" (2011). Sculpture Marco Maggi finds that there is something worthwhile in keeping slide mounts around. He make sculptures out of them. Maggi believes in looking slowly and closely at our world: "When I reduce my speed at Home Depot or Stop & Shop, I always discover amazing surfaces: from Macintosh apple skin to the silky back side of construction rulers."[4] We shouldn't overlook obsolete technology.
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Slideluck Potshow
Slides also bring people together. Slideluck Potshow is an organization that hosts multimedia slideshows in forty cities worldwide. Artists submit images and guests bring food to share. (slideluckpotshow.com)
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DIY Projectors
If you don't have a projector, make one. Instructions on how to assemble your own slide projector are easily found online. This one is made from an Ikea lamp and laser cut wood.[5] (image: derte84/instructables.com)
[1] Alexander, M. Darsie, Charles Harrison, and Robert Storr. Slideshow. Penn State Press, 2005. Print.
[2] Elizabeth Edwards & Janice Hart, Eds., Photographs Objects Histories: On the Materiality of Images (New York: Routledge, 2004).
[3] “Luther Price.” whitney.org. 2012. Web.
[4] Lombino, Mary-Kay. “A Conversation with Marco Maggi.” rollmagazine.com. 2012. Web.
[5 “Photo slide projector, lomography style.” instructables.com. Web.