Printed Motion Picture Acquisitions
Friday Morning Coffee Credits
Archivist Obsesions
Eric Stephanian
Falling Apart ( 2015 ) Eric Stephanian
ISBN 979-12-82682-05-3
Limited Run 30/2AC
No longer available
Choreography of glass falling in real time, broken down to mechanical increments. Original first press freeze reel experiment. Sequence extracted out of twenty one second video.
The project started when I saw a pile of abandoned glass pieces that had been cut and left on the floor. The way they were dropped created a kind of accidental structure. When I looked at them, I immediately drew a parallel between that fragile structure and human fragility. Glass became an important metaphor for me because it reflects the nature of the human psyche. It is transparent and it can act as a shield, but at the same time it is extremely fragile. That duality, strength and vulnerability existing together, felt very close to how we exist as people.
When I first brought the glass pieces to my studio, I tried to recreate the structure that I had originally seen. But I failed to reproduce the same accidental form. What I managed to build instead was a structure that appeared very stable, almost like a tower. However, even in its stability, it constantly reminded me of its fragile nature. This contradiction became central to the project. I believe that this logic of construction reflects something fundamental about humanity. The structures we create, whether architectural, psychological, or social, are deeply connected to our capacity for failure, destruction, and deconstruction. In many ways, the architectural principles we invent are themselves based on our awareness of instability and fragility.
Transparency plays an important conceptual role in the work. For me it relates to identity and perception. It raises questions about what we reveal, what people are able to see through us, and how others perceive the world through our presence. The structure becomes a metaphor for ourselves, our internal framework and the way others see through it. Technically, I photographed the structures in the studio against a white background with controlled lighting. At first I photographed the stable structure I had built, but I was dissatisfied with it. So I decided to push the structure and photograph it while it was falling apart. Using a high shutter speed, I captured several moments during the collapse. This process felt much closer to what I wanted to express. I titled the work “Clearly Falling Apart” because it reflects the way we invest ourselves in building stable identities and structures, while at the same time we are slowly falling apart day by day.
In the book, the images are surrounded by large areas of empty space. This emptiness emphasises transparency and gives the work a kind of clinical or laboratory atmosphere. I wanted the project to function almost like a visual catalogue or scientific observation of the human condition, but also as a meditation on it. The sharp edges created by refraction and shadows are very important visually. These sharp lines represent how our broken parts actually shape who we are. Our identity is not formed by smooth continuity, but by these fractures and tensions.
The project is not only about the technical challenge of photographing transparent glass. It is about the limits of representing ourselves, our structures, our identities, and our fragility. It explores the idea that even when we think we understand ourselves clearly, we still exist within a system of instability and potential collapse. In terms of artistic influence, the work relates to constructivism, but also to deconstructionism and the destructive force that exists within us. It sits somewhere between architecture, science, and psychological reflection.
No longer available
Limited Run 30/3AP
Print Size 50/70
Limited Run 30/3AP
Print Size 50/70
Limited Run 30/3AP
Print Size 50/70