The notion of the ‘found’ is so very appealing. The unexpected, the unknown. The idea of something being abandoned, dumped in the street, into a waste basket, onto the floor of a studio, given new meaning by someone else, offering it a fresh meaning.
I have long been fascinated by this idea, from the earliest age. I remember the first time I saw the objects of Marcel Duchamp, with his bottle rack and toilet, and how within the walls of a gallery an entirely new way of looking and interpretation was left to the viewer. A toilet bowl was now ‘Fountain’ (1917) and signed R Mutt. It had transcended its origins and purpose.
Found objects in library books
I remember wandering through markets in Berlin in the 1980s, and chancing across complete photo albums of families I would never know., frequently wearing war uniforms. Who were these people? Where were they now? There were countless untold stories here and it was left up to me to imagine what had transpired.
When I worked in a public library after leaving University, I grew obsessed by the objects that people would leave in their books, which not only included photographs, but notes, receipts, a bus ticket and so on. These would quietly sit in a drawer until the time came that we had to dispose of them. Of course, every now and then they would return home with me instead.
Who remembers the Photo Booth?
For those of a certain age and era, the photo booth played a key part in our lives. Long before you could upload a photo from a smart phone for ID, many of us would visit a photo booth in a railway station and once putting in a few coins, coolly pose, and hope that they turned out okay. Frequently they didn’t and people would throw them away, or, as I discovered, dump them on top of the machine itself.
Over the years, I collected quite a large selection of found photos, featuring strangers I would most likely never meet. In fact, I even used one on the cover on my album release with Michael Wells/Signs Ov Chaos in 1997. Rather amusingly, some people through the photograph was actually of me and several times I was told that I didn’t look like ‘my’ photo!
They Came from the Booth
Back in 1977, British artist Dick Jewell published a book of found images, but the book is now impossible to find, so it’s a joy that my one of my oldest friends Sue Smallwood has recently published this truly amazing book, sharing her own collection of photographs found at a King’s Cross photo-me-booth in London, which she has collected since 1983. It’s even accompanied by a CD. It’s only available in a small edition, so treat yourself before it becomes a rarity! You can find her here.
Found Footage Magazine
Found footage has also played a key role in experimental film too, from Bruce Conner to Bill Morrison, and there’s a wonderful magazine I’ve subscribed since 2015, rather neatly called Found Footage, which focuses solely on this very theme.
It’s an independent semi-annual publication distributed worldwide and printed both in English and Spanish, which offers theoretical, analytical and informative contents related to Found Footage. Up to Issue 9 at the time of writing, it’s a wonderfully inspiring journal.
Indeed, I was even invited by them to supply music to accompany a truly inspiring section of films on DVD/Bluray. Entitled Found Footage & Collage Films: Selected Works, edited and introduced by César Ustarroz, this selection of sixteen short films provides a vivid account of various creative processes in the recycling of images in experimental moving image art. The set closes with the magnificent work of Austrian filmmaker Peter Tscherkassky, who I once had a fanboy moment with at the ICA in London, and asked for his autograph!
Take one look at the work of Tscherkassky and you immediately recognise how the found image can be transformed in the hands of such a creative. Narrative dissolves as disorienting layers of movement play against and over one another, frequently accompanied by the work composer and sound designer Dirk Schaefer. Interestinly, Purge xxx in Portugal released an extremely beautiful edition of these soundtrack on double vinyl too.
In Almost Every Picture
Arguably, one of the biggest artists today using found images has to be Dutch designer and artist Erik Kessels. His series of publications, In Almost Every Picture, presents such a vast array of strange and fascinating encounters, such as images found in a Barcelona flea market of hundreds of photos taken by a husband of his wife during the years 1956 to 1968. Or how about a family’s efforts to capture their pet dog on film, which proved challenging, since the dog had very, very black fur, making him almost impossible to depict accurately.
I love In almost every picture #13 which focuses on the most common mistake in the history of image-making: part of the photographer’s hand appearing in frame. It traces this eternal error through the ages, from black and white photos to the digital era. Kessels finds a way to celebrate the often most banal moments in life.
Today, let the Internet be your Guide
The internet and social networks are a natural extension of the found image, how we trawl and explore and make judgements upon images that are constantly refreshing before our very eyes. There are even websites that compile found imagines in frequently wild juxtapositions. Just a warning, sometimes these images are not necessarily family friendly. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Long may the found image rule. Now, of course, found sounds are a whole other story for another day…
