Værkserien Botanizing on the asphalt af Nanna Debois Buhl er et fotografisk herbarium, der afbilder genstande, der er indsamlet på byvandringer i forskellige byer verden over. Herbariet er et studie af de organiske og menneskeskabte elementer, som findes i byrummet. Til projektet har kunstneren benyttet den kameraløse fotografiske teknik cyanotopi – en proces, hvor et objekt placeres på et papir, der er præpareret med en lysfølsom kemisk blanding, og efterfølgende eksponeres for lys.
Værket tager afsæt i den tyske filosof Walter Benjamins idé om byvandreren som en person, der ”botaniserer på asfalten”, samt den britiske botaniker og fotograf Anna Atkins. Ved hjælp af cyanotopi-teknikken lavede Atkins et stort herbarium over britiske alger i 1840’erne. Ved at forbinde sporene fra byens gader, Benjamins metafor og Atkins metode skaber kunstneren med Værkserien Botanizing on the asphalt et øjebliksbillede af byrummet, før de kasserede genstande igen spredes og bevæger sig i nye retninger.
Botanizing on the asphalt
Nanna Debois Buhl, 2015.
A series of 21 cyanotopes.
The series of works Botanizing on the asphalt by Nanna Debois Buhl is a photographic herbarium illustrating objects, collected during city walks through different cities around the world. The herbarium is a study of organic and man-made elements that are found in the urban space. For this project, the artist made use of the photographic technique, using no camera, called cyanotype – a process where an object is placed on a piece of paper, sensitized with a photo active chemical mixture and subsequently exposed to light. The work is based on the the German philosopher Walter Benjamin and his idea of the city wanderer as a person, who “botanizes on the asphalt” as well as the British botanist and photographer Anna Atkins. By means of the cyanotype technique, Atkins created an important herbarium of British alga in the 1840s. By connecting elements from the city streets, Benjamin’s metaphor and Atkin’s method, the artist creates a snapshot of the urban space before the discarded objects again become dispersed and move in new directions.