Analogue manipulation of digital pictures

jannabeck.jpgUntill the end of April the Antwerp artist Janna Beck (28) presents her photographic project ‘(Un) reasonable Doubt’on the digital art platform Anina.be. In this project, Janna Beck will show a series of pictures which are the consequence of analogous picture manipulation, where the use of analogous technology at the moment of the prerecordings leads to a distortion of reality.

“Deliberately I choose for the use of non-digital manipulation,” the artist comments her work. “The analogous moment-manipulation is created during the prerecordings themselves, thanks to the use of techniques such as the imperfection, toycams, expired films and the improper use of dia film and filters. The objects of my work are the man-made objects around me, the metamorphic human surroundings, many times a fragmentated reality or details from a larger whole.”

In ‘(Un)reasonable Doubt’ Janna Beck uses a self made lens to create imperfection. “I try to bring the surreal of the reality to the forefront, to show how nice the track of the development can be,” says the artist. “I am always in search of techniques to do this kind of experiments, without using digital possibilities. I want to bring honest objects to the public. To create this, I’m experimenting with cameras, lenses and film.”

“Nature and landscapes are really and nicely in itself, but plastic, concrete, metal need frequently to be disguised, to be examined by a euphemetical optical device and being stripped of its visually restless surroundings,” Janna Beck stresses. “That is what I do. I show the things as I want them to be seen, to reach compositions and colours which seem to come from an imaginary world.”

Janna Beck studied College of Department Design and Sciences in Antwerp and specialised herself further in an exchange project at the Escola Superior the Artes and Design at Porto. She gained a degree in product development. At this moment, she is a professor webdesign at the Urban Nijverheidsschool Antwerp and architectural shaping and 3D with the Kunsthumaniora Antwerp. She is alwso a guest lecturer multimedia to the Academie voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen.

As an artist, Janna Beck was involved in projects for Europalia Bulgaria (2002), Europalia Italy (2003) and Europalia Russia (2005). She also cooperated in the exhibition Natures Wisdom in the Belgian pavilion at the World Exhibition in Nagoya, Japan. She also particapted in the travelling photo-exihibition Photoview with the Center voor Beeldexpressie.

She exhibited also in several galleries and at this moment she takes part in the travelling exhibition ‘It is Eye’, an organisation of the Fotografisch Circuit Vlaanderen. Janna Beck also cooperated in the Cultureel Jaarboek 2003 of the city Antwerp and the book Stadsgedichte by Tom Lanoye. Work of the artist also features on the internetsite www.jannabeck.be.
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