2023 – Silverlab, Copenhagen
Claudia Hausfeld
As an artist based in Iceland, access to certain processes or materials can be difficult. It was therefore my great pleasure to spend time in Silverlab’s color darkroom. My photographic practice involves an ongoing experimentation with light and the staging of objects on photographic paper, and I was curious to expand this practice with the use of color.
Andreas and Jón Bjarni of Silverlab were excellent hosts and supported me generously throughout my
stay. They opened every door for me and gave me valuable input to get started. We had wonderful
conversations about photography and analog processes.
The first days I went around town and gathered image material to use for printing. I’m especially
interested in architecture and how it translates into flat surfaces, and I photographed buildings and
interiors.
Then I went on to print. Getting re-acquainted with the color darkroom went smoothly, but working
with color is distinctly different from the b/w process I’m used to. In my practice, I rely on chance and
experimentation, and it takes time to crack the protocol of the color process to use it in a way that it is
not intended for. The outcome of my work at Silverlab was surprising and satisfying, and I’m happy to
have explored the process from different angles. If I was ever to be able to work in a color darkroom
again, I would now know which elements to focus on.
Towards the end of my stay, I also worked for one day in the b/w darkroom of Silverlab, together with
a friend of mine. Sharing the darkroom is one of the invaluable advantages of the b/w process, and we
enjoyed working together a lot. Having explored the color printing just before, it was fun to get back to
the basics of my practice.
I want to thank Ditte, John, Stefan and Lukas of the Silverlab team for the great work in providing
their special services. It’s fantastic to see people dedicated to keeping the analog process alive, and
Silverlab is really a one-of-a-kind-place that honors this idea. It was truly an amazing experience to be
part of this exchange program, to have the conversations and witness the analog world so alive.
Claudia Hausfeld (b. 1980 in East Berlin, GDR) studied photography in Zürich, Switzerland and
graduated with a BA in fine arts from the Icelandic University of the Arts. In her practice, she uses photography as a means to interrogate the relationship between images and space, or more broadly, between the visible and the actual. Claudia focuses on analog aspects of the medium and on experimentation with material and surface, resulting in photographic works that often border on the sculptural. She is interested in how photography negotiates the translation of objects like bodies or buildings into their images. She explores this intersection through playfulness and invites
chance and alchemy into the process. Cameraless photography, collaging, photopolymer printing and
drawing are all ingredients of her research into a medium that keeps informing her view of the world
in all its strangeness and magic.
Claudia has exhibited widely in Iceland and abroad and has received various stipends to pursue her art
making. She co-managed the photo lab of the Icelandic University of the Arts for many years and has
taught countless courses in experimental photography. She lives and works in Reykjavík.
Website: www.claudiahausfeld.com
