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Utilizing the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and the HOLGA toy camera, students juxtapose two interpretations using wildly different technologies.

Conceptually, they consider the contrast between capturing images with a high-tech microscope and making images with a simple analog camera. Using the diptych format, they literally compare these two interpretations by setting them side-by-side.

Scanning Electron Microscopes are capable of magnifying up to 3,000,000 times. Meanwhile, HOLGA, first appearing in 1982 in Hong Kong, was introduced as an inexpensive mass-market camera for the working-class. Since then, artists have been using them to explore and push the boundaries of conventional image production with a larger format negative.

This project literally joins high-tech to low-tech and poses questions regarding the dialogue created within a diptych format. The technical acquisition includes training on the SEM scanner and using the HOLGA to create 2 1⁄4 negatives. Research involves establishing a dialogue between two images, either conceptually or formally through the use of narrative and abstraction.

Special thanks to Charles Wandler @ WWU Scientific Technical Services, Nathan Cranston @ Instructional Classroom Technician Support III, Chloe Dichter, Joe Addison, classroom TA’s.

For further information, please contact Garth.Amundson@wwu.edu