12.25 PM – 12.40 PM
University of Brighton, 154 Edward Street, BN2 0JG
The Ecological Wetroom™ is a practice-led PhD research project that reimagines the traditional and often toxic darkroom as a living ecological system. Combining climate-adapted cyanotype, DIY filtration, hydroponic plant systems and scientific collaboration, the project asks how analogue photography might become more accountable to water, chemistry and waste. Recent laboratory analysis undertaken with scientists at TU Dublin demonstrates a 76% reduction in measurable pollutants within cyanotype washwater following filtration and plant activity. Presented through artworks, installations and public engagement, the project proposes ecological care, not sustainability, as a framework for photography’s future during its bicentenary.
Aindreas Scholz is a German-Irish photographer, lecturer and PhD researcher at Technological University Dublin. His practice investigates ecological approaches to analogue photography through The Ecological Wetroom™, combining cameraless processes, scientific collaboration and environmental ethics. His research has been supported by Arts Council England, the Paul Mellon Centre and the Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund.