Laboratoire photo argentique dans la Jungle

The context

Dao Ahn Khanh, an internationally known artist (dancer, choreographer, painter, sculptor and many more…) sculpted monumental pieces of art in his valley, he dedicated to the arts. He hosts artists from different domains and origines for performances or art residency.

I have been invited by Dao Ahn Khanh in his valley to put in place a darkroom (Gonzo’s darkroom) to process analog photography. It represents an artistic performance in itself.

Dao Ahn Khanh

Dao Ahn Khanh's works of art

main lodging house

Gonzo's darkroom (the laboratory)

This darkroom will be at the disposal of photographers travelling to the valley to have a possibility to process their analog photography work, with an option to exhibit in the gallery built therefore.

This so called Gonzo’s darkroom wil be built by local workers as well as the laboratory interior fitting, for me to install all the necessary equipment following the established plan.

The darkroom will be connected to the main house’s existing electrical and water network.

Dao Ahn Khanh local workers

All the necessary equipment to process black and white photo films and to produce photographic prints will be in place and available for the artists photographers passing by Dao Ahn Khanh’s valley.

the location

inside the darkroom's plan

Ecological processing products

Additionally, ecological solutions, I stabilized in my laboratory in Switzerland, will be used to work in the darkroom. This is a central topic in this project, as it was out of question to dump any toxic chemical product in the nature. I can provide the elements in purpose.

The valley’s official opening will be on March 23rd, 2019 and the Gonzo’s darkroom must be ready for that deadline. A photographic reporting will cover the event as well as the building of the darkroom, you will have the possibility to follow the progress on my personal website or blog.

Mon laboratoire argentique à Lausanne

moi dans mon labo

Les repérages

Du 4 au 25 juillet 2018, je suis allé en repérage au Vietnam grâce à un financement privé, afin de préparer ce projet et de  commencer à construire la darkroom brique par brique avec M. Nikola Mounoud, artiste résident de la vallée, d'y amener un peu de matériel et de tester mes solutions de développement avec les produits chimiques locaux. Les déluges de pluie nous ont empêchés de terminer la construction des murs et du toit.

Vous trouverez plusieurs albums de photographies que j'ai effectuées durant ce séjour au Vietnam en repérages sur ma page facebook.

From July 4th to 25th 2018, I went to Vietnam to check and view the locations thank to a private financing, to prepare this project and start to build the darkroom brick by brick with Mr Nikola Mounoud (resident artist in the valley), to bring some equipment and start the tests on my ecological solutions using local products. Downpours stopped our worked and disallowed us to finish the constructions of the walls and the roof.

You can find several photo albums made during that journey in Vietnam on my Facebook page.

La construction

Nikola Mounoud (artiste résident qui crée également une construction sonore, le mur du son) et moi-même au travail, nous avons pu couler une chappe de béton et démarrer les premières rangées de briques.

Nikola Mounoud (resident artist, who is building a wall of sound as an artistic performance) and myself, working, we could tank a concrete screed and start the first ranks of bricks.

Avancement novembre 2018