Der Greif X FUTURES: 3 questions to Marcus Reistad

We are delighted to announce Marcus Reistad as one of the talented artists selected by Der Greif to join Futures in 2024. His nominated series, "Liminality," consists of captivating images created using a xerox transfer technique during the lockdown period of the pandemic when access to labs was limited. Reistad printed photocopies and then scanned them at a high resolution, resulting in analog images with a grainy texture overlaid with a digital noise layer that evokes the aesthetics of early digital video cameras. By working with this layered tactility, Reistad has succeeded in recontextualizing archival photographs, infusing them with a vibrant energy and opening up new possibilities.

Marcus Reistad, born in 1991, is a Norwegian artist currently based in Oslo. He pursued his studies at Valand Academy and Oslo National Academy of The Arts. Reistad's artistic practice encompasses photography, video, and text, with a focus on exploring geographical and environmental narratives, masculinity, and the delicate equilibrium between play and violence. His work has been exhibited at prestigious venues such as The 134th Autumn Exhibition, Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, Gallery Thomassen in Gothenburg, and 254Forest in Brussels.

Der Greif: How did you transpose your quest for liminality into images?

I wanted to explore a psychological landscape, not following one path, but exploring several pathways. I am always searching for ambivalence in photography, and maybe this project was inclined to be more ominous. With the project "Liminality," I was mostly interested in mirroring photography onto the world while I experience photography in general more as a window into it. It might seem oxymoronic saying it, but it is how it feels. With this project, I was looking for how narratives are constructed, not a world view. My background was in documentary photography, something I was not looking into here. I wanted to create other worlds, but they always mirror ours. My interest in liminality was not a quest for self-examination but rather dwelling on how photography both replicates the real world and creates others and other experiences outside my body. Religion, superstition, and rituals were something I was reading a lot about, especially other cultures' rites of passage. Experiences I did not have, but they all relate to the human experience, I think. The collection of images that make up this project was made over a number of years, not collected in a concentrated amount of time. The selection and juxtaposition of images together are what make the work, as a dialectic. I think it really comes together when they are seen curated in a space together. At the same time, I took a lot of consideration with the stand-alone image, but they would not work if they didn't find form and common ground with the other photographs. This was definitely a project as much about what could not be as what it became.

Der Greif: Regarding disorientation, which you often mention in your project description, how does photography play a role in the transitions of images from one reproduction to another?

The most autobiographical aspect of my work is the utilization of xerox transfer to create images, including some of my own body. These images directly respond to a specific moment in time and space, which is undeniably disorienting. While pursuing my BA in photography, the pandemic emerged, leading to a lockdown that affected my school as well. Left with only my archives and ample free time, creating new work became challenging due to limited access to labs and spaces. Consequently, I turned inward and revisited my archives, realizing that something was lacking. However, I did have access to a simple photocopier, which I began using to make printouts. This xerox process diminished image quality and added a rough digital noise layer to the previously carefully edited black and white negative scans. Subsequently, I scanned the xerox prints at high resolution and printed them in large formats using a high-quality inkjet printer. The combination of digital noise and film grains breathed new life into the images, introducing a fresh tactile quality to their surfaces that I had previously dismissed as redundant.

Der Greif: Archives, both in analogue and digital formats, offer opportunities for recontextualization and reproduction. They allow us to explore the interplay between medium, context, and action, revealing insights about space and time.

During the lockdown, I engaged in the process of creating works using xerox transfers. This was a significant moment in both space and time, intimately connected to my own experiences and the society around me. I saw the pandemic as a transformative global event, altering the world irrevocably within a short span of time. I aimed to capture this sense of transition and disorientation in my images. Witnessing the world undergo profound change can be disorienting, yet it also holds a certain allure. It is in this ambiguous and contradictory space that I find inspiration for my photography. I am drawn to photographs that encompass contradictions, blending strength and vulnerability in a single frame. The ability to evoke confusion or disorientation in the viewer through these ambiguous qualities is something I strive for and greatly admire in exceptional works of art.