Filmograms | © Thomas Glänzel 2023

This series of filmograms is a project in cooperation with the Filmarchiv Austria. The films were taken from the FAA Laxenburg and exposed and developed in the laboratory of the former company, Synchrofilm.

During the time I worked in the filmlab, my main task was scanning 16mm & 35mm footage from various archives and filmmakers. I set up my darkroom equipment in the basement of the building between the developing machines and chemistry tanks.

So I decided to continue with taking photograms of the reels, which I started some years ago (see 43.819 Frames). Most of the prints came from 16mm reels, A/B neg, black & white pos/neg, color, acetate and polyester film, whatever looked good to this photogram technic. Less homogen material meant more fun for me!

Soon I discovered some specific patterns and signs to indicate the condition of the film material. Not only old and bad splices, but also something starting to grow out of the center of the reel. This THING makes it way from inside out, looking like the iris of an eye or a sunbeam going its way. Or, more darkly imagined, a kind of film cancer. It seems like the material becomes higher density, not allowing the light to get through much. This made me think of using a photogram technique, as a way to show the present, physical state of the reel, without winding the film. It seemed to me as a last chance at being able to retrieve the finger print from this fragile material.