The limitations of photography in documenting time

Featuring Vincent Forstenlechner Words by Nastasia Khmelnitski

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With his work, Vincent Forstenlechner focuses on the theme of time and place and the connection to the human experience. He poses questions about the role and ability of photography to capture memory and the transformation of personalities through time. With ROYGBIV, we encounter an interpretation of the changes in a place, Vincent's hometown, and their effect on the artist. With Snow Pillars, Vincent revisits the idea of place and objects and connection to human history through marble found in South Tyrol. While in Stain of Place, the central question that arises is what the future holds for generations to come by driving attention to the housing problem in The Netherlands.

Vincent speaks of his process of creation, “Through reading and taking extensive walks, I arrange thoughts and then try to break apart the bigger ideas in my head and hyper-focus on the small details of what specifically catches my interest during the course of a project.”

Vincent Forstenlechner is a Visual Artist and Photographer who is currently based between Vienna and Salzburg. Where he is finishing his studies at the University of Applied Arts in Applied Photography and Time-Based Media. He is part of ECLECT Lab, an artist collective, and multidisciplinary studio. In this interview, we discuss with Vincent how his hobby in photography became his career. We speak about ROYGBIV and Vincent's attraction to history and the cultural background behind places. We touch on the struggle that has to do with the desire to present the connection between the human and the place through the medium of photography.

‘On one of these trips, I initially started taking photos with an analogue camera I found at home. I was about 15 at the time and didn’t really know what to do with it, yet I already had some inspiration through Tumblr and the skateboard culture.’

My Story

Hi Vincent, let’s start from the beginning. What was your path towards photography as a career?    

It’s a bit of a cliche, but I was fortunate enough to travel a lot with my parents during my teenage years — so on one of these trips, I initially started taking photos with an analogue camera I found at home. I was about 15 at the time and didn’t really know what to do with it, yet I already had some inspiration through Tumblr and the skateboard culture I was exposed to. After that, it grew more and more into a thing I just did as a hobby. Luckily, during that period, I decided to commit to a long-term photography workshop my high school offered. And I guess from there on, I always dabbled with taking portraits of friends and documenting the small adventures of the peer group in my hometown. Consequently, photography became a way to create a journal of this time and place.

What led you to decide to study it? 

Actually, I was quite unsure about deciding to study photography as I was very interested in psychology and sociology after high school. So I started my studies, still saying to myself that I could stop and study something 'serious' if I didn’t like it as a full-time occupation. And to be honest, I got annoyed quite quickly by my experience in a practical photo school. Yet I met an amazing group of friends there who still, to this day, inspire and push me personally and artistically. Through this personal connection and mutual interests, I found self-confidence in developing my projects — discovering ways to visualize my ideas. 

This led to me being more and more consumed by photography — discovering a lot of artists through photo books and exhibitions and eventually starting my studies at an art university.

So fast forward a few years — I am close to finishing my education, and the motivation for photography is still going even if things feel more controlled and slow-paced at the moment, which is good, I guess. After all, I think it is impossible to draw this one line of events that led me into photography as a career path. Actually, just through the last months, I realized for the first time that this had become my professional occupation.

‘I am also very intrigued by the limitations of photography when it comes to documenting time, which is the complete opposite of the seemingly coherent stream of history unfolding through our lives and in society as a whole.’

Cultural Aspects

Most of your work is research connected to culture, such as in Snow Pillars, Stain of Place, and ROYGBIV. Which themes interest you the most and still have unanswered questions you are interested to develop further? 

As you have touched on, there are often quite grand cultural or societal topics at the bottom of the projects I have made. I specifically think I am very inspired by the history that every place and object is inherently representing. In that sense, I am also very intrigued by the limitations of photography when it comes to documenting time, which is the complete opposite of the seemingly coherent stream of history unfolding through our lives and in society as a whole. 

Through reading and taking extensive walks, I arrange thoughts and then try to break apart the bigger ideas in my head and hyper-focus on the small details of what specifically catches my interest during the course of a project. As this is a very fluid process, it is hard to pinpoint specific themes that I want to develop further at the moment. But in general, I think most of my work is rooted in seeing photography as a tool for personal and geographical archaeology. In the future, I want to be open to experiments with writing/text and personal or public archival material.

‘Try and get away from recreating what has worked for other people and actually aim to connect with a specific audience that is potentially interested in your work, whether this is via social media, a unique website, or a self-published book.’

The Work

You’re currently studying towards an MFA at The University of Applied Arts in Vienna. As a young photographer who had several exhibitions and worked with clients, what do you think is the best balance between personal and commercial work to be recognized in this sphere? 

This is a really tricky question because recognition or exposure is such a multilayered term. In my opinion, there is a lot of mystification and confusion about how it works to become recognized in the creative industry. As far as I can tell, there is no one-fits-all guideline to give. Like everyone else in times of constant exposure to a digital visual stream, it is hard to feel recognized because you always see the stuff of others being more successful.

In the end, I would say — try and get away from recreating what has worked for other people and actually aim to connect with a specific audience that is potentially interested in your work, whether this is via social media, a unique website, or a self-published book. There are many ways to target a specific group of people you enjoy being in contact with. For myself, I try to focus on putting forward my personal projects within exhibitions or publications as a way to express myself and establish a visual language, which I am also interested in commercially

‘Yet I still think about my hometown as a place of longing that only exists in this way through my very personal experiences and through the very specific locations and people that I want to connect with there.’

ROYGBIV

In the project ROYGBIV, you focus on your hometown in a quest to share the emotional and personal background. The main evolution usually surfaces with emotions connected to the place and people living in it. What has changed in the way you perceive the place? Or how did the project help you view it differently? 

I think the project has multiple personal takeaways. For one, I initially started taking photos during my late adolescence. So over time, I built this personal archive that refers to a time and place that I have already grown out of. Yet, with everything I experienced there now, there is still this connection to the past. So as I grew older, I saw how much of this place was actually just a liminal space that I created for myself. In a way, it feels like I have deconstructed my experience of the place through photography in a quest to find out what is projected through my emotions and what is actually present. 

So in many ways, there is this constant back and forth. The more rural areas of Austria are much more conservative than the urban areas that I find myself in now. Yet I still think about my hometown as a place of longing that only exists in this way through my very personal experiences and through the very specific locations and people that I want to connect with there.

The Landscape and The Human

A strong connection is created between humans, the place they occupy, and the mental connection that is formed. In what way, in your opinion, photography can change reality, the perception of a person of their identity and connection to the place?  

Actually, I don’t know if photography is able to really render the bond between a person and the place they inhabit. I guess it is more the other way around within my work through the accumulation of images from a specific landscape in connection to the human presence that I am able to translate my thoughts about what I am seeing and experiencing. In that sense, there are many mediums like film and writing that would do a better job of fully explaining the identity of a person or the details of a certain landscape. Yet I think what photography can do is leave gaps while still being very descriptive, so it invites people to construct their own stories from the image collections that I have gathered.

A Sneak Peek 

Could you provide us a sneak peek into the project you’re currently working on or some of the themes in development? 

I am currently working on publishing my project ROYGBIV as a book. It will be out hopefully later this year. Other than that, I want to continue focusing my work more on personal themes and create collaborative projects together with the artist collective ECLECT Lab.