This photograph shows a hex key shimmering gold on a pink ground. The object is standing on its two ends so that the L-shaped bend points upwards. A bright reflection of light glints on the crook.
We all have a tool like this in the drawer, at least we do if we have ever put together furniture from a big Swedish store. Most of us probably wouldn’t even know to call it an Allen wrench. It is a very ordinary object, but photographer Viktoria Binschtok (*1972) carefully creates a highlight that makes it glint like a precious stone against a gaudy pink background.
This work is part of the series “Clusters”, where Binschtok combines material found online with her own photographs. She feeds pictures from her own archive into search engines to see what images the algorithms generate. The results of this automated search then form the basis for another photograph of the motif, leaving room for minor changes and digital processing. “Clusters” makes us think. Is anything still authentic in photography today? How have the digital media changed visual language, and how do we deal with the daily flood of imagery?
Golden Tool
from the series: Clusters
2014
Photography
Digital Colorprint
45 x 60 x 0,5 cm
Supported with funds of the State of Berlin - Senate Department for Culture and Europe, 2018
