Alternative Sunrise

The photographs promise an alternative to sunrise. Which is undoubtedly to be understood less as a serious option than an examination of the ambiguity of the world. In fact, they show what photography can also be, namely itself.

The large format photographs promise an alternative to sunrise by title. Which is undoubtedly to be understood less as a serious option than as an examination of the ambiguity of the world and the immanent possibility of the photographic medium to deceive. Rather than depicting a sunrise and reproducing a found reality, Alternative Sunrise is about the influence of images on the emergence of reality.

As in earlier works Bettina Koller falls back on images from her photographic archive in Alternative Sunrise. The use of analogue carrier materials and the visibility of the photographic medium itself is an essential part of her artistic practice. With time gap and fresh eyes, she discovers in her acid-free storage boxes previously little or unnoticed photographic material, which she rethinks, reinterprets or reworks and puts them in other new contexts.

Alternative sunrises I-VII are undeniable not real celestial phenomena, but crops of color negatives from Bettina Koller's private and professional archive: strong enlargements from 35 mm film leaders. The exposed film tongue serves for threading into the camera's spool. After film developing it is often cut off or used for labeling. In Alternative Sunrise the distinctive transition from the exposed to the unexposed part of each film strip represents a new horizon: Installed side by side – the 7 panels appear as Sun pressing down on earth.