Tim Theo Deceuninck
For Veldwerk, Tim Theo Deceuninck is conducting research into the camera as a technical device. Whereas the camera normally represents the landscape and turns it into an idealised iconography, he wants to do the opposite. How can the landscape itself take on this role of photographer? To this end, he deconstructs the device to its absolute minimum and returns to the simplest principles of a camera obscura. Holes in the ground form the basic setup for the camera, and the technical device becomes a living camera that is part of the landscape.
Tim Theo also wants to build a community around this practice. By introducing more-than-rational methods, such as rituals, folklore, pagan beliefs, vernacular language, suppressed knowledge, etc., he tells contemporary stories that help restore our relationship with the land.
BIO
Tim Theo Deceuninck is a photographer, urban farmer and time traveller. With his hands in the earth, his work is directly related to nature. Through historical processes and stories, Tim Theo tries to gain a deeper insight into the past and memory of a landscape. To this end, he works with lens elements, focal points, early measuring instruments and camera mechanics in order to fully understand the photographic medium. Since the analogue photographic process is based on the use of silver nitrate, including toxic chemical development, Tim Theo became interested in non-toxic and non-ferrous exposure and printing techniques. He began experimenting with different organic materials and methods to extract (photo)graphic material from natural sources.
Image © Leon De Backer
