Widely known Israeli-born artist Ori Gersht is an excellent example of the connection between photography and science or more likely said technology. Between 2006 and 2008 he worked on a project called ‘Pomegranate‘ which is a representation of Juan Sánchez Cotán‘s Baroque still-life painting titled ‘Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber, 1602‘ with real fruit and flowers and then blows it up with a bullet. The reason he used a pomegranate instead of a quince is because it would explode like a grenade which was his intention in the first place. It is extremely fascinating how the human eye and mind are unable to see and process the explosion but the high-speed camera can. In an interview for The Guardian from May 2016 by Tom Seymour, Ori Gersht says ‘The bullet was captured at 1,600 frames per second, a speed we cannot perceive with the naked eye. So the image requires a suspension of disbelief. In my photography, I try to explore the relationship between the virtual and the real, the physical and the metaphysical.’
In relation to the technology, it is really important to say that the photographer honors Harold E. Edgerton‘s work called ‘Bullet through Apple‘ who also invented stroboscopic photography (the use of high frequency light flashes to reveal a movement/moments invisible to the eye). With this experimentation, and yet an amazing piece of work, Ori Gersht explores not only still-life paintings but the relation between photograph and moving image, and how they inform our understanding of reality using an explosion to prove his point of view.
A sequence of ‘Pomegranate‘, still-life explosions. (Ori Gersht/Museum of fine arts)
As another example of how this artist uses technology to reestablish photography, Ori Gersht‘s works called ‘Time After Time’ & ‘Blow Up’ based upon 19th century still-life paintings by Henri Fantin-Latour perfectly describe the idea of freezing time (frozen in motion) which is a process contingent on the ability of advanced technology of photography to freeze-frame action. In an interview with National Science and Media Museum, he says that he needed 10 cameras that were connected to flash guns. Also, an electronic motherboard was constructed and connected to the electronic devices which worked with a link to one other. These new improvements allow us to experience in another, more fascinating way, art and it’s purpose. In this way, Gersht expresses his political views and simply makes his artwork memorable. Doing this, he does not only changes photography but he gives it another meaning and questions what reality and time really are.
‘Blow Up’, Ori Gersht, 2007
‘Time After Time’, Ori Gersht, 2006
He also created a video called ‘Big Bang‘ which was exhibited at Times Square, April 2012. In an article by Joseph Caputo who had experienced the ‘Big Bang’ artwork during one of the artist’s talks, quotes what Gersht said ‘It’s all about pulling tension between the old masters and new technologies.’ Personally, when I saw this piece of work during one of the lectures, I was simply terrified by the sound and the image that was moving slowly, creating this tension with a feeling that something will happen followed up by an explosion. Even though I expected this moment, I was surprised. Without a doubt, Ori Gersht has the power to influence people deeply on a psychological level.
Ori Gersht, Big Bang,2006 from Noga Gallery of Contemporary Art on Vimeo.
What makes his work mesmerizing is the fact that he brings history, new inventions, psychoanalysis and art together. He talks about war, peace, destruction, beauty and time, using only a high-speed camera that captures what we usually miss around us. It is not only about technology, it is about what the human eye cannot perceive, the way we all ignore what’s happening around us and why we destroy everything we see. That’s why the camera has a huge contribution to our lives, because we need evidence of what’s happening, we need to understand what we miss and what is impossible to see otherwise becomes a part of what we call ‘art’.
Plamena Ganeva 