Shake it Like a ...
Try as it may, it seems that Polaroid just can’t kill the Polaroid. The original model, that is—a contraption that needs no introduction to anyone who is either old enough to remember capturing a golden-hued, halcyon childhood moment with instant film; or young and hip enough to appreciate the medium, if in a more ironic context.
At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, which officially starts today in Las Vegas, Polaroid announced that it will bring back the camera that evolved into a fashion editor’s staple, yet suffered a blow when the company ceased production of instant film in 2008. If you haven’t since received a plea via Facebook for any stray packaged film in your closets, then you may not have a critical mass of photographers or stylists populating your friends list.
A European organization known as the Impossible Project had since acquired the film production equipment from Polaroid’s dormant Dutch manufacturer and is in the process of reviving, and reinventing, analog instant film (the group will now reportedly partner with Polaroid). It's yet unclear whether Polaroid's return to the instant fray will be a cheap facsimile. In fact, the announcement was overshadowed by a news item far more perplexing, and at the same time, perfectly sense-making: Lady Gaga is Polaroid’s new creative director.
So what is it about Polaroids that has become the muse of artists, nostalgia lovers and Band of Outsiders? “Polaroids create other worlds,” says Los Angeles-based photographer Meghan Quinn. “They find colors that other processes don't. I love the instant gratification they give. The minute it takes for the picture to come up can seem like forever, but no other process is faster, except digital. But digital will never find the colors and moods polaroid does.”
ISM Community's Instant Gratification exhibit at the Copro Gallery in Santa Monica; event details below.
Quinn’s work is part of Instant Gratification, a one-night-only exhibit this Saturday at the Copro Gallery in Santa Monica, featuring more than 200 photographers culled from an international search. “Just like the typewriter, I feel that the Polaroid is an essential tool for creativity,” says Kevin Staniec, executive director of the non-profit art project ISM Community, curator of the exhibit. “One might have other options or alternatives for writing a poem or capturing an image but there will always be those who love and appreciate the history and tradition of such machines.”
Entry into the exhibit rested on two criteria: artistic vision and 600 series film, which hasn’t been all that easy to find lately. “The 600 series expired this past August. So, even if you find a pack, the film most likely won’t develop properly,” Staniec says. “Some enthusiasts enjoy that gamble and the process of anticipation. But I am always disappointed when a captured emotion doesn’t fully render.”
The show, featuring about 2,000 photos, will subsequently be transformed into a limited-edition book with personal essays and written odes to the film that was always well worth the wait for its exposure.
Instant Gratification, Saturday, January 9 from 7pm-11pm at Copro Gallery at Bergamot Station Art Center. 2525 Michigan Ave, T-5, Santa Monica. Live musical performances from Sam Outlaw, The Romany Rye and The Fling. Admission free with RSVP, click here.
Instant Gratification polaroids shot by Kevin Staniec (left), Nicole Kenney and KS Rives (center); and Algis Kemezys (right).