Imago camera


Imago is an analog, walk-in, large format photo camera. It creates life-size self-portraits of people on 62 × 200cm photographic paper via direct exposure. Since a negative is not created, every image is unique and cannot be reprinted. The images are colloquially referred to as "Imago-grams." The only existing camera was built in the 1970s by German physicist Werner Kraus and artist Erhard Hößle. It is based on an optical system invented by Kraus for scientific purposes.
The camera was in museum storage from 1976 to 2006, when it was rediscovered and rebuilt by the inventor's daughter, artist Susanna Kraus.

History

In 1970, physicist Werner Kraus was commissioned to photographically document the Daimler-Benz Wankel engine’s combustion cycle. For this purpose, he invented a photo-optical system which captured images on a 1:1 scale. Later, based on the same system, Kraus, together with the artist and sculptor Erhard Hößle, built the Imago Camera. The camera and its photographs were exhibited in Munich during the Fluxus-movement. It operated for several years, but was archived in 1978 due to cessation of production of the photographic paper, which was essential for its operation. It was later stored in the archive of the Pinakothek der Moderne museum in Munich.

Restoration

In 2005, photographs taken by the camera were rediscovered by Kraus' daughter, Susanna Kraus, which renewed her interest in Imago, and prompted her to restore it. During the following year, Susanna Kraus searched for a manufacturer who would produce the necessary photographic paper. When she convinced Ilford Switzerland in 2006 to develop and start the production of the direct positive paper, the curator of the New Collection of the Pinakothek der Moderne museum :de:Florian Hufnagl|Florian Hufnagl agreed to release the camera from the archive and return it to the inventor's daughter. At the end of 2006, the first exhibition of the photos made with the restored Imago Camera was held in Vienna. After several years of travelling and exhibitions, in 2011, the camera inhabited a new photo studio started by Susanna Kraus in the Aufbau Haus on Moritzplatz, Berlin Kreuzberg. It has been operating at this location since.

Characteristics

Imago is a large format camera measuring 6.85 × 3.9 × 3.55 meters. It is designed to capture life-size analog images of subjects inside it. The camera is equipped with an optical system, specifically constructed for it, with an extremely high focal length allowing pictures to be taken on a 1:1 scale, without warping. The camera features a special internal setting of six strobe lights providing a high intensity light necessary for production of the large direct exposure images on paper, which is considerably less photosensitive than film. The Camera produces 62 × 200 cm sized black and white prints on Imago and Harman Direct Positive Paper. Inside the camera, one can see a true-sided reflection of oneself in a special mirror, serving as a viewfinder. The picture is taken by the subject releasing a trigger.

Imago photographic paper

Imago Camera uses silver gelatin direct positive photographic paper developed in cooperation with Ilford Switzerland and HARMAN Technology specially for Imago. It is made for direct exposure and reacts as soon as an image is exposed onto it. The exposed paper is developed in a conventional black and white process taking ten minutes, after which the print is ready. The resulting images are characterized by high contrast and display a wide range of tones.

Further developments

In 2014 the Imago technology was redeveloped and wrapped in a new design shell. Built by Jakob Kraus, the new aluminum camera was called the Imago Photour and was designed to be mobile. Transported in a 40-foot container, it can be reassembled at a new location within two days. The new camera's first destinations were Rotterdam and Shanghai, where the first Imago Photour exhibitions were held in 2014 to 2015.

Notable people who have made self-portraits with Imago

, Robert Wilson, Eva Mattes, Jonathan Meese, Anton Corbijn, Mike Leigh, François Ozon, Barbara Sukowa, Ernst Fuchs, Donata and Wim Wenders, Tim Raue, Angela Winkler, Maria Schrader, F. C. Gundlach.

Exhibitions