Hideyuki Ishibashi

Born in 1986 in Kobe. Lives and works in Paris.
Graduated from Fresnoy - National Studio of Contemporary Arts in 2018.
Represented by the Ibasho gallery (Antwerp), and the IMA gallery (Shinagawa).

The series "Stjernhimmeln" refers to the photographic project "Celestographies" by Swedish playwright August Strindberg (1893-1894) produced without a chamber or optics, of scientific and occultist inspiration. In order to demonstrate that our perception of the world is an illusion, because it is subject to the limits of our eye and its construction, Strindberg directly exposed photographic plates facing the moon, the sun and the stars, to produce an "x-ray of the constellated sky" , as if photography could capture their hidden nature. Also appreciating the poetry and the supernatural of the image appearing during chemical reactions, Strindberg did not fix some of his "Celestographies", the positive images of which are kept at the Royal Library of Sweden, but are never exhibited due to of their fragility. All the original negative plaques have disappeared.
In “Stjernhimmeln” I try to re-emerge the original form of these images through different angles and different photographic techniques to explore the relationship between imagination and photography: Does the latter offer impartial knowledge, or does it not. it as a surface for imaginary projections? Does it have a value outside of conventional uses? And what can we learn from these “unfixed” images 126 years later?