Wolfgang Weileder

This elegant monograph dedicated to the German-born artist Wolfgang Weileder presents the Meridian project, comprising 12 large photographic prints selected from the Seascapes series and dedicated to marine views in various parts of Europe recorded during the hours before and after sunset. Each scene is rematched in a sort of mosaic offering, at a single glance, an endless temporal sequence of imperceptible changes in the setting.

As can be read in the texts by Michael Tawa and Gino Gianuizzi, in making these works, Weileder uses an unusual procedure requiring a sophisticated use of digital technology. Using a fixed camera, he takes thousands of shots of the same view over a period of a few hours at intervals of a few seconds. A special software then selects a vertical band just one pixel wide at the same point in every shot taken, composing the image with the precise succession of these segments. What results is an unexpected aesthetic and evocative effect: subjectivity, contingency and technological possibility intertwine to produce depictions that appear strangely familiar.