MAS PALOU
Capturing the vineyard through a self-made wine barrel camera
During an 11-day artist in resident program at Mas Palou, a 500-year-old family-run vineyard in the hills of Barcelona, an experimental photographic process was developed to document the relationship between landscape, architecture and the cycles of wine production.
An old wine barrel was converted into a large-format camera. By introducing a small aperture into the barrel, the surrounding landscape was projected onto a light-sensitive surface inside, turning a familiar object from the winemaking process into a photographic instrument. Long exposure times allowed movement, weather and changing light conditions to become embedded in the image.
More than 100 exposures were produced across the vineyard, capturing the architecture, landscape and traces of activity around the farm. A temporary darkroom was constructed inside the wine cellar, where the images were developed and printed using analogue silver gelatin processes on different photographic surfaces.This project is the first of its kind where photos are made using a wine barrel.
The resulting images were compiled into a hand made publication, documenting both the site and the experimental process. The project was developed in collaboration with architect Gianna Bottema. Images by Aylin Emanetoglu.
