archive
where:
Polar Film Lab - Kysten, Troms Fylkeskultursenter, Strandvegen 95, 2006, Tromsø
when:
8th May, 2025, 10:00 - 16:00
9th May, 2025, 10:00 - 14:00
----> for taking part in the workshop, please sign up here:
About:
In 2012, after starting to research biodegradable film processing, I thought about growing a garden with the plants I already knew could work as a developing agent or as another useful ingredient in film processing. My first photographic garden was planted next to my lab in Porto, but I started to grow many others in different countries, such as a small garden that I planted in 2016 outside LIFT in Toronto during a residency which is still being used.
Native ingredients are a more interesting object of study. Caffenol is undoubtedly an effective film developer, but coffee seeds don’t grow in most parts of the planet. In a temperate climate, it’s easier to test spearmint or hyacinth because we can grow them in our place of study. Photographic gardens are not only poetic and ecological but also a very useful tool to grow next to your film laboratories.
The Arctic poses a new challenge since its specific climate inhibits growing the same plants that can easily thrive in a temperate climate. Some flowers and berries can be one solution, and the list could be bigger than one might expect: Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala), Labrador Tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum), Arctic Poppy (Papaver radicatum), Dwarf Fireweed (Chamaenerion latifolium) and other flowers can contain flavonoids, phenolic compounds, tannins and many acids like salicylic and gallic that can act as an effective film developer. Other plants can also be grown inside, aromatics from the Lamiaceae family like the popular spearmint (Mentha spicata) or even the Brazilian boldo (Plectranthus barbatus) are not only useful for medicinal or culinary purposes but also as very effective developing agents in film processing.
Together we will collect and forage for local plants which might make good developers, while filming the process, and develop the film using the plants.
As part of the workshop we will provide: Film stock, equipment, chemicals, our time and some different experience working with different analogue equipment/formats, lunch and coffee :)
What you provide: Cooperation, any knowledge that you have and some curiosity and will to get dirty picking plants and mixing chemistry, appropriate outdoor clothing for being outside for a long tim, and clothes which can get messy in the darkroom.
Cost
We ask for a limited fee of 300kr to cover some of the costs of materials, but if you are unwaged/low-waged get in touch as we have some free spaces. We aim to make Polar Film Lab as accessible as possible, for as broad a group as possible, and aim to offer as much free or on a ‘Pay what you can’ framework as possible - if you receive project funding or have an income, we ask that you help us keep doing what we are doing by paying a small fee.
If you have any questions email: polarfilmlab@gmail.com